Cardoza: "This bill threads the needle."

A "veto-proof" margin is celebrated. From the office of Rep. Dennis Cardoza:

Today Congressman Dennis Cardoza (D-CA-18) applauded the passage of landmark reforms in the Farm Bill Conference Report that will finally allow California farmers and producers to benefit equitably from government farm programs. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture and a member of the conference committee, Mr. Cardoza helped to include historic investments in specialty crops, conservation, and nutrition programs in the bill, as well as commonsense improvements to the subsidy programs.

“California agriculture is finally getting the respect and treatment it deserves. This is a Farm Bill that I am proud to support,” said Cardoza during debate on the House floor. “I am especially proud of the new $2.3 billion federal investment in specialty crops and the $150 million subprogram within EQIP for air quality improvement.”

The 2007 Farm Bill contains historic funding for programs that are priorities to specialty crop farmers, conservationists, and nutrition advocates. This funding includes resources for research and pest detection, block grants, organic farming, farmer’s market promotion, the Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP), and the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Snack program, which helps provide fresh fruits and vegetables to low income school children.

Within the EQIP program the bill contains $150 million for air quality mitigation, which will help farmers comply with federal and local air pollution laws. These funds are critical for farmers in California’s San Joaquin Valley which has some of the worst air in the nation and the toughest air quality laws. The bill also contains important technical changes that will allow more California farmers to be eligible for authorized farming programs.

Mr. Cardoza and other members of the Agriculture Committee, many of whom are Blue Dog Democrats, were dedicated to complying with pay-as-you-go (PAY-GO) rules in passing the Farm Bill. Compliance with PAY-GO and competing funding priorities, required lawmakers to take a hard look at all farm programs and discontinue or de-fund those that were not operating effectively, resulting in a completely paid for bill.

“This bill threads the needle,” said Cardoza. “While people didn’t get everything they wanted, the country got what it needed. That speaks volumes about the quality of this bill and tells me we ended up in exactly the right place. For the first time in the history of the farm bill lawmakers, conservationists, nutrition advocates, and farmers from all regions of the country support the overall bill.”

The Farm Bill passed on the House floor by a veto-proof margin of 318 – 106.