Congress Sends Ag Research,
Food Stamp Bill To Clinton

WASHINGTON —(AP)— In the end, a long-standing urban-rural coalition in Congress overcame opposition to a bill restoring food stamps to some legal immigrants and securing crop insurance for farmers.

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said House passage of the measure last Thursday night demonstrated "a recurring theme: helping farmers, helping the hungry."

The $1.9 billion bill, which also boosts spending on agricultural research, was sent to President Clinton on a 364-50 House vote. The Senate passed it 92-8 in April.

White House spokesman Barry Toiv said the president would sign the bill.

"This bill not only supports farmers but fulfills a commitment the president made when he signed the welfare reform law to restore the unnecessary and mean-spirited benefit cuts for legal immigrants," Toiv said.

Conservative Republicans tried earlier in the House and Senate to derail the bill, objecting mainly to returning food stamps to about 250,000 of the 935,000 legal immigrants who were removed from the rolls by the 1996 welfare overhaul.

It would provide $818 million over five years to restore food stamps to immigrants who were in this country as of Aug. 22, 1996, and who are elderly, under 18, disabled or came to the United States to escape political or religious persecution.

"It's funny that we pass welfare reform and then turn around the next year and destroy it," said an opponent, Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas.

But with political pressure increasing from farmers and minority groups, other Republicans saw nothing to be gained by fighting over food stamps.

"There are times when one has to swallow the good with the bad, and this is one of those times," said Rep. Bill Barrett, R-Neb.

The lengthy delay provoked criticism from Hispanics, Asian-Americans and others as well as worry among farmers about their crop insurance policies, many of which are due to expire at the end of June.

Mary Kay Thatcher, lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said House GOP leaders were persuaded during the weeklong Memorial Day break that stalling was costing them politically in some races in the Midwest, California and elsewhere.

"There were some swing districts where it could have made a difference," Thatcher said. "It didn't take them too long to read the tea leaves."

Immigrant groups wrote thousands of letters and encouraged people to sign paper plates asking for food stamp restoration that were sent to members of Congress, particularly Republicans.

"They are conducting outreach, but all the outreach in the world isn't going to help them if they keep stepping on the toes of the Latino community," said Cecilia Munoz of the National Council of La Raza.

However, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Dick Lugar, R-Ind., said a GOP majority strongly supported the bill and deserved credit for pushing it through.

"I've seen any number of explanations suggesting that it might be a black eye. This is a remarkable success for Republicans," Lugar said.

Most of the $1.9 billion in spending would come from administrative savings from the food stamp program but the bill also reduces some subsidies paid to crop insurance companies.

The legislation also would guarantee $470 million over five years to pay agents and companies for expenses and commissions to write crop insurance policies and ensures that provision will not have to compete with other spending priorities.

In addition, the bill would spend an additional $600 million over five years for agricultural research — focused on high-priority areas such as biotechnology and food safety — and would increase spending on rural development programs by $100 million.