Bush criticizes subsidies to millionaire farmers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush criticized lawmakers on Tuesday for writing "a massive, bloated farm bill" that would subsidize multimillionaire farmers and not respond to rising food prices.

Some six dozen House and Senate negotiators were scheduled to meet later in the day to nail down details of the bill. It would cost $610 billion over 10 years; two-thirds of it going to public nutrition programs.

"Americans are concerned about rising food prices," Bush said during a news conference. "Congress is considering a massive, bloated farm bill that would do little to solve the problem."

The administration wants to end crop subsidies to the wealthiest Americans. It proposed a cut-off point of $200,000 a year in adjusted gross income, later raised to $500,000 AGI if Congress enacted farm-program reforms. The White House says Congress has not followed through.

Senior farm-bill negotiators were working on a proposal to deny farm subsidies to people with high off-farm income but put no limit on farm income, even if it is millions of dollars.

Food prices are forecast to rise by 4 percent this year, same as in 2007, with at least one more year of high food price inflation expected.

Bush said the farm bill would allow subsidies to flow to multimillionaire farmers despite a booming farm sector. Corn, wheat and soybean prices are at record prices at the farm gate.

"Congress can reform our farm programs -- and should -- by passing a fiscally responsible bill that treats our farmers fairly and does not impose new burdens on American taxpayers."

As it stands, the farm bill includes a $10 billion increase in overall spending over 10 years. The bill would boost nutrition spending by $10 billion and land stewardship spending by $4 billion.

It proposes few changes in the farm program and would cut the 51-cent a gallon ethanol tax credit by 6 cents while creating a $1.01 a gallon credit for ethanol distilled from cellulose, found in grasses, woody plants and crop residue.

(Reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by Marguerita Choy)