Bush tells Congress to pass no-tax farm law soon

By Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush urged Congress on Thursday to break a deadlock on the new U.S. farm law by April 18 and warned he will veto a bill that raises taxes or lacks more stringent crop subsidy rules.

Lawmakers have been stymied for weeks over how to pay for an increase of $10 billion over 10 years. Leaders of the House Agriculture Committee said they will draft a "baseline" bill without new money if there is no breakthrough by Friday.

"If a final agreement is not reached by April 18, I call on Congress to extend current law for at least one year," Bush said in a statement.

Bush said a long-term extension of the outmoded 2002 law is not the best outcome for a farm-policy overhaul but it would give farmers a predictable safety net.

"I have also made it clear that any final farm bill that includes a tax increase or does not include reform will be met with a veto," said Bush.

April 18 is a de facto deadline because that is when a one-month extension of agricultural programs expires.

Farm bills are omnibus legislation that control public nutrition, land stewardship and biofuel programs as well as crop supports. Nutrition would get two-thirds of the money in the new law, now six months overdue and estimated to cost at least $280 billion over five years.

Congress began writing the farm bill a year ago with the goal of adjusting crop support rates, expanding nutrition and land stewardship spending, encouraging use of cellulose in making fuel ethanol and providing more aid to specialty crops. The House and Senate passed bills that also tightened crop subsidy rules but not as much as the White House wanted.