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Politics - U. S. Congress

Lawmakers OK Spending Bill Food Measure

Sat Nov 22, 6:16 PM ET

 

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By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

 

WASHINGTON - Bargainers tying down the last details of a mammoth $390

billion spending bill agreed to block labels identifying which country

food products come from for the next two years, lawmakers and aides said

Saturday.

 

They also hammered out a compromise that could let California — but no

other states — impose air pollution requirements on lawnmowers and other

small engines that are tougher than federal standards.

 

 

The agreements, struck privately in back-room discussions all over the

Capitol, came amid a push by congressional leaders to finish spending work

that has been overdue since Oct. 1, when the new budget year began.

 

 

Lawmakers have finished work on only six of the 13 annual spending bills

that keep the government operating. With Republicans controlling the House,

Senate and White House, they had hoped to complete their work sooner in a

show of efficiency, but bogged down over spending and policy fights.

 

 

The huge bill combines the seven remaining measures, and its price tag

totals more than one-sixth of the entire federal budget. It will finance

11 Cabinet-level departments and scores of other agencies, ranging from

the Justice Department (news - web sites) to highway construction, from

foreign aid to NASA (news - web sites).

 

 

Lawmakers and White House officials have worked out most of their disputes.

 

 

Aides said they were still trying to decide how to pay for more than $4

billion added to the bill. That money is for Pell grants for low-income

college students and other education programs; veterans' health care;

modernized election equipment for state and local governments; and aid to

countries that embrace democratic reforms.

 

 

The two-year delay on country-of-origin food labels will apply to meats,

produce and farm-raised fish. The fish delay was a victory for Sen. Thad

Cochran, R-Miss., whose state has a major catfish farming industry. The

labeling would begin, however, for wild fish — a boon for Senate

Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, where salmon are

a major catch.

 

 

The delay represented a victory for the Bush administration, grocery

stores, meat packers and processors. They said complying with the

regulations would cost the food industry billions of dollars — which would

be passed to consumers as higher prices.

 

 

The new labels were imposed by the 2002 farm bill. The House had voted

last summer to block the labeling requirements from taking effect, which

they were to do by September 2004. But the Senate, led by some Western

lawmakers, voted to keep the labels on track.

 

 

Word of the agreement, which will be included in spending bill, brought

criticism from Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. He noted that

the two-year delay would expire after the next election.

 

 

" The Bush administration wants to kill " the labeling law, Daschle said.

" They just don't want to do it before the presidential election because

they know the majority of people in our nation want labeling. "

 

 

There was also a deal reached between Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,

and Kit Bond, R-Mo., over small engine pollution.

 

 

Bond's state is home to some production facilities of the Briggs &

Stratton Corp., the country's leading maker of small engines. He said the

California requirements — because of the state's large population — would

cost U.S. jobs because the company would have to move production overseas.

 

 

Earlier, Bond had won Senate approval of a provision forbidding California

from imposing stricter pollution standards than the federal government's.

 

 

But Feinstein was battling him because the small engines are a significant

factor in the state's air pollution problem, which could cause it to be

penalized by losing federal highway aid. Lobbying on her side was her

state's new governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites).

 

 

Under their compromise, California can impose its own standards. But its

rules must be approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency

(news - web sites), which will have to consider " safety factors. " Bond

says the cleaner engines are fire hazards, which Feinstein says is

overstated.

 

 

In describing the deal, Feinstein said Bond's initial plan " would have

seriously crippled California's efforts to reduce dangerous and costly

emissions. "

 

But Bond told reporters, " We finally won the battle to keep California

from imposing, I think, its very risky regulations. "

 

The Senate might vote on the spending bill as early as next week, but the

House will not conduct votes until early December. To buy time, Congress

and Bush have already enacted a bill temporarily financing federal

agencies through January.

 

Also Saturday:

 

_Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said the Senate will not vote

this year on a long-stalled bill creating a fund for victims of

asbestos-caused diseases. Frist said the Senate would begin considering

the bill by next March.

 

_Frist said he may add language temporarily extending a ban on taxing

Internet access to the spending bill.

 

_Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he would block the Senate from considering a

bill renewing several expiring taxes unless it also extends unemployment

benefits due to run out in January.

 

 

 

------

2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The

information contained in the AP News report may not be published,

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of The Associated Press.

2003 Inc. All rights reserved.

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Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote. "

-- Benjamin Franklin