WASHINGTON, Dec 15: The US Senate passed on Friday a massive farm bill packed with consequences for global trade, but its fate remained unclear because it already has drawn a presidential veto threat.

The Senate passed the five-year farm plan by a vote of 79-14.

The measure must now be reconciled with its House of Representatives version before it is presented to President George W. Bush.

In July, the Democratic-controlled House passed its version of the multibillion-dollar plan that provides the safety net for farmers and ranchers, governing the amount of subsidies and aid available and a raft of other provisions, such as nutrition and conservation programs.

Bush’s Republican administration has been threatening to veto the legislation, partly over what it says are high subsidies, a major stumbling block in the Doha Round of global trade negotiations.

Some observers suggest the threat may be difficult to deliver on, considering the already heated political maneuvering for the 2008 presidential race.

The pressure is on to enact the controversial 2007-2012 measure because the current bill expired on September 30, the end of the government’s fiscal year.

Senator Dick Lugar, one of the 14 senators who voted against the measure, said the bill unfairly favored a relatively small group of farmers.

I hope that reform momentum can continue to build until we have a more fiscally responsible safety net for all farmers rather than subsidies for a select few, he said.

Critics say the House and Senate farm bills are packed with taxes and budget gimmicks and lack sufficient restructuring.

Despite record commodity prices and farm income, the Senate today proposed to extend lavish subsidies to a handful of large commercial farms, The Grocery Manufacturers Association said in a statement.

The farm bill passed today extends Depression-era price supports that help few farms, harm small farmers, raise food costs, and violate our commitments to our trading partners and the poor, the food retailers group said.

Key political questions are whether Bush really is willing to cast an election-year veto on a bill that is popular in Republican states and whether Democrats in the Senate can peel away enough Republican members to overcome the president’s resistance.The Bush administration is under fierce pressure to help unblock the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization, launched in the Qatari capital six years ago and aimed at lowering trade barriers and encouraging development.

Developing nation critics of farm subsidies say they allow developed countries to dump excess production on world markets at an unfairly low cost, depriving many developing and poor countries of strengthening their own farm-sector exports.

The United States and the European Union, also known for lavish farm subsidies, are at loggerheads over WTO proposals to cut farm subsidies.—AFP