McCain says he would veto farm bill

DES MOINES, Iowa, May 2 (UPI) -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told an audience of Iowans that if he were president, he would veto a farm subsidy bill now making its way through Congress.

"I do not support it. I would veto it," McCain told the audience of about 250 people in Des Moines Thursday. "I would do that because I believe that these subsidies, the subsidies are unnecessary."

The Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee later told The Des Moines Register in an interview, "At this time, to have an increase in agricultural subsidies when farmers are having higher incomes than at any time in memory, I just think it's legislation that's not in keeping with the economic hard times of America where people are losing their homes and their jobs."

McCain said, however, he hoped voters in farm states such as Iowa would appreciate his plan to expand markets for U.S. agricultural products abroad, The Register reported Friday.

"I will open up every market in the world to the most efficient, productive sector of America's economy, and that's our farm and agricultural worker," he said.