House overrides Bush's veto of farm bill

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WASHINGTON, June 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. House of Representatives for a second time Wednesday overrode President George Bush's second veto of a $300 billion farm bill.

The House passed a second version of the farm bill because the version it sent to Bush -- which he vetoed -- was missing a section that was included in the bill when it passed the chamber. To put the missing section into effect, Congress re-passed the entire legislation that included the missing pages and sent it to Bush.

The vote was 317-109, with 99 Republicans joining Democrats to enact the bill over Bush's veto earlier Wednesday, CNN reported.

In his veto message, Bush said the bill contained earmarks and "other ill-considered provisions." It also lacked authority he said he requested "to buy food in the developing world to save lives."

Two-thirds of the $300 billion in spending would be directed to nutrition programs such as food stamps, and $40 billion would be allocated for farm subsidies. Another $30 billion would be designated for payments to farms to keep land idle and other environmental programs.