Obama, Detroit mayor discuss opportunities
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said Friday that President Barack Obama expressed interest in his ideas for creating economic opportunities in the bankrupt city and requested a formal plan within 90 days. The pair shared a lunch of salmon and rice at the Michigan Biotechnology Institute in Lansing before Obama signed the federal farm bill. Duggan said his ideas focus on bringing jobs back to the city. “We talked about my administration’s focus on creating paths of opportunities for people who have been left out of the recovery … and the president is on the same track nationally.” In September the Obama administration offered a $300 million aid package to the troubled city, but the White House reiterated Friday there won’t be a federal bailout.
— The Associated Press
President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law an agriculture spending bill that will spread benefits to farmers in every region of the country, while trimming the food stamp program that inspired a two-year battle over the legislation.
As he penned his name on the five year measure at Michigan State University, Obama cited the bill as a victory for his economic agenda and a hopeful sign that he could “break the cycle of short-sighted, crisis-driven, partisan decision-making.”
The Agricultural Act of 2014 will set policy for the next five years on crop subsidies, nutrition programs, conservation and food stamps. It also includes policies on cockfighting and biofuels, climate change and farmer’s markets.
Obama said the wide-ranging bill “multitasks” by helping boost jobs, innovation, research and conservation, describing the legislation as an economic, environmental and agricultural bill rolled into one.
“It’s like a Swiss Army knife,” the president joked.
But not everyone is happy with the legislation and Obama acknowledged its passage was “a very challenging piece of business.”
The nearly $1 trillion bill expands federal crop insurance and ends direct government payments that go to farmers whether they produce anything or not. But the bulk of its nearly $100 billion per year cost is for the food stamp program that aids 1 in 7 Americans.
The bill finally passed with support from Democratic and Republican lawmakers from farming states, but the bipartisan spirit didn’t extend to the signing ceremony where Obama was flanked by farm equipment, hay bales and Democratic lawmakers.
If the law is a sign of hope for compromise on other measures, there were also signs Friday of the limits of bipartisanship. No Republican lawmakers attended the signing event, to which the White House said it invited about 50 lawmakers from both parties.
As with most efforts in Washington, the bill had become tangled in the debate over government spending.
Conservatives remain unhappy with the bill and its generous new subsidies for interests ranging from Southern peanut growers and Midwest corn farmers to the Northeast maple syrup industry.
They also wanted much larger cuts to food stamps than the $800 million Congress finally approved in a compromise. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters he did not expect the cut of about 1 percent of the food stamp budget to have a significant impact on recipients.
Obama promised in his State of the Union address last week to make 2014 a year of action, using his presidential powers in addition to pushing a Congress that usually is reluctant to go along with his ideas. In that spirit, he’s coupling the signing of the farm bill with a new administration initiative called “Made in Rural America” to connect rural businesses with federal resources that can help sell their products and services abroad.
The White House praised the agriculture law for supporting growth in rural America and Obama repeated his hopes that this would be a rebound year for the economy.
Obama’s trip was a reward for Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who as chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee helped broker the hard-fought farm bill compromise after years of setbacks.
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