By the Associated Press and Reformer staff

WASHINGTON -- With veto-proof margins, Congress on Thursday sent President Bush a bill boosting farm subsidies and money for food stamps to help the poor deal with rising grocery prices.

Bush has threatened to veto the $290 billion bill, saying it is fiscally irresponsible and too generous to wealthy corporate farmers in a time of record crop prices.

But Congress disagreed, with both chambers passing the measure by well more than the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. The Senate voted 81-15, a day after the House approved it by a 318-106 margin.

The new Farm Bill advances key Vermont agriculture, anti-hunger and environmental priorities backed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the most senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee of either party, who was a principal architect and negotiator of the bill.

"Vermont's priorities are woven throughout this farm bill, and no priority was more important than the safety net for dairy farms," said Leahy at a Capitol Hill news conference on Thursday with fellow Vermont lawmakers Sen. Bernard Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch.

The Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program received one of the largest funding boosts of any commodity in the Farm Bill. In addition to extending the MILC Program for five years, Leahy and his allies succeeded in including provisions that will expand the MILC program.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the MILC target price of $16.94 per hundredweight will increase when feed costs increase. Also the bill restores the original subsidy -- 45 percent of the difference when the federal minimum price for fluid milk in Boston fell below the $16.94 benchmark. It had been reduced to 34 percent in 2005.

Eligibility for the MILC program has also been expanded. Currently, producers are eligible to receive MILC payments on 2.4 million pounds of production per year, or approximately 125 cows. The new Farm Bill will increase the eligibility to 2.985 million pounds per year, or approximately 165 cows. Of the 1,100 dairies that average about 120 cows per operation in Vermont, more than 85 percent now would be fully eligible for MILC payments.

The massive bill includes a fresh-produce snack program that Sanders championed. He helped to secure a provision that would expand support for wood as an energy resource. A nutrition education program that links schools with community gardens also was included in the legislation at Sanders' request.

"I am pleased that the farm bill supports essential nutrition and food programs for working families," Sanders said. "It is important that we support community efforts to promote nutrition education in schools, access to affordable local produce, and sustainable forms of energy."

"From supporting our dairy farmers to promoting the use of local food and energy sources, this bill provides Vermont's rural economy opportunities to prosper," said Welch. "Our teamwork has paid off in a major win for Vermont."

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer again criticized the bill, saying it has the wrong priorities.

Congressional negotiators met for weeks in an effort to come closer to the White House on the amount of money to be paid to wealthy farmers -- one of the chief sticking points with the administration. But drastic cuts to subsidies were not possible, lawmakers said, because of the clout of Southern lawmakers who represent rice and cotton farms that are more expensive to run.

"This bill has reform in it," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "Could we have done more? Perhaps. But if we'd done more we wouldn't have gotten a bill."

The legislation would make small cuts to direct payments that are distributed to some farmers no matter how much they grow. The farm bill also would eliminate some federal payments to individuals with more than $750,000 in annual farm income -- or married farmers who make more than $1.5 million.

Individuals who make more than $500,000 or couples who make more than $1 million jointly in nonfarm income also would not be eligible for subsidies.

Under current law, there is no income limit for farmers receiving subsidies, and married couples who make less than one-fourth of their income from farming will not receive subsidies if their joint income exceeds $5 million.

The administration originally proposed a cap for those who make more than $200,000 in annual gross income, but later indicated it could accept a limit of $500,000.