For Release: Friday, July 27, 2007
Contact: David Gillies: 202-225-5661

COSTELLO SUPPORTS PASSAGE OF FARM BILL IN HOUSE

Washington - U.S. Congressman Jerry Costello (D-IL) today voted for the House version of H.R. 2419, the Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act, which reauthorizes farm programs through fiscal year 2012. The bill makes important reforms to farm programs, prohibiting for the first time payments to farmers with average adjusted gross income of over $1 million.

The bill contains important energy provisions that will mean continued investment in rural America while lessening our dependence on foreign sources of oil and protecting the environment, authorizing $2 billion in mandatory loan guarantees for biofuel refineries and $1.5 billion in production incentives for ethanol and biodiesel made from agricultural, forest, and waste plant materials. H.R. 2419 also makes important enhancements to conservation programs.

"This Farm Bill will maintain a strong farm economy,” said Costello. “We have strengthened the core programs in the bill while implementing needed reforms and improvements. I look forward to building on this progress and making it law.”

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