Farm Bill Error Leads To Bad Blood In House

House Republicans introduced a privileged resolution Thursday calling for an investigation into how a part of the Farm Bill was dropped from the bill that was sent to the president for his signature or veto.

The Republican resolution called for an immediate investigation into “the abuses of power surrounding the inaccuracies in the process and enrollment” of the bill and “admonished” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other members of Democratic leadership for their roles in the matter.

The resolution was quickly tabled with a party line vote.

Title III of the 15 title bill -- which pertains to trade -- was inadvertently left off the physical bill that was sent to the president’s desk.  Bush vetoed the bill, and the House voted to override his veto Wednesday evening.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) contends that the Democratic said he's troubled by the fact that Democratic leaders were aware that the title was missing but went ahead with the override vote anyway.

“This is a very serious issue,” said Boehner. “We don’t know what happened or what kind of mistakes were made.”

A House Democratic aide said that all parties involved discovered the error after debate on the veto override was underway and that Republicans were immediately briefed on the situation.

Pelosi told reporters Thursday she uttered an “uncustomarily crude” remark after she was told part of the bill was missing.
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