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A political forum at Farmfest Tuesday was like an agricultural version of the old Schoolhouse Rock cartoon: How a farm bill becomes a law.

The House, the Senate and the White House were all represented and played out the classic Washington battle between the legislative and executive branches. There were implied veto threats, conflicting versions of who was really looking out for farmers and promises that a good farm bill could still be completed this year if the other sides act reasonably.

“Well, that was pretty good,” one elderly farmer laughed after watching the 90-minute discussion/debate/political drama.

The sparks flew mostly between U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, representing the Bush administration, and Democratic Congressmen Collin Peterson of Detroit Lakes and Tim Walz of Mankato. Peterson, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and Walz, a member of the committee, are fresh off of getting a new five-year farm bill passed by the House.

The bill that ultimately becomes law will have a major impact on the lives of farmers and other Americans, setting the rules for farm subsidies and providing funding for school lunch programs, conservation efforts, food assistance for the poor and the Women, Infants, Children nutrition program.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good,” said Peterson, who’s in his first year as chairman of the committee. “The more people look at it, the more they’re going to like it.”

The bill was good enough to earn praise from Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who each serve on the Senate Ag Committee.

“He’s done an extraordinary job on this farm bill,” Coleman said of Peterson. “... My template in the Senate is going to be what Collin Peterson did in the House.”

The Senate is expected to craft its version of the bill this fall, but the Bush administration will need to be consulted because the president is already issuing veto threats about the House version.

“I’ll tell you without hesitation that the president wants a farm bill,” Johanns said. “... But we do want a farm bill that makes sense.”

The president wants producer payments limited to those with incomes of $200,000 or less and he won’t agree to the tax provisions added to the House bill to help cover the cost of the $256 billion spending bill, Johanns said.

“This bill was building a lot of support,” he said. “That support evaporated in about 24 hours.”

That was primarily because of the taxes on foreign-owned companies that have U.S. subsidiaries and because of the process used to add the tax provision, Johanns said.