Congress Enacts Incomplete Farm Bill Over Bush Veto

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., said he had tried unsuccessfully to reach Boehner Wednesday night and Thursday morning to discuss a solution. “I went to his office at 7 p.m. last night,’’ Hoyer said, but Boehner wasn’t there. “I left a message with my phone number but there’s been no answer.’’

“I am frankly offended by the mischaracterizations of what we are doing here. There are no games being played here,’’ added Hoyer.

By coincidence, just few moments later, Boehner appeared in the House Radio/TV Gallery for a press conference. Asked why he hadn’t called Hoyer, he said, “I’m a busy guy.’’

Boehner said, “This is a very serious issue. We don’t know what kind of mistake was made.’’

Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., asked what her initial reaction was when she learned Wednesday of the clerical error, responded with a laugh. “Uncustomarily crude,’’ she said, refusing to disclose what particular epithet she used.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., pressed forward with the override vote on the 14-title bill that Bush vetoed.

Harkin reminded his colleagues that the Senate had adopted the conference report on that bill by 81-15.

But there was still some grumbling. And distaste for the bill could prevent Senate leaders from advancing a stand-alone trade policy measure or the House-passed complete bill, since either step would require unanimous consent.

Reid announced the override vote would be the last roll call before senators leave for the holiday recess.

Sen. Judd Gregg , R-N.H., ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, warned he was considering amendments to the trade title.

And Sen. Jim DeMint , R-S.C., the lone senator to vote “present” during the override roll call, said of the bigger bill, “The way this bloated, wasteful bill was forced through is irresponsible and sets a terrible precedent.”

Legal Questions

In making their case to pass the farm bill all over again, House Republicans reminded Democrats about a similar, but much more limited, foulup a few years ago involving a deficit reduction act. Democrats, then in the minority, raised a ruckus about the enactment of a bill that had a small enrollment error, and numerous lawsuits resulted. But that law, which did not involve a veto showdown, was ultimately upheld.

Congress Enacts Incomplete Farm Bill Over Bush Veto

Some Republicans nonetheless argued that neither the House nor the Senate could constitutionally put the 14 titles of the bill Bush vetoed into law.

Rep. Doc Hastings , R-Wash., said Pelosi had wrongly ordered the House to “override a bill the House had never, ever passed.”

“Democrat leaders of this Congress acted in an unconstitutional way in voting to override the veto yesterday,” he said.

Some Senate Republicans have similar concerns. “We don’t have to pass anything that guarantees a lawsuit,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss , R-Ga., who is ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

But Reid said that he and Pelosi had conferred extensively with parliamentarians for both chambers and had concluded they could indeed enact the flawed bill over Bush’s objections and then pass a bill comprising just the missing trade title.

Both Democrats cited an 1892 legal precedent involving what Peterson called “an exactly similar situation.” In that case, Field v Clark, the Supreme Court ruled that a bill signed on parchment by the Speaker of the House and president of the Senate is the law, no matter what mistakes were made.

Reid said, “It is totally constitutional to do what we’re planning to do, so no one should be concerned about that.”

Edward Epstein contributed to this story.