EAST LANSING, Mich. (Reuters) – In a large barn smelling faintly of horses, President Barack Obama signed the $956 billion farm bill into law on Friday, comparing the five-year law to "a Swiss Army knife" because of the variety of ways it can support jobs in America.
"It multi tasks," Obama said, describing how the law supports not only farmers and ranchers but poor families on food stamps, researchers working on biofuels, and businesses developing and exporting new products from rural America.
Obama signed the bill – which the Congressional Budget Office says will save $16.6 billion over 10 years compared to current funding – at Michigan State University, the oldest land-grant university in the nation. Using a different measure, lawmakers have estimated the savings at $23 billion.
Michigan is the home state of Senator Debbie Stabenow, chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, who was on hand for the signing along with a small group of Democratic lawmakers and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
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