Farm Bill Politics
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The Farm Bill is currently the topic of the day on Capitol Hill. I believe it was Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) that once said that there are two things that nobody should see being made sausage and legislation. Well, if you take that as the truth then the Farm Bill is the worst most vial piece of sausage that could be made.
It has Senators and Representatives changing their stance on everything from the environment to Wall Street in order to get money back their district, which isn’t that bad– as long as you admit it. It is a horrible piece of legislation——being held together solely because so many people have their hand in the pot that nobody is left to fight against it.
Here is an excerpt pointing out one of the many absurd arguments regarding the Farm Bill:
Among other things, members have been discussing ways to prevent very rich farmers from collecting federal dollars. The House version of the bill (HR 2419) contained a provision that would prevent farmers who make more than $1 million a year from getting farm subsidies; those earning $500,000 to $1 million would lose subsidies if less than 67 percent of their income comes from farming.
The Senate version would bar payments to farmers with incomes above $750,000 a year, no matter how much they make from farming. Currently, the cap is set at $2.5 million annual income.
The Bush administration has long sought an even stricter limit of $200,000. Agriculture Department officials reminded the conferees of their wishes at a closed-door meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Apr 29, 2008
Filed under: analysis, Farm Bill, Politics
