Farm Bill

If I give my honest opinion, there really shouldn't BE anything called a farm bill. I'm not sure why welfare subsidies for food stamps and the like are in here. They should be in a separate piece of legislation, but... not to miss my point here.

This is how the voting went and quite frankly I am shocked. Every one of these Senators should be thrown out on their cans for voting for it. All presidential candidates were absent, although this would have been a great time for McCain to take a stand on wasteful and ridiculous government subsidies. Kyl voted against it (thank you, Senator). How did your Senators do?

In any case, let's just see what the Congressional Budget Office says that this will cost us : $307 BILLION. Ouch.

I have not had time to trudge through (and I doubt I will have the time) the hundreds of pages. According to a Fox News article, the bill contains the following:
- $40 BILLION in additional farm subsidies when crop prices are through the roof
- $30 BILLION to farmers to IDLE their land and other environmental programs.

Can you seriously tell me that when food prices are going up at ridiculous rates, the government is going to PAY farmers NOT to produce?!! You're kidding me! Price is up... so increase the supply and watch the prices come down... unless of course you are banking on a big contribution to your campaign from farm corporations. Nice.

It also contains the following:

—Boost nutrition programs, including food stamps and emergency domestic
food aid, by more than $10 billion over 10 years. It would expand a program to
provide fresh fruits and vegetables to schoolchildren.
—Increase subsidies for certain crops, including fruits and vegetables excluded from previous farm bills.
—Extend and expand dairy programs.

—Increase loan rates for sugar producers.
—Urge the government to buy surplus sugar and sell it to ethanol producers for use in a mixture with corn.
—Cut a per-gallon ethanol tax credit for refiners from 51 cents to 45 cents. The credit supports the blending of fuel with the corn-based additive. More money would go to cellulosic ethanol, made from plant matter.
—Require that meats and other fresh foods carry labels with their country of origin.
—Stop allowing farmers to collect subsidies for multiple farm businesses.
—Reopen a major discrimination case against the Agriculture Department. Thousands of black farmers who missed a deadline would get a chance to file claims alleging they were denied loans or other subsidies.
—Pay farmers for weather-related farm losses from a new $3.8 billion disaster relief fund.
—Provide the first-ever infusion of federal farm dollars — more than $400 million — to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

Update: NRO has a great editorial on this bill