Posted on 11/12/2007 10:24:10 PM PST by republicpictures
Thanks to the application of a little last-minute budgetary magic, the farm bill before the Senate this week authorizes about $10 billion in new subsidies, price guarantees and disaster aid in the next decade, even as farmers report near-record profits.
There is a new $5.1 billion "disaster trust fund," as well as a revenue insurance program that would increase taxpayer costs by $4.7 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Spread through the huge bill are gains for producers of wheat, milk, sugar, peanuts, barley, oats and honey, and a new $1 million-a-year subsidy earmarked for camelina, a seed used to make biofuels.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), a critic of the farm bill, called it a "continuum" of past spending. (By Alex Wong -- Getty Images)
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Who's Blogging» Links to this article "Pretty much everywhere you look, farm subsidies are being increased," said Daniel A. Sumner, an agricultural economist and adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The USDA budget is about 78% for food stamps and other similar social programs.
http://www.usda.gov/agency/obpa/Budget-Summary/2006/03.FundingOverview.htm
Still room for cutting. Wish he could line item veto.
Did you hear if temp visas for migrant workers were in or out?
what is the price guarantee for corn?
LLS
The same Democrats who keep screaming about the budget deficit and how we need to raise taxes/undo the Bush tax cuts, are not afraid to spend even more tax money, are they?
Fiscal responsibility....wouldn't it be nice!
Few true family farms are left;what does exist are farm corporations that derive a major portion of their income from various subsidies and price supports.
The little farm of 50 years ago with a 40 horsepower tractor,three-bottom plow,2 row cornpicker,a dozen hogs,two dozen cows,a dozen chickens,quaint red barn and outbuildings, and modest white farmhouse is gone .The farmer actually supported a family on such a place.Now any such plce needs an outside job to support it.
I wonder what would have happened if the government had not "helped" the farmer so much?
The Chinese insure revenue for their farmers too. Is that where we are heading? Actually, the Chinese may be insuring our farmers, because we sure and Hell don’t have the money. $9,000,000,000,000 in debt and they want to insure revenue.
Stupidity knows no limits in Washington, D.C.
We would still have more of the family farms...
People bitch because he's extraordinarily late to the "fiscal responsibility" party.
At this point, as far as I'm concerned, he's just another hack trying to score political points. He didn't do anything about spending when he had the opportunity.
Which mostly goes to illegal immigrants.
Time to defund this nonsense. We need a tax revolt now.
I think he should have tried to cut spending when the pubs were spending too... but my point is that you reward a dog for doing the right thing... but not the man that keeps you and your family safe?
LLS
You should be thankful whenever a politician does the right thing.
I think that boils down what I've seen of your political philosophy in a nutshell.
No, I'm not "thankful" when politicians choose for a time to not act like common thieves. I expect them to follow the Constitution and to excercise fiscal restraint with our money. Much is given to the political class in this nation, and much should be expected and required of it.
but my point is that you reward a dog for doing the right thing... but not the man that keeps you and your family safe?
A dog cannot reason. One would assume that a man can.
I'm sorry, but I do not believe it is GWBush that keeps me and my family safe.
For the most part, the only thing government is good at is killing people and breaking things.
You are mistaken if you think that Bush has not made America safer. It shows me that you have less than stellar comprehension skills. You do have that right.
LLS
I think he can. All he'd have to do is veto the bill and indicate exactly which line items he'd sign the bill without. If Congress wanted to fight him publicly over the pork, he should go toe-to-toe with them.
Wishful thinking. Jorge won’t use his pen any time soon.
About what I expect from Bush-bots, insults. Thanks!
There is no such thing.
LLS
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