Poking fun at United States agricultural policy is low
hanging fruit. From catfish
to sushi
to alfalfa,
most agriculture industries are handsomely subsidized via the half-a-trillion
dollar farm bill. So after the House’s 195-234 defeat of its version of the
bill, what’s the proverbial forest to see for the trees, as The Wall
Street Journal put it in an
editorial this morning?
While their Senatorial counterparts were able to bribe
enough lobbyists and fellow Senate members with regional- and crop-specific
goodies to push through a largess bill last week, some members of the House are
calling for a larger debate.
As the WSJ notes, Representative Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.)
introduced an amendment
that was quickly disposed of by the House Committee on Rules which would have
split the farm bill into a farm-only bill and a nutrition-only bill…… According
to OECD estimates, total government support for the United States agriculture
sector cost over $146 billion in 2011. This for an industry that adds just
under $174 billion in value to the United States’ total GDP. Eighty percent of
the “farm” bill’s provisions go to food stamps though, a program which enrolls
14 percent of Americans. This unholy marriage rolls two much-needed debates
into one opaque, 629-page (1052 pages in the Senate’s case) piece of
legislation….To Read More…
No comments:
Post a Comment