Congress Tees Up an $867 Billion Farm Bill

If you thought that the congressional spending orgy would slow down after thebloated omnibus bill passed in March, you were wrong. Republicans are preparing to bring to the House floor a farm bill that willcost taxpayers at least $867 billion over 10 years.While this is a “farm bill,” one-quarter of the spending will be for farm subsidies and three-quarters for food stamps. The latter is officially called “nutrition” spending. But since almost one-quarter of food stamp spendingis for junk food, that label is as absurd as calling Social Security ’s Ponzi-style accounting a “trust fund.”The essence of the farm bill is a giant log roll. Much of the spending likely does not have majority support in Congress or among the public, so politicians mash together hand-outs to different groups in a broad farm-food omnibus. As the number of farmers has fallen over the decades, politicians have had to buy off an increasing number of special interest groups to pass the “farm bill.” The Congressional Research Servicerecently discussed how the farm bill logroll developed:The economic depression and dust bowl in the 1930s prompted the first “farm bill” in 1933, with subsidies and production controls to raise farm incomes and encourage conservation. … The 1973 farm bill was the first “omnibus” farm bill; it included not only farm supports but also food stamp reauthorization to provide nutrition assistance for needy individuals . Subsequent farm bills expanded in scop...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs