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 he
Farm Security Act currently porking its way through Congress is
an outrage, and President Bush should consider it an honor to make
it the recipient of his first veto. The bill would increase farm
subsidies by $69 billion. Is there a farm crisis to justify this
largesse? Far from it. Farm income is at a record high, as is the
net worth of the average farmer-and both are higher than the average
for Americans who do not farm.
And it's not
the average farmer who receives the bulk of the subsidies anyway.
Sixty percent of farmers don't get subsidies, generally because
the crops they grow don't qualify. The payment system is skewed
to subsidize the largest and richest farmers.
Brian Riedl
and John Frydenlund have just done a paper for the Heritage Foundation
that lists some of the people who do receive tax money for farming
(or, in some cases, for not farming). Scottie Pippen-whose salary
is $18.1 million-has gotten $100,000 over the last five years for
not planting crops on his land in Arkansas. Ted Turner has pulled
in $176,077.
For some congressmen,
charity begins at home. California Republican Doug Ose sits on the
House Agriculture Committee. He's also the partial owner of two
companies that have received $149,000 in farm subsidies over the
last five years. Like all the worst rackets in Washington, this
one is bipartisan: Arkansas Democrat Marion Berry, who's also on
the committee, has gotten $750,449 over the same period.
Liberals should
be repulsed by a bill that showers tax dollars on people who don't
need them while raising the price of milk. Conservatives should
rebel against its trampling of free-market principles. Stuart Butler,
also of Heritage, is calling on President Bush to issue a clear
threat to veto the bill if it is not improved before final passage.
We would add only that he should also follow through on that threat.
Canceled Appointment
The White House has shown no inclination to respond to Senate Democratic
obstructionism by making recess appointments of its embattled nominees.
It's probably just as well. Even if President Bush wanted to make
recess appointments, he won't be able to: The Senate isn't going
to recess for the holidays. It will merely adjourn. The reason given
is that the Senate must be able to reconvene immediately in case
of a national emergency. But it also blocks Bush from making recess
appointments. Looks like Otto Reich, John Walters, et al will have
to wait a little longer.
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