This fascinating story in USA Today tells of lawmakers who get big payola out of the farm bill they vote on. Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark.) and Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Lugar (R-Ind.).

“Without these programs, there are some years that we would have been in very, very dire straights,” (sic) said Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat elected last year who farms 1,800 acres. Along with his wife, he received about $232,000 from 1995-2005, according to Department of Agriculture records gathered by the Environmental Working Group.

Oh, to be a farmer! I sure wish I could just go on government assistance any time business slows down.

Lincoln tells the reporter that she never received more than $10,000 in any given year — a paltry, insignificant sum, to be sure! Berry, however, absolutely takes the cake:

Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark., says the system works well. He and his family’s farming interests received almost $2.4 million in federal payments from 1995-2005, records show. His net worth in 2005 was $1.7 million to $6.6 million, according to his financial disclosure statement. “He has firsthand experience of how this really benefits farmers,” said his spokeswoman, Angela Guyadeen.

Nice to hear, congressman. And I have firsthand experience paying a millionaire to be a bad farmer.