More Farm Bill Follies
What a sorry excuse for leadership! On Thursday, May 8, 2008, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Chairmen of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees respectively, had spent more than an hour revealing their conference agreement on H.R. 2419, the 2008 Farm Bill. Understandably, since they had shepherded this monstrosity to conclusion, they spent much time extolling the virtues of the legislation, even claiming that it was the most reform-minded farm bill in history.Toward the end of the press conference, in response to a question related to direct payments, Peterson said that there is no justification for continuing direct payments and that they should be replaced by a better safety net. Harkin chimed in that in fact these payments were created as transitional payments that were supposed to be phased out by 2003. Then, they indicated that they intend to start a dialogue with the farm groups that have opposed getting rid of these payments.
Wait a minute! Where have they been? Aren’t these the two guys in Congress most responsible for providing leadership on formulating farm policy? Shouldn’t they have started that dialogue two years ago instead of thinking about it now when they are on the verge of sending a bill to the President?
For the last two years, a whole host of taxpayer, environmental, conservation, nutrition and faith-based groups have argued that there is no justification for continuing direct payments. They amount to $5.2 billion annually, go to individuals (many of whom are no longer farming) without regard to prices or income, with 60 percent of the payments going to the wealthiest 10 percent of recipients.
If Harkin and Peterson really believe that direct payments are not justified, then they have demonstrated that they are abysmal failures at leadership. But, I think they are just playing a little game. They want us to go along with this disastrous farm bill in exchange for the far distant hope that more reform will come in five years.
It is time to end the charade. While chances don’t look good to defeat the conference report in either the House or the Senate, it does look like we can trust the President to veto this disastrous legislation. Hopefully, his veto will be sustained and Harkin and Peterson can be sent back to the drawing board. Now that we know that they supposedly want to get rid of these direct payments, maybe they can provide a little leadership and get it right the next time.
