Farm Bills aren’t sexy. I don’t pretend to understand agricultural issues. All I know is that the Farm Bill has a lot of bipartisan support and the president is threatening to veto it. Mike Johanns recently left the Department of Agriculture to run for Chuck Hagel’s senate seat, so the rationale for the veto fell to his former deputy. And I think Mr. Conner’s rhetoric must set a record for disingenuousness.
…in a press briefing held as Senate debate began yesterday, acting Agriculture Secretary Charles F. Conner charged that the five-year legislation had been inflated by $37 billion through the use of “tax increases and budget gimmicks.”
“It will need significant changes. . . . We have a long way to go,” he said. Conner said details of the administration critique will be issued shortly in the hope that it “will impel Congress to work with us.”
Despite the enormous congressional popularity of the bill — which funds farm subsidy programs, food stamps, environmental programs and biofuels research — the administration believes it can sustain a veto by rallying Republicans against tax provisions used to fund some of the new outlays.
Conner charged that the bill’s funding depends on $15 billion in new taxes and added that “we don’t believe other sectors should pay” so that farm subsidies can go to “millionaires living on Park Avenue.”
Oh, brother. A Bush administration flunkie actually said that ‘other sectors’ shouldn’t have to pay to enrich ‘millionaires living on Park Avenue.’ And what exactly are the Republicans so worried about paying? You’re not gonna believe it.
Most House Republicans voted against that chamber’s version of the bill in July after Democrats offset new spending on nutrition programs by tightening tax rules on U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies. Democrats said they were merely closing a loophole, but Republicans and the White House branded it a tax increase.
The Senate version, which includes a new $5.1 billion fund that farmers could tap when hit by weather losses, would be financed in part by a different set of measures clamping down on tax avoidance techniques used by business.
Politicians promise to fund new programs without raising taxes by closing tax loopholes, all…the…time. All the time. And it so rarely ever happens. It’s always either a tax hike (e.g., on cigarettes), spending the Social Security surplus, or taking out loans to China.
So, here the Democrats come along and fund nutrition programs and emergency agricultural relief through the closing of tax loopholes. And the Republicans still call it a tax increase and threaten to veto it.
Best of all, they have the unmitigated gall to explain their reasoning as not wanting rich folks that live on Park Avenue to get any richer. No. We can’t give them a subsidy but we can protect their offshore tax shelters.
You know what? This is a perfect illustration of how deeply dishonest and cynical the Republicans are. Who knows why Bush really wants to veto the bill? It must be that he just doesn’t like it when Democrats appropriate money. It makes it harder to steal.
Ya can’t just blame the goopers Boo. Is it not apparent yet that the people are simply asking for transparency? If the dems want a real chance to succeed, and I mean really succeed, why not simply offer the people the real unvarnished truth. If you want progress you have to pay for it. It appears to me that that is what is missing. JUST TELL THE TRUTH! Stop telling us what you think we want to hear.
Every day the news that we are getting out of Iraq diminishes. At the same time, if one looks at the reports out of foreign news sources informs us of the continuig insanity of what is happening in that hell hole.
during ww2 the people in this county stood together and understand the sacrifices. Today, we are “shielded”! Stop the bullshit. If we cant afford to supplement the ags, then stop them. Just tell the pople.
Nope- that ain’t happening. And the people know why!
Let me try to shed a little more light on the effect of this veto.
I live on the northern edge of the everglades, and I have a contract with the Corps of Engineers for maintenance on many problems within the flood control infrastructure/navigable waterways,directly related to the Everglades Restoration.
Now, if this bill is vetoed, that cuts the funding directly responsible for a catastrophic failure in the dams, levy’s, and flood control structure’s that if breached, will make Katrina look like a spring rain. And just to enlighten you a little on that, it is so close to failure, that’s it is scary, and the current leaks in the dike are steadily getting worse, even with the ongoing daily repairs, that are barely keeping up. One good storm, and poof, not a pretty picture.
What happens next, well the agency’s must go to private financing, ie. China, Japan, etc. to secure funding, ergo, bonds left to be paid….by who? You guessed it, the working public.
All the while the current robber barons we have in control channel the funds to their accounts, ie. “No-Bid Contracts” etc, etc.
I have witnessed so many projects laid to the side by funding being jerked to acomodate the “war effort” The removal of funds have so greatly impacted our infrastructure that the recovery time will extend to our next generations.
Not just here, but all over the country, while the rich get richer, the working people, and generations to come, will pay for their play.
This does not just effect Agriculture, because the funding relates to the watershed that stems from the farming communities, to the STA’s (storage treatment areas) and the contaminated run off from such, then directly to the largest storage area of the south, lake Okeechobee, and the Everglades.
I work closely with the AG industry, NRCS, Water Management, Fish and Wildlife, and have watched their projects get tossed aside, for lack of, and removal of funding.
This has a much larger impact that one can imagine, not to mention the monies tied to the industry that control watersheds throughout the south east, ie. the drought and water shortage problems that effect millions in the south.
The impact of this is so much more than the public can understand, or is let to be known. Let us not forget the loss revenue connected to all the services/jobs directly effected by the removal of funding.
I agree with the above statement to a certain degree…tell the truth. Let the people know the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
What a wishfull dream that is huh?
thanks for that explanation, pigster. I think this one might get the override.
We can only hope that both sides will do a little arm-twisting to make sure that the votes materialize to override yet another irresponsible Bush veto.
For chrissake, I hope there is some bi-partisan correction of the the lies this time around.