What happened to the farm bill?

[oldfart]

I grew up where cornstalks vote and elect soybeans to office. So WTF happened to the farm bill? They didn't even vote on one last year in the House, and this year 62 Republicans voted against it after voting FOR a poison pill that drove off all Democratic support. What are Republicans saying in Kansas? It's like Democrats proposing that blacks be counted as three-fifths of a vote in all elections. Are Midwest farmers being kicked out of the Republican base and being treated like chopped liver?

 

[Truthseeker420]

Playing politics with American lives. That seems to be the new norm in Congress.

 

[mudwhistle]

I grew up where cornstalks vote and elect soybeans to office. So WTF happened to the farm bill? They didn't even vote on one last year in the House, and this year 62 Republicans voted against it after voting FOR a poison pill that drove off all Democratic support. What are Republicans saying in Kansas? It's like Democrats proposing that blacks be counted as three-fifths of a vote in all elections. Are Midwest farmers being kicked out of the Republican base and being treated like chopped liver?

Somebody decided to put food stamps in the bill.

The GOP wanted to cut all of the increases and this gave the Dems a chance to vote against it without looking like they hate farmers. You see the SNAP or food stamp program has grown out of control. Democrats aren't about to cut a program that provides so many votes in November, so they for the most part didn't want to support the farm bill. The SNAP program was put in the farm bill to be a 'poison-pill', or a point of contention nobody can agree on.

link

Farm bill failure hinged on food stamp fight - San Jose Mercury News

 

[Truthseeker420]

Why did 62 Republicans vote against it?

 

[mudwhistle]

Why did 62 Republicans vote against it?

From the article I gathered they felt the cuts weren't enough.

I'm not totally tuned into the process. I didn't ask them personally.

 

[Katzndogz]

The republicans crashed the bill over subsidies given to absentee owners.

Goodness it can't be a shock that many very rich people own "farms" for which they get subsidies and tax breaks, yet have never been to their "farms", which are mostly fallow land. This is so common among the stars of Hollywood that they joke about their alpaca ranches that consist of one alpaca and a rented out ranch house with a deal on low rent in exchange for taking care of the alpaca.

I will always kick myself for not getting into alpaca ranching years ago. The tax break is 90%, there is a subsidy whether you live on the ranch or not. Oh, and you get to sell the alpaca shearings.

 

[Katzndogz]

The Rich and Famous at the Farm Bill Trough | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation

According to government data compiled by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the farm owned by former President Carter and his family collected $272,288 in subsidy payments from 1995 through 2012.

During that same period, Vilsack received $82,874 in USDA benefits for his 592-acre farm in Davis County, Iowa. And USDA Under Secretary Michael T. Scuse owns 20.8 percent of a farm in New Castle County, Delaware, upon which taxpayers have lavished $1,051,107 from 1995 through 2012.

There are no farms in Manhattan, but residents there have collected subsidies totaling nearly $9 million in the past seven years. Recipients also include Mark F. Rockefeller ($356,018) and David Rockefeller ($591,057). Yes, the Rockefeller family (Standard Oil, Chase Manhattan Bank, etc.).

Over on the West Coast, in Beverly Hills 90210, the estate of comedian Jack Benny has collected $18,120 for a farm in Madera County, California, while $142,933 was paid to Mary Ann Mobley (Miss America of 1959) for a farm in Madison County, Mississippi.

These examples are not exceptions but the norm.

These subsidies aren't helping poor farmers, but the very, very, VERY rich.

 

[Wolfsister77]

The Dems couldn't support that large of a cut to food stamps and the Reps wanted even steeper reductions. No matter what they say, that's the bottom line.

 

[Katzndogz]

Like it or not the food stamp subsidy has to be cut. The food benefit is now so generous that its being used for gambling, for porn, lap dances. Food stamps should be given to those who would absolutely starve to death without the help. Of course, if they get food from other sources, like school nutrition programs, they are already getting a nutrition benefit and shouldn't get two.

 

[JakeStarkey]

The bill would have passed if the TPM members had voted for it.

They did not.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Isn't the Farm Bill basically "welfare"? Subsidies and other bullshit? We bitch about food stamps then subsidize farmers who, LIKE MY BUSINESS, should survive on their own merits?

Hypocrisy

 

[Freemason9]

Like it or not the food stamp subsidy has to be cut. The food benefit is now so generous that its being used for gambling, for porn, lap dances. Food stamps should be given to those who would absolutely starve to death without the help. Of course, if they get food from other sources, like school nutrition programs, they are already getting a nutrition benefit and shouldn't get two.

Hell, ALL farm subsidies can be used for "gambling, for porn, lap dances." Why don't you focus on THAT?

Actually, all farm policy should be based upon a broad and expansive food stamp program to the entire U.S. population. Citizens could then use them to purchase preferred food products, and that is what should define what crops the farmers choose to produce. Subsidizing commodity crops like corn and soybeans--and then subsidizing ways to use that shit--is the problem with current farm policy.

Of course, farmers prefer to produce the most profitable crops with the least work and least enterprise. That's why they like the subsidies.

 

[The Rabbi]

The bill would have passed if the TPM members had voted for it.

They did not.

And people complained they were useless.

Our ag policy is a disgrace. We pay people not to farm. We control prices. We sock it to middle class people twice: once in the form of higher prices at the market and a second time in taxes to pay for price supports. With commodity prices at high rates we still send farmers money.

Here's an idea: Let's cut out the entire Agriculture Dept except for the few functions of gathering data. Let's send block grants to states to figure out how to help people who really don't have enough to eat. And let's give taxpayers, farmers, consumers and everyone else in this economy a big break.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Actually, all farm policy should be based upon a broad and expansive food stamp program to the entire U.S. population.

One of the best comments of the week. Kudos.

 

[Freemason9]

Isn't the Farm Bill basically "welfare"? Subsidies and other bullshit? We bitch about food stamps then subsidize farmers who, LIKE MY BUSINESS, should survive on their own merits?

Hypocrisy

YES. In fact, food stamps make more policy sense than direct subsidy payments, because using food stamps create a natural demand that would drive crop selection.

 

[Vandalshandle]

Like it or not the food stamp subsidy has to be cut. The food benefit is now so generous that its being used for gambling, for porn, lap dances. Food stamps should be given to those who would absolutely starve to death without the help. Of course, if they get food from other sources, like school nutrition programs, they are already getting a nutrition benefit and shouldn't get two.

I don't think this is true. I offered 3 bushels of corn to Lola La Boomboom for a lap dance down at the Pussy Galore Club, and she refused the offer.

 

[The Rabbi]

Isn't the Farm Bill basically "welfare"? Subsidies and other bullshit? We bitch about food stamps then subsidize farmers who, LIKE MY BUSINESS, should survive on their own merits?

Hypocrisy

YES. In fact, food stamps make more policy sense than direct subsidy payments, because using food stamps create a natural demand that would drive crop selection.

How does a government subsidy create natural demand? Just asking.

 

[The Rabbi]

Like it or not the food stamp subsidy has to be cut. The food benefit is now so generous that its being used for gambling, for porn, lap dances. Food stamps should be given to those who would absolutely starve to death without the help. Of course, if they get food from other sources, like school nutrition programs, they are already getting a nutrition benefit and shouldn't get two.

I don't think this is true. I offered 3 bushels of corn to Lola La Boomboom for a lap dance down at the Pussy Galore Club, and she refused the offer.

Maybe she doesnt go for fat guys?

 

[Freemason9]

Isn't the Farm Bill basically "welfare"? Subsidies and other bullshit? We bitch about food stamps then subsidize farmers who, LIKE MY BUSINESS, should survive on their own merits?

Hypocrisy

YES. In fact, food stamps make more policy sense than direct subsidy payments, because using food stamps create a natural demand that would drive crop selection.

How does a government subsidy create natural demand? Just asking.

Food stamps are currency for purchasing food products. The market, therefore, creates demand--and the suppliers (farmers) have no alternative but to react to demand if they want to stay in business. If you are confused by the term "natural," I use it in an economic sense. It is the natural demand of consumers.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

YES. In fact, food stamps make more policy sense than direct subsidy payments, because using food stamps create a natural demand that would drive crop selection.

How does a government subsidy create natural demand? Just asking.

Food stamps are currency for purchasing food products. The market, therefore, creates demand--and the suppliers (farmers) have no alternative but to react to demand if they want to stay in business. If you are confused by the term "natural," I use it in an economic sense. It is the natural demand of consumers.

Food stamps are subsidies. You're giving people something that was taken from someone else. It creates artificial demand and nothing more. There is nothing "natural" in markets regarding wealth redistribution.