Is Anyone for the Farm Bill?
posted by Frank Pasquale
I just got the following action alert from OxFam:
The Senate bill being considered, like the House version that passed, favors a relatively small number of producers at the expense of most farmers and rural communities, and it falls short of meeting its obligations to families that depend on food stamps and to conservation programs that protect rivers and streams. To make things worse, the Farm Bill would actually hurt poor farmers in developing countries. . . . [Meanwhile,] millionaire farmers . . . receive unfair subsidies.
My question is: is it mainly interest group politics and campaign finance transactions that permit bills like this to pass over and over? Or do they naturally flow from a Senate that may overrepresent big agribusiness? Tom Geoghegan notes that “the 50 Senators from the 25 [least populated] states represent 16 percent of the population.”
October 31, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Posted in: Agricultural Law
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Responses (2)
merevaudevillian - October 31, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Given that such bills must pass both the House and the Senate, and be signed by the President, one hardly can blame the Senate’s population imbalance for such legislation… particularly in this case, where the House has already passed such a bill.
Susan Schneider - March 28, 2008 at 10:09 am
There are many in the agriculture community, and many in the agricultural law community that are seeking the reform of our farm policies. Unfortunately, taking money away from well heeled interests, whatever industry they represent, is a task that always proves difficult for Congress. For information and links about the debate, as well as some sharp criticism, please check out the aglaw blog at aglaw.blogspot.com
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