House Agriculture Committee Votes No On Cutting Subsidies

The House Agriculture Committee looked briefly at the President's budget proposals for moderate reductions in some types of farm subsidies, and came to a familiar conclusion. The committee likes the 2008 Farm Bill just the way it is, thank you very much, and is not interested in revisiting subsidies until the next farm bill is due in 2012.

This is unfortunate. Our farm subsidies are inconsistent and often wasteful uses of taxpayer money, and in a year when we ought to be trimming as much fat as possible from the budget, it is unfortunate that entrenched (and moneyed) interests are getting in the way of what were some very reasonable and moderate proposals by the White House.

Subsidies are here to stay for the next two years, and if mid-term elections go the way people are saying they will, I'd wager the tax-payer funded programs will get another vote of confidence in Congress in 2012.


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