Just Who Does Congress Represent?
If the voting to override the President’s veto of the farm bill (H.R. 2419) is any indication, most members of Congress care little about America’s taxpayers. According to the Chicago Tribune:
“President George W. Bush vetoed the long-embattled 2007 farm bill on Wednesday, saying it provides subsidies for farmers at a time of record crop prices, increases farm spending by $20 billion and uses "budget gimmicks to hide much of that increase." But within hours, in a show of bipartisan defiance, the House overwhelmingly overrode his veto.”
On Monday, we growled about an earmark for Plum Creek Timber that was put into the farm bill, and noted that the National Taxpayers Union had described the bill as “bloated.” Well, that wasn’t the only pork in the bill, as noted by Jeff Patch at Cato@Liberty, who wrote that earmarks totaled almost $1 billion, adding:
“Fourteen senators (nine Democrats and five Republicans) and one House Democrat inserted 26 earmarks, according to the conference report. Three earmarks appear to be multi-member earmarks.
“The earmarks represent only one-third of one percent of the bill’s expected cost ($289 billion). Legislators will soon issue laudatory press releases patting themselves on the back for rewarding their districts and deflecting criticism by pointing out the “low” cost of earmarks. That’s not the point. The sneaky way the earmarks were inserted and the inefficiency of the federal government doling out money for local projects (also an affront to federalism) helps explain why the public has lost faith in Congress.”
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) trotted out the familiar rhetoric of the tax and spend crowd, e.g., “If President Bush is allowed to have his way, this veto would be a setback for farmers, for hard-pressed Americans trying to keep food on the table, for our promising organic farming sector, and for efforts to clean up Lake Champlain.” (emphasis added) The complete text of President Bush’s veto message is here, but included this:
“It continues subsidies for the wealthy and increases farm bill spending by more than $20 billion, while using budget gimmicks to hide much of the increase.”
So organic farming is now a special interest, too, which must be subsidized by American taxpayers. What’s next? By the way, the vote tally to override the President’s veto was 316-108. Democrats voted 216-14 to override while Republicans voted 100-94. Arlington’s Rep. Jim Moran (D) voted to override the veto.
HT: Dominic Rupprecht, blogging at the National Taxpayers Union.