The Upcoming Farm Bill: A Primer
May 4, 2008
Politics, as they say, makes strange bedfellows. Today’s San Francisco Chronicle has the best article I’ve ever read on the farm bill, which is now making its way out of conference committees (see previous posts). Here’s how reporter Carolyn Lochhead starts out: “It is the rarest of moments. President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are on a collision course over a giant farm bill, but it is Bush who is broadly aligned with liberal Bay Area activists pushing for reform, while the San Francisco Democrat is protecting billions of dollars in subsidies to the richest farmers.” The interest groups slated to get pieces of this $300 billion chunk of taxpayer dollars dare not complain about it, out of fear that a more rational public policy would be worse for them. That’s politics for you, at its most raw.
Please read up on this and contact your Rep & Senators, especially if you’re in the 8th District of CA with Ms. Pelosi! What is she thinking?
We don’t need these subsidies!
Comment by Daniel Ithaca,NY — May 4, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
As a voter, I spend a lot ot time and energy trying to learn what I can about the candidates before I vote, hoping to support somebody who will make a difference in things like this. When we get the same old stuff anyway, it is frustrating. Amazing how politics seems to produce odd bedfellows.
Comment by Sheila — May 4, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
contact your representatives and senators today!
you can see who is working on the farm bill at the url below…
Be active- it only takes 10 minutes!!!
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/agriculture_dem/pr_040908_conferees.html
Comment by Jillian Bird — May 5, 2008 @ 8:09 am
Hi there, I’m a big fan of your and Pollans work and wanted to pass along my thesis project at ITP (in Tisch at NYU) which is a virtual phone bank application. It sounds like it’d be useful for helping people contact the politicians influencing the farm bill:
Cause Caller
http://www.causecaller.com
Check it out and let me know what you think!
Thanks,
Fred
Creator, Cause Caller
Comment by Fred Benenson — May 10, 2008 @ 11:16 am