House GOP farm bill rewards the rich, slams the poor

The House Republican leadership conducted a test Thursday to see how many of its members really cared about entitlement reform, and only 12 passed.

At issue was a bill to reauthorize and amend federal support for farmers. An earlier version of the measure died in the House on June 20 when 62 Republicans joined 172 Democrats in opposition. The Dems were upset with the cuts the bill would have made in the food stamp program; the Republicans argued that the bill wouldn’t cut enough from either food stamps or farm aid.

On Thursday, the GOP leadership offered a new version of the bill that dropped the food stamp provisions entirely but reportedly left the bill’s approach to farm supports intact. The combination of new subsidy programs and expanded crop insurance has been flailed by budget-conscious analysts on the right (the Heritage Foundation called it “indefensible”) and on the left.

Granted, it would eliminate the egregious direct payments program, which doles out dollars to farmers based on acreage, not crop prices or any other factor based on economic conditions. But it would still funnel billions of dollars to agribusinesses that don’t need the help, while distorting markets and raising prices for consumers.

Unlike the previous version of the bill, which faced numerous amendments on the House floor, the new one was brought up under a closed rule. Faced with a take-it-or-leave-it choice, 216 Republicans voted in favor of the measure -- 45 more than in June. All 196 Democrats voting opposed it, although they did so mainly because the food stamp provisions were dropped, not because the farm provisions were bloated.

As we’ve seen in California, the easy part of deficit reduction is to cut safety net spending. The recipients of unemployment benefits, child-care subsidies, food stamps and the like have at best a muted voice in the political process. The hard part is ending the flow of tax dollars to better-off interests with entrenched constituencies.

The fact that about 1 in 6 Americans is on food stamps suggests that something is terribly wrong. And while I may not agree with their proposed solution, I don’t fault Republicans for being alarmed by the situation and wanting to do something about it.

What I find disheartening is that so few Republicans apply the same skepticism about federal benefits to the more well-heeled beneficiaries in agribusiness. They had the chance Thursday to demand real reform in the farm program, and all but a dozen bit their tongues.

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