(2007-10-04) Farm Bill News

Some recent bits on the Farm Bill

• What is emerging this time, in legislation that has passed the House and is pending in the Senate, looks a lot like the system that has been on the books for decades. It would spend some $14 billion a year on payments to farmers, with billions going to growers of big commodity crops like feed corn and cotton.

• the US Senate is just starting its process. The House Of Representatives pass its bill in July.

• what will probably be discussed in the markup process

• an ad created by the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, targets senators who support subsidies for high-fat foods such as bacon and burgers that make their way to school-lunch programs... Political action committees representing agribusiness have given more than $5 million over the past four election cycles to members of the Senate Agriculture Committee. (Corruption)