Farm bill expiration looms at ag expo
September 12, 2012 at 3:07 am in Grand Forks Herald
Strong commodity prices and a fruitful harvest should have farmers smiling big at Big Iron this week, but the looming expiration of the federal farm bill on Sept. 30 also is fueling worries about next year. Continue Reading
I absolutely love ND. On one hand we extoll our rugged individualism & tell the rest of the country they should follow our lead economically. We never tire of pointing out how our thrift is a model worth emulating. We also claim to dislike & distrust Washington & want them out of our lives.
Then we get down to reality: we take more from the Feds than we give & have no intention of changing. God forbid one or both of our airbases are threatened – even though one has nothing more than a makeshift mission at present or someone messes with our subsidies.
The farm bill needs to pass those parts which affect non farmers – food stamps, WIC, etc for a year then table the rest until we as a country decide if it is a program that is worth continuing.
Or we can start being honest & admit we are totally dependent on the federal teat & much of our economic success is because the rest of the country props us up
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Flyingnurse, I agree with your comment with the exception of your direction to simply pass the parts of the bill that impact non-farmers; that is about 80% of the bill. Each program should be separated out and subject to review and debate. Congress can decide if the farm portion should be funded and, if so, how much. Similarly, Congress can decide which of the remaining programs should be funded and, if so, how much. Note that my comment does not advocate cutting anything, it advocates an end to the “horse trading” that has allowed funding to increase without debate to determine if it is necessary. Yes, I understand that in the past that is how Congress worked; the politicians from the farm states would vote in favor of a bill that includes funding for food stamp programs in exchange for votes in favor of a bill that included the farm programs. Let’s have honest genuine debate on every program.
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I agree & that is what I meant. I expressed myself poorly. Food stamps, school lunch subsidies etc need to be continued while we hash the details out.
The next harvest is a year away. The farmers have time
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Both candidates for governor are on the farm subsidy teat to the tune of millions, which is why neither will ever bring it up. As for lunch subsidied, why do people have children if they can’t or won’r feed them?
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FN it has been stated before that this state is only Republican in so much as long as it only effects ‘The Other Guy’.. If it has anything to do with me, or what I do for a living by god I had better get compensated.
ND is filled with nothing but Hypocrites.
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