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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JEB who wrote (226219)	2/8/2002 1:43:15 PM
From: gao seng	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

That would be cool. Could have a web site and email, too. I would volunteer to offer my services.

To: JEB who wrote (226219)	2/8/2002 1:50:40 PM
From: gao seng	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 769670

I don't know the details of this, if it is good or bad for the average farmer, but it seems to be a success story of using the web to lobby the public to get Congress to change regulations. Senate votes to limit farm payments Rob Hotakainen Star Tribune Published Feb 8, 2002 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For months, the stories have been an embarrassment on Capitol Hill: Newspapers have exposed farm subsidies going to Fortune 500 companies, millionaires who live in the city, banks and colleges and universities and others who have little to do with family farming. "The list goes on forever," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. On Thursday, members of Congress decided that enough was enough: On a 66-31 procedural vote, the Senate voted to limit federal payments to $275,000 for each farm. "This was an historic vote," said Ferd Hoefner of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in Washington, D.C. "Not since the 1970s has either body of Congress voted to tighten up on payment limitations." The amendment sponsored by Dorgan and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was supported by Minnesota's Democratic senators, Paul Wellstone and Mark Dayton. "I tell you: I am just stunned. . . . This was a reform vote," said Wellstone, a co-sponsor. Opponents called it an arbitrary limit and said it would hit hard in southern states, where it costs relatively more to produce cotton and rice compared with corn and soybeans. The amendment, which was attached to the new farm bill pending in the Senate, caps payments at $225,000 for individual farmers but allows $50,000 more for married couples. "This is a victory for family farmers in Minnesota and across America," said Dayton, adding that the amendment will make sure that federal aid is "targeted to the people who really need it." He said that the plan will save money as the nation enters a new era of deficit spending. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said the amendment would still allow generous farm payments while removing loopholes that allow a handful of large farmers to receive unlimited payments. During a speech on the Senate floor, Dorgan displayed a recent story in the Washington Post that reported that Tyler Farms of Arkansas, a 61,000-acre operation, had received $38 million in subsidies over five years. "Is that what we're here for?" he said. "Is that what this fight is about to help family farmers? I don't think so. It's not why I'm interested in this business." Dorgan said that such stories of abuse will "ruin the climate" for future farm legislation if Congress doesn't change the system. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., countered by telling the story of an Arkansas couple farming 2,000 acres but struggling with the high costs. "They barely achieve the economy of scale they need to survive," she said. Many of the stories exposing large farm subsidies were published after a local environmental organization made a farm-subsidy database available online. That made it possible for the public to see how much money individual farmers had received during a five-year period. While Environmental Working Group's database (at ewg.org) angered many farmers, it immediately became part of the congressional debate. Some cap opponents warned that passing the amendment could jeopardize the entire farm bill. But Wellstone said its passage by such a large margin all but guarantees that it will be included in the final bill that emerges from a House-Senate conference committee. startribune.com