It was just a few short years ago that Texas District 11 Congressman Mike Conaway was blasting away at President Bush's efforts to reform farm subsidies, especially Mr. Bush's insane idea that a person can be so rich that maybe he/she shouldn't be collecting government welfare in the form of farm subsidies. And Mr. Conaway was cheering lawmakers on as they overrode President Bush's veto of the farm bill.
Ah, those were the good old days when reformers were few and money was free. And No one cared how much money the government spent or where it went.
Now far more people are watching Washington and worrying about what the mountain of government debt will mean for our futures. And some are actually trying to do something about it.
Today Mr. Conaway is campaigning on the editorial pages of the Midland Reporter-Telegram:
This past Tuesday, House Republicans released their own blue print for America, a budget we’ve titled “The Path to Prosperity.” The future the 2012 Republican budget calls for is radically different than the president’s. Our budget strengthens our nation’s finances, shrinks our national debt and preserves the promises of Medicare and Medicaid for generations to come. While I do not agree with every line of the budget, I believe it addresses the difficult financial position of our nation in a comprehensive and rational way. This budget puts our government on a path to long-term sustainability. [emphasis added]
We've heard Mr. Conaway talk the talk before, and maybe this time he means it. But he did hedge a little -- see the part in bold. Perhaps it's because other Republicans are eye balling the farm bill pork. See Online.WSJ.com:
Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's blueprint for the fiscal 2012 budget puts agriculture subsidies in the cross hairs, seeking to cut $30 billion over a decade—starting when the next farm bill is passed in 2012—out of a total of some $150 billion in total expected spending on farm subsidies.
Twenty percent is a good start. One hundred percent is better.
Before ObamaCare got signed into law Republican lawmakers were out in the field talking it down. Representative Conaway met with some healthcare workers in Midland, and he told them a story about an experience of his when he addressed an audience in a small community in his district. Someone in that community audience told about another resident of that community who was having health problems and asked why wasn't there something the government could do. According to Mr. Conaway, he answered that the people in that community should step forward to help that individual instead of looking to the government.
Whether or not the members of that community were on the farm bill dole isn't known, but if he could give his farm bill clients that same answer, we would all be better for it.
Be strong, Representative Conaway, we complain, but we are rooting for you.
Updated 4/12/11: Here's another approach. Help reduce the budget deficit by cutting subsidies to billionaires. Thomas Sowell:
My plan would start by cutting off all government transfer payments to billionaires. Many, if not most, people are probably unaware that the government is handing out the taxpayers' money to billionaires. But agricultural subsidies go to a number of billionaires. Very little goes to the ordinary farmer. ...
The usual political counter-attacks against spending cuts will not work against this new kind of spending cut approach. How many heart-rending stories can the media run about billionaires who have lost their handouts from the taxpayers?
Let's do it.
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