Farm Bill fools

The Senate dithers on the job

By Caroline Cummins

November 14, 2007

So the Farm Bill, that $286 billion monster piece of food legislation that trundles its way through Congress every five years, has stalled yet again.

A feeble version of the bill passed the House earlier this summer. Now that it’s under consideration in the Senate, the bill has become even more of a juggernaut, with proposed amendments covering such non-food-related topics as immigration and taxes. And that’s not all; as the Associated Press reported,

According to Senate aides, other amendments would deal with digital television, the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, medical malpractice, and protecting children from online predators.

Please, contact your senators this week (before they recess for a two-week Thanksgiving break) and urge them not only to drop these foolish amendments, but to pass a Farm Bill that actually supports clean, healthy food and farms.