Editorials

Congress suddenly has abandoned any pretense of fiscal responsibility by padding two key bills with spending excesses and steamrollering them past presidential opposition.

Large numbers of Republicans abandoned President Bush in his fight against excesses in the $307 billion farm bill and addition of billions in domestic spending to a bill to pay for the Iraq war.

It could be an indication that incumbent Republican legislators in Washington have looked at sagging public approval rankings of Congress and are putting their re-election chances in the hands of special interests.

Bush has been left high and dry along with all Americans who still want to see some restraint in federal spending and a smaller federal government.

The president vetoed the farm bill last week even though an override by Congress was widely anticipated. He called it a tax increase on regular Americans at a time of high food prices.

Other criticism of the farm bill was even harsher.

"This atrocious 'farm' bill hands billions of tax dollars to farmers at a time when many farm commodities are selling at record highs, prices at grocery stores are soaring, and net farm incomes are climbing," said Steve Stanek, a research fellow at the Heartland Institute.

Steve James, a Cato Institute trade policy analyst, said, "This reprehensible bill makes no attempt to put the United States on a path to getting rid of federal government involvement in agriculture and instead lards up an already misguided bill with almost $1 billion of earmarks and yet more programs to support farmers."

Since the last farm bill was enacted in 2002, crop prices and net farm income have more than doubled. Yet the new farm bill would expand the $25 million farm subsidy system by raising payment rates and creating new subsidies.

The majority of farm subsidies go to commercial farmers, who report an average income of $200,000 and a net worth of nearly $2 million. Yet the farm bill continues subsidies to multimillionaires and large agribusiness owners.

The bill also liberalizes eligibility rules and increases benefits in the food stamp program to benefit an estimated 11 million people nationwide. Budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation Brian Riedl said of the veto override: "Is it any wonder why Washington is so unpopular these days?"

President Bush's veto was overridden 82-13 in the Senate, including 35 Republicans; and 316-108 in the House, including 100 Republicans.

Adding insult, the Senate approved by a veto proof 75 to 22 margin, including 25 Republicans, a $165 billion war funding bill that includes a costly domestic component Bush had opposed and promised to veto.

The "war funds" bill includes $52 billion over 10 years for veterans' education benefits and $16 billion for two years of extended unemployment benefits and money for such items as levee repair and rural schools.

Attaching extended unemployment insurance benefits to troop funding is considered a mistake by some analysts.

In addition to overcoming a presidential veto, House Democrats had to cover a blunder of their own. The bill sent to Bush to sign was missing 35 pages, out of 673, raising technical problems. But the House quickly re-passed an intact version.

If finally getting their way is the measuring stick, House Democrats came out on top in these frays. Their actions, however, clearly put taxpayers at the top of the "losers" list.

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