Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Investing

Farm Bill Palooza

by July 12, 2023
July 12, 2023

Chris Edwards

Congress will consider a new farm bill this year, which will likely be a logrolling extravaganza costing $1.5 trillion or more over the coming decade. Just as Lollapalooza had a diverse lineup of bands, the farm bill will include a diverse lineup of subsidies for farms, food programs, energy, rural programs, forestry, trade, environmental activities, and many other things. Hemp production used to be illegal but now gets subsidized in the farm bill.

In his book on government dysfunction, MSNBC host and former congressman Joe Scarborough described the logrolling frenzy leading to the passage of the 2002 farm bill, which he called the “largest corporate welfare scam in history.” He discussed how dairy subsidies were demanded by members from Maine, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, peanut subsidies were demanded by members from Virginia, Alabama, and Georgia, and sugar subsidies were demanded by members from Florida. The logrolling continued for cotton, wheat, wool, mohair, and many other products.

Scarborough concluded, “Standing alone, not one of these corporate welfare measures could survive the bright light of public scrutiny.” That is the key point about logrolling. Unfortunately, logrolling is central to the modern legislative process because the government has grown too large to consider individual provisions on their own merits.

Logrolling means that bills jammed full of special‐​interest provisions can gain majority support even if none of the provisions could gain majorities by themselves. Logrolling involves committee chairs or party leaders bundling together narrow subsidies benefiting particular states and interest groups. If democracy means majority support for specific policies, then logrolling undermines democracy.

The problem with logrolling has been observed since at least the mid‐​19thcentury when omnibus bills bundled dozens of Army Corps of Engineers projects across many states. At the time, people objected that these bills included low‐​value projects that did not have broad support. The federal government is much larger today, and so the logrolling problem is worse, as I discuss here and here.

Here is a June 2023 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on the upcoming farm bill: “The omnibus nature of the farm bill can create broad coalitions of support among sometimes conflicting interests for policies that individually might have greater difficulty achieving majority support in the legislative process.” That is a polite way of saying that if you bundle a bunch of loser provisions together you can end up with a legislative winner.

Farm bill logrolling is becoming more extensive says the CRS:

In recent years, more stakeholders have become involved in the debate on farm bills, including national farm groups; commodity associations; state organizations; nutrition and public health officials; and advocacy groups representing conservation, recreation, rural development, faith‐​based interests, local food systems, and organic production. These factors can contribute to increased interest in the allocation of funds provided in a farm bill.

What can we do about it? The official baseline for the farm bill this year is $1.5 trillion over 10 years. Farm bill leaders in Congress think of the baseline as the minimum pot of money they can carve up and handout to dozens of special‐​interest groups in coming months. But the federal government is hurtling toward a debt crisis, and business as usual is not acceptable. The bipartisan debt‐​ceiling deal passed in May reflected a new priority of controlling red ink. We need belt‐​tightening all around and a much lower price tag than $1.5 trillion for any farm legislation.

I look at logrolling in detail here and here and farm subsidies here.

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
New Renault-Geely engine firm to have headquarters in UK
next post
Bank Earnings Showdown: Emerging Trends You Need To Know

You may also like

Dolton, Illinois’s Governance Crisis Has Wider Implications

April 22, 2024

Stop Lionizing Paul Volcker and Villainizing Arthur Burns

August 30, 2022

Friday Feature: Sweetwater Scholé

June 2, 2023

The Biden Administration Continues to Be Wrong about...

September 26, 2023

The US Labor Market Explains Most of the...

November 16, 2023

New Essay: Public Health as If People Mattered

March 18, 2025

Trump’s Lawyers: FOIA Ignorance Edition

January 24, 2024

How to Upgrade House Stablecoin Bill 2.0 to...

May 17, 2023

Should Governments Fund Research?

February 18, 2025

Companies Have the Right to Decide What Speech...

June 4, 2024

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • How to Boost Employee Morale with Thoughtful Corporate Perks

      June 11, 2025
    • ‘Congress must act’: Nonprofit study exposes green energy org’s ties to CCP interests while undermining US

      June 11, 2025
    • GOP congressman takes major step toward gubernatorial announcement

      June 11, 2025
    • DOJ argues Trump may cancel Biden-era national monuments

      June 11, 2025
    • Government’s spending surge to trigger significant tax rises, says leading advisory firm

      June 11, 2025
    • Republican senator teams up with Democrat to push $15 per hour minimum wage plus annual inflation increases

      June 11, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,185)
    • Investing (2,027)
    • Politics (15,595)
    • Stocks (3,141)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved