Farm Bill's Surprise Defeat A Win For Common Sense

[Geee]

Investors Business Daily:

Legislation: Congress on Friday rejected the nearly $1 trillion farm bill by a vote of 234 to 195. So what? you ask. For one, it had never happened. For another, it shows rank-and-file politicians are getting nervous.

That the measure went down in flames is a good thing, even if the reasons each party had for opposing it were radically different.

Even calling it a "farm" bill was a misnomer. It was really a bloated welfare bill that would have kept subsidies in place for wealthy farmers while supersizing spending on food stamps.

The bill's $940 billion price tag over 10 years was shocking enough. That amounted to a 50% increase over the last farm bill, passed in 2008 during the depths of a recession and vetoed by President Bush as too big.