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Wednesday, August 15, 2007
But Mr. Pitts, How
Would You Pay for It?
by
Howard A. Jones
Rep. Joe Pitts is once
again playing a politician’s favorite game of supporting legislation
without discussing how he would finance it.
In his column appearing in
the DLN of Aug. 7, Rep. Pitts extols land conservation with support
for the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. Although CREP is not
the main thrust of this letter, a perhaps more enlightening discussion
should involve the actual applicable experience of the program to date
with specific reference to whom has benefited most. Might that not be
large agribusiness corporations?
But Mr. Pitts’ main thrust
involves funding. He belittles Democratic efforts to fund increases,
such as a larger CREP, by increasing taxes. That, sir, leaves two
choices: increasing the deficit or decreasing other programs.
Rep. Pitts does not even
mention this choice as the Republicans have been busily doing both,
reducing existing federal programs such as education and health care,
or increasing the deficit by borrowing to pay for the enhanced farm
bill.
Either way, the taxpayer
is going to endure increased expenses. Hey, maybe it won’t happen
during Rep. Pitts’ tenure.
If any taxpayer should
wonder what that effect might be like, consider the current sub-prime
mortgage fiasco. The only difference will be that nobody will be
protected from the fallout.
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