Conservatives: 'Please Pass More Pork'

Most conservative members of Congress abandoned their small-government principles to vote for a fat new farm bill that rains tax money on every state.

The best parts of the bill provide research money to fight pests and crop diseases, and the Florida citrus industry supports it. But many parts of the bill are extravagant and wasteful at a time when food prices and farm profits are soaring.

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer blasted the legislation, saying it "continues to balance subsidy payments to the wealthy on the backs of the middle class taxpayer. It doesn't target help for the farmers who really need it."

The conservative Heritage Foundation agrees, saying it wastes "$25 billion annually to subsidize a small, elite group of farmers through policies that do nothing to help the farm economy."

Republican candidate for president John McCain courageously refused to support the bloated bill. What he would support, he explained, is "a reasonable level of assistance and risk management to farmers when they need America's help."

McCain found himself abandoned by half his ideological soulmates and unfairly blasted by Democratic candidates for president.

Sen. Hillary Clinton accused McCain of "saying no to rural America" and Sen Barack Obama went farther, accusing him of "saying no to ... energy independence, no to the environment, and no to millions of hungry people."

Every Florida Democrat supported the bill, as did many Republicans, including Rep. Vern Buchanan of Sarasota and Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow. Bill Young of Pinellas deserves credit for saying no.

The enormous bill does include defensible initiatives, such as providing fresh fruit and vegetable snacks for schools.

But overall, it wastes tax dollars and calls into question the conservative credentials of its Republican supporters. As Club for Growth president Pat Toomey observed, "When more than half the party votes for the farm bill, it becomes awfully hard to convince the American people that Republicans care about fiscal responsibility."

Why did so many go astray? Columnist Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal suggests conservatives in Congress have found out that big government pays off: "They came to make a difference and wound up with their butts in the butter."