Farm Bill: Bailouts, Special Interests, and Pheasants

The infamous “secret farm bill,” negotiated by the leadership of the agriculture committees with little transparency and discussion, will not pass as part of the debt-reduction “supercommittee” recommendations, since discussions between Democrats and Republicans in the committee broke down. This means that the covert farm bill will not enjoy fast-track approval in Congress. We should be thankful that the new farm bill will be closely scrutinized and openly discussed. The hidden negotiations of the bill probably included handouts to close associates and lobbyists of the agricultural committees’ leaderships. In fact, one of the details that leaked out was that pheasant hunters, represented by Pheasants Forever, had “successfully lobbied lawmakers for provisions that would have steered conservation funding to landowners who preserved grassy areas as habitat for the game bird.” If the “pheasant lobby” successfully lobbied to receive handouts, who knows what type of guarantees were made to more prominent and politically powerful groups, such as rice and peanut farmers (who supported the secret bill)?We should expect a farm bill that will pit spending hawks, Corn Belt lawmakers, and welfare supporters against each other...more

The "secret" bill was written by the Senate & House Ag Chairmen, Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich) and Frank Lucas (R-Okla).  So what's up with Lucas?  Is he a pheasant hunter or is this because of the over $5 billion in ag subsidies that have gone to Oklahoma in the last 5 years?