Jeff Flake: “This, it has been said, is the largest expansion of the Federal Government domestic program since the 1960s, aside from…”

“This, it has been said, is the largest expansion of the Federal Government domestic program since the 1960s, aside from military issues. It is a huge expansion of the Federal Government and little is being said about it. We are expanding the commodity programs to include for the first time apples, peanuts, onions, with little discussion about it at all. It simply increases dependency out there among our farmers and it goes simply the wrong direction, away from the free market. I find it ironic that this bill, at a time that we are supposedly embracing free markets around the world, this replaces the Freedom to Farm Act, it repudiates it, it sets it aside and replaces it with the Farm Security Act. We are trading freedom for so-called security that is often illusive. We need to know who is receiving these subsidies. That is why I appreciate the gentleman from Michigan's leadership on this issue, to know that most of the subsidies are actually going to well-off farmers, or some who are not farmers at all. We know, for example, that Scottie Pippen, that well-known farmer from Arkansas, when he is not posting up for the Portland Trailblazers, apparently he is digging post holes around his farm in Arkansas. He received thousands of dollars in subsidies for either growing or agreeing not to grow certain crops.”