On the recordFebruary 18, 2011
I think if we were to have a contest on your YouCut for the single stupidest thing the Federal Government could do, it would be to take $120 million more of American tax dollars and send it to subsidize Brazilian cotton farmers so we can continue to subsidize American cotton farmers. That's what we're talking about. I find it somewhat ironic that my friends who are the great believers in free enterprise and the free market think somehow there's an exception for agriculture. But whether you do or you don't, sending money to Brazilian cotton farmers at a time when we are making fundamental cuts here is problematic. It also illustrates my problem with the structure of this bill. I was hard-pressed to find offsets so we could continue to fund enforcement of securities fraud or consumer protection. Where could we have gotten the money? Well, we could have gotten it from Brazil. Instead of sending it to Brazilian cotton farmers, we could have used it for our own law enforcement. But the bill is structured to protect this. At least we cannot waste it. So let's be very clear. To protect our right to continue to subsidize American cotton farmers, we are going to subsidize Brazilian cotton farmers. Lunacy.
