Ernest Istook: “due to the death of my stepmother last night, I will miss the vote on the farm bill, as I am traveling to Fort Worth…”

“due to the death of my stepmother last night, I will miss the vote on the farm bill, as I am traveling to Fort Worth, TX, to be with my father and other family. Had I been able to cast my vote on this bill, I would have voted ``no.'' The genuine problems of America's farmers and rural communities will never be fixed by these enormously-expensive subsidies. The biggest costs have nothing to do with helping family farmers. Although the House and Senate each voted that nobody should receive more than $275,000 per year in subsidies, the final bill says there's no limit on the amount! That typifies the problems with this bill. American farmers, consumers and taxpayers need more free enterprise, not more big-government subsidies. I'll keep voting to help farmers by expanding world markets, diversifying agriculture, encouraging rural economic development and providing fairer tax treatment to farmers. We have enormous expenses for the war on terrorism and for homeland security, and we've got to provide whatever it takes to protect America. But that's no excuse for huge escalation in other spending. We're undermining our future if we don't get better control over spending taxpayer's money. Unless we adopt the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, requiring a balanced budget in peacetime, we may never get spending back under control.”