Editorials

In an overwhelming show of approval, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 on Wednesday by a 318-106 vote that The Associated Press termed a "strong, veto-proof majority."

Not familiar with the act with the cumbersome name?

It's more informally called the Farm Bill — a $290 billion package of the good, the bad and the ugly, all cobbled together to help the poor, benefit folks back home and provide subsidies for just about everyone who farms regardless of how much they make.

First, the good.

One can argue that providing food stamps for the poor is just another way of subsidizing agribusiness, but that's a minor point when folks are hungry. With the recession upon us and community food pantries running low, any help given to the less fortunate is the right thing to do. Better to help agriculture in this way than to subsidize directly those who don't need the subsidies.

Which brings up the bad. President Bush wanted to ban all subsidy payments to farmers with incomes of more than $200,000 a year, which seemed reasonable. But Congress, in its wisdom, upped that to $750,000 for individual farmers ($1.5 million for married couples). That is not reasonable. It is ridiculous.

As in beauty, the ugly part of the bill is in the eye of the beholder. A total of $170 million for distressed salmon fishermen on the Pacific Coast (constituents of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.) may seem like pork down here, especially considering there's only $73 million for building farm reservoirs and conserving water in places that have experienced exceptional drought the last two years. (Alabama, as everyone here knows, provides a good example of that.)

The bill is full of such examples.

And then there are those things that should look good to everyone — such as subsidies for the production of cellulosic ethanol from woodchips and switch grass. Alabama produces these items, so our state will benefit directly, though moving toward cellulosic ethanol will divert less of our food corn into ethanol production. That will help us all.

As far as Bush is concerned, the bad portions of the bill outweigh the good, so he promises to become an 11th-hour budget hawk and veto the bill. This puts some of the president's most dependable supporters in a bind. The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the bill later this week. But here at home, with the Alabama Farmers Federation endorsing it, Republicans will likely vote to override the expected veto.

Once again, Congress has produced a "hold-your-nose-and-vote-for-it" bill. Given the available choices, that is what our delegation should do.