Orszag: “No One Should Be Surprised” By Administration Ag Subsidy Proposals
An important quirk of the budget process is known as “congress.” The President isn’t a Prime Minister who can outline a budget and then commit the country to sticking to it. He can outline a budget and then do his best to get congress to pass legislation that conforms to the budget. Consequently, you wind up with a mix of predictions (GDP will be such-and-such leading to such-and-such tax revenues), policy reaches (the cap & trade proposal), and proposals that I think are best characterized as wishful thinking. The Obama administration’s proposal to curtail farm subsidies for the wealthiest farmers most likely fits into the latter category. I asked OMB Director Peter Orszag if he thought that their projections on that score were realistic given the politics of the situation and he responded in a very upbeat and confident manner that the president “was very clear” about his desire to do this on the campaign trail, and so “no one should be surprised” to see the proposal in the budget. Which is true, but a long way from saying that the administration has been putting its shoulder to the wheel to try to find some way to see this initiative through congress.
Meanwhile, the key legislative players are predictably uninterested in changing things:
“We’ll have to see what specifically the president is talking about, but we just finished the farm bill last year, and I don’t think we’ll open it up,” said Rep. Collin C. Peterson, Minnesota Democrat and chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.
Likewise, the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, said the farm bill, which lasts for five years, “should not be changed midstream.”
“I believe it is premature to make any sweeping changes to the makeup of the farm safety net before we have even had the chance to implement the current farm bill,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.
It’s remarkable how even a hard-bitten rightwinger like Senator Chamblisss can suddenly see the virtues of a safety net when the beneficiaries are well-to-do agricultural firms. A Christmas miracle, you might say, except that the magic of interest-group politics works 12 months a year. Still, if there are any Republicans out there who are both interested in curtailing domestic discretionary spending and in bipartisan cooperation, it might be smart to try to take this up and make the White House try to live up to its own promises of bipartisanship as well as its budget commitments. The prospects for reform of this sort of thing are never good, but the farm bill written in the Gingrich-Clinton era was substantially less bad than the more recent versions have been, so these things are possible to some extent.
12 Responses to “Orszag: “No One Should Be Surprised” By Administration Ag Subsidy Proposals”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
February 26th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Nice photo of the voters at the booths on election day.
With this much bullshit, there’s bound to be a bale of hay for me somewhere.
February 26th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
PS bullshit = Obama underlings bullshit
February 26th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
“the president “was very clear” about his desire to do this on the campaign trail, and so “no one should be surprised” to see the proposal in the budget.”
Really? I don’t remember him being very clear about this at all on the campaign trail. In fact, one of the few things I disliked about his stances was the insistence on idiotic ethanol subsidies and support for the atrocious farm bill. Which I didn’t blame him for given Iowa’s importance, but I am in fact surprised to see this proposal in the budget.
Also, it’s always good to see my dear Senator Saxby continue his quest to take the worst possible position on every issue imaginable.
February 26th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I would almost be willing to give up my price support for milk
if it meant the end of corn subsidies.
February 26th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
“…even a hard-bitten rightwinger like Senator Chamblisss can suddenly see the virtues of a safety net when the beneficiaries are well-to-do agricultural firms…”
Elections have consequence. One of them is when you control both house of Congress and the WH the voters won’t buy making the idiot GOPers the excuse for failure.
February 26th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
like Senator Chamblisss
============================
um, spellcheck
February 26th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Aren’t those projected but never to be obtained Ag savings part of the ObaLiar’s Magical Deficit Reduction Tour?
So much for the Pontificating Asshole’s seriousness and honesty.
Were those covered in Community Organizing 101? Or did he miss that class, busy getting fitted for his pink satin pumps?
And yet Mr. I-Won-The-Election thinks that the Republicans should help provide cover for his ObaBullshit.
I think not.
It is going to be so much more fun to watch Barry try to lasso the Pelosi Reed cat herd.
After all, He Won!
And Elections Have Consequences!
And Bushit, I mean Hussein just needs to spend his Political Bucks.
All spending is Stimulator!
February 26th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Are any of the trolls defending Chambliss? He’s pretty indefensible here.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
This is long overdue.
Just wanted to say that.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
so, when you say “Still, if there are any Republicans out there who are both interested in curtailing domestic discretionary spending and in bipartisan cooperation, it might be smart to try to take this up and make the White House try to live up to its own promises of bipartisanship as well as its budget commitments.”
will that involve some bullshitting on television, or woudl it involve bringing some actual votes to the table?
February 26th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
If you are wondering why Obama is going after farm subsidies now, consider this. The Republicans have made a stink for the last month about wasteful spending, record deficits, and so on. The farm subsidies is an excellent example of wasteful spending, and it’s a lot more than the non-existent farm mice programs they’ve been highlighting.
Obama is pushing them in a corner. They can argue for keeping the wasteful subsidies, making them look like huge hypocrites after the past month. Or they can help repeal the subsidies, giving Obama what he wants (and making themselves look better, although they probably don’t realize this).
This isn’t just about Republicans though. He is leaving the heavy lifting to Democrats for other issues, like cuts in defense spending. The defense cuts in his budget are very small. He knows Democrats would like deeper cuts, but he’s forcing them to take the political hit for making them.
Pretty shrewd. I’m interested to see how it will all play out.