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Redstate...
Government
Determined to Waste Money on Catfish
Posted by
Ben Howe
Monday,
July 30th
If you
don’t remember the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act
(FARRM),
better known as the Farm Bill, here’s a quick refresher:
Put simply,
the farm bill is an anathema to free enterprise, limited government,
and
individual responsibility. The House version (H.R. 6083) authorizes
$957
billion in spending over 10 years, 80% of which will go towards food
stamps.
Despite erroneous claims in the media regarding severe cuts to food
stamps,
this bill actually consummates the Obama-era baseline into our
entitlement
empire forever.
Nothing too
shocking. I believe at this point we’re all used to seeing billions and
trillions tossed around and given out like we’re printing the stuff.
With all
that money going around, it’s sometimes hard to remember that these
bills are
made up of thousands of pork projects and new bureaucracies with price
tags
that fall well below the cumulative numbers but still represent a
shocking
aversion to fiscal restraint.
It’s easy
to guffaw at $14 million in waste when we are running a $1.7 trillion
deficit,
but let’s not forget our collective (and appropriate) outrage at NPR
funding
which by many accounts, receives less than $4 million per year directly
from
the government.
But $14
million is precisely what will continue to be wasted after the House
Agriculture Committee approved the Farm Bill while rejecting an
amendment by
Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) which would have streamlined catfish
inspections
(yes, catfish inspections) and save taxpayers millions.
Unbelievably
enough, the farm bill believes that the FDA, which already inspects
catfish,
needs helps from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) because, I can
only
assume, catfish have been sneaking into our country illegally.
Either way,
it seems that the Agriculture Committee found it too important to
America to
allow us tone limited to only one gigantic bureaucratic monstrosity
regulating
catfish. Dammit, we gotta keep on top of these things! The fate of our
catfish
supply is at stake!
Rep. Vicky
Hartzler, R-Mo., proposed an amendment to leave catfish inspection with
the FDA
saying that USDA inspection was duplicative and threatened a trade war.
Hartzler
noted that the $15 million price tag far surpassed the $700,000 that
FDA spends
annually on inspection of all fish...
Read the
rest of the article at Redstate
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