Report: GOP lawmakers accept farm subsidies, reject other federal funds

[kpete]

Source: Great Falls Tribune

HELENA — A new report calls some legislative Republicans hypocrites for taking tens of thousands of dollars in federal farm subsidies while voting to turn away federal funds for other services and programs.

A liberal Helena-based think tank The Policy Institute released a 17-page report stating that "some of the same legislators who rail against government in general, the federal government in particular and all the evils contained therein, have benefitted from large amounts of money to their farm and ranch operations through federal farm subsidy programs over the years."

According to the report, 16 Montana legislators received farm payments in excess of $100,000 between 1995 and 2009. Those payments included conservation subsidies, disaster subsidies and commodity subsidies for agriculture products such as wheat, barley and canola.

Of the 33 legislators benefitting from farm subsidy programs during the study period, 30 were Republicans and three were Democrats. Farms and ranches owned by Republicans received 98.8 percent of the subsidy money — or $6,976,120 — and those of Democrats received 1.2 percent.

Read more: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20110315/NEWS01/103150325/Report-GOP-lawmakers-accept-farm-subsidies-reject-other-federal-funds?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage

[LiberalEsto]

1. Maybe 'cause they are swine nt

[jmowreader]

2. It is hypocritical, ain't it?

Montana government is full of farmers--their governor is a cattle rancher, and there are obviously a ton of major-league ag people in the Legislature.

Their fighting the eeeevul United States Government while accepting farm subsidies is a bit like the senior citizen teabaggers screaming about how terrible the government is while accepting Medicare and Social Security.

[PSPS]

3. "A liberal Helena-based think tank"

A liberal Helena-based think tank The Policy Institute released a 17-page report stating that "some of the same legislators who rail against government in general, the federal government in particular and all the evils contained therein, have benefitted from large amounts of money to their farm and ranch operations through federal farm subsidy programs over the years."

Notice how the media never attaches potentially identifying adjectives to the usual collection of right-wing think tanks that have a virtual lock on spinning public discussion:

American Enterprise Institute
Heritage Foundation
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Cato Institute
Hoover Institution
Manhattan Institute
Lexington Institute
Project for the New American Century
Center for Security Policy
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Center for Immigration Studies
Claremont Institute
Hudson Institute

There are many more, of course. But the above list is virtually the only source of "talking heads" or "experts" used by the corporate media. And they're never referred to as "conservative" or "right-wing."