Rick Perry received $72,687 worth of farm subsidies. He advocated for farm subsidies as the Texas Agricultural Commissioner. In the mid 1990s he changed his tune.
I do not support ethanol subsidies, but that does not change the fact that Rick Perry is the only candidate who has taken farm subsidy payments from the federal government.
Yes other candidate still do support ethanol subsidies. I do think those subsidies are about to be done away with, if they haven’t been already. That causes me to have less concern about them.
I would say that Perry’s $72,687 dollar payments were an excellent education on the subject.
Perhaps Santorum would be smarter on the subject if he had gotten that type of cash payments.
You mean like Santorum's "cyber-schooling" settlement?
"....State agrees to pay Penn Hills schools for Santorum Saturday, September 02, 2006 - By Eleanor Chute and James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The state Department of Education has agreed to pay the Penn Hills School District $55,000 to settle a dispute over whether the school district should have paid for cyber schooling for the children of U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.
The Penn Hills school board is expected to vote Sept. 12 on whether to accept the settlement.
Mr. McDonald said the agreement will save taxpayers money by avoiding a lengthy legal dispute.
Penn Hills school board member Erin Vecchio, who questioned the senator's residency in fall 2004, said, "It should have been Rick who had to pay it back."
Ms. Vecchio, also chair of the Democratic Party in Penn Hills, said the fact that there has been no ruling on his residency "tells me nobody has the nerve to do that."... Source
At the same time that the family received the subsidies, they were also working under the hassles and taxes that come from the Fed and its bureaucracy.
Don’t forget those wise words of Senator Phil Gramm:
If we should vote next week on whether to begin producing cheese in a factory on the moon, I almost certainly would oppose it...On the other hand, if the government decided to institute the policy, it would be my objective to see that a Texas contractor builds this celestial cheese plant, that the milk comes from Texas cows, and that the Earth distribution center is located in Texas.”
I think ethanol subsidies are taking food off the shelves by increasing their prices. I also know that ethanol is an additive that causes damage to cars/trucks not specifically designed to withstand the corrosion of seals, gaskets, etc.
While Perry has taken the subsidies, I haven’t met or heard of a politician I can name who hasn’t in some way endorsed the subsidies for fear of tree hugger lobby vengeance. I don’t approve of any politician who supports, or gets paid subsidies.