[terilyn]

Yes, but if you average his eight years it comes to 13.6 billion per year. And it has dramatically increased starting in 1998. Soon after the Freedom to Farm Act passed the emergency spending started and managed to double and almost triple the previous spending prior to the 1996 bill.

[zoyd]

By custom, Congress decides baseline farm subsidies every five to seven years during consideration of "the farm bill." The 1996 farm bill expires this year. The House, which passed its renewal version in October 2001, wants to legislate a ten-year package. Currently, Senate Democrats are trying to muscle their version through the Senate floor and have included a five-year provision in it.
Both the House and Senate, however, want to lavish $17 billion a year of taxpayer subsidies on farmers. This represents a $10 billion annual increase from the $7 billion levels that prevailed during the mid 1990s and an incredible 70% increase from the Congressional Budget Office baseline projection of $10 billion a year if the old farm bill were simply extended.

From National Review online.

[MJY1288]

I guess they want to ignore the farmers, ignore our infrastructure, ignore our terible education system, ignore our the corruption in our election system, Hell stop paying taxes all together, and vote Libertarian, we might look like Cuba in 4 years but at least POT will be legal