NYC-WTC_000152373

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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Intematioiial September 29,2001 National Politics Business Technology Helping Farmers Help Nature Science Health Sports timely help from an READERS’ OPINIONS New York Region unexpected source — the Bush Join a Discussion on Todav s Education Weather administration — Americans Editorials _________ Obituaries j who have long wanted to overhaul the C^ert?on/’^^ i government's discriminatory and wasteful farm programs suddeniy Special: A Nation I have a fighting chance to succeed. In what is shaping up to be the first big legislative struggle since before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Houi^ is expected next week to take up a $ 171 billion, 10-year farm - Columns bill. There are two competing measures on the floor, and the choice Readers' Opinions between them is Stark and clear.

I One bill, reported out of the Agriculture Committee, represents the old ! Automobile way of doing things. It would sock the taxpayers for nearly $20 billion Arts ! annually in farm subsidies that are advertised as helping the family Books Movies ! farmer but in fact are channeled mainly to big producers and Travel Dining & Wine j agribusinesses. The subsidies encourage further consolidation in the Home & Garden industry, crop surpluses, low prices and — because of those low prices Fashion & Style f — demands for yet more government money down the road. New York Today Crossword/Games j I The competing bill, sponsored among others by Wayne Gilchrest of Week^n'Review • Maryland and Sherwood Boehl ert of New York, both moderate ; Republicans, and Ron Kind, Democrat of Wisconsin, would trim the tearing Network i subsidies and devote more than $5 billion a year to conservation Job Martset ) programs with incentives for farmers to restore wetlands, improve Real Estate habitats for endangered species and hold the line against urban sprawl Arcniyes by preserving open space. The bill starts from the powerful principle Help Center ! that fanners and ranchers are stewards of half the country's land, and NYT Mobile NYT Store~ I should thus be encouraged to act wisely. E-Cards & More Jobs%^N^t^ai i 0”^® reason the bill has a good chance is that it spreads the money ........ .Kit Online Media around. Older programs benefit only one-third of all farmers, mainly in i Our Advertisers Midwestern and plains states. The conservation incentives in the NEWSPAPER ; alternative bill would be available everywhere, giving it appeal to Home Delivery Customer Service i members of Congress from the Northeast and big states like Florida. Media Kit YOUR PROFILE i alternative bill has also received a boost from a report published “ " Review Profile ! Sept. 19 by the Agriculture Department arguing for a major shift in E-M^l Options Log Out i priorities from traditional subsidies to conservation. The report showed j in graphic detail how the current $20 billion program distorts the Text Version ! market, pushes land prices to artificially high levels and threatens ! current as well as future trade agreements. Although Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has yet to choose between the rival bills, her

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