A Congress that kowtows to the farm lobby won't block the economically ignorant Farm Bill, which perpetuates aid to the wealthiest at the expense of taxpayers. Yet given the opportunity to at least clean out the barn, lawmakers haven't even picked up a pitchfork. All the talk of much-needed reforms has gone nowhere. The Democrat-controlled House in its Farm Bill sidestepped any serious remedies, not the least of which would be cutting the $26 billion in direct subsidies that feed some of the nation's wealthiest farmers. Government today cuts six-figure checks for landowners far removed from farming. It also has paid an estimated $1.1 billion from 1999 to 2005 to estates and companies of deceased farmers. All told, federal farm programs have doled out $131 billion over the last nine years. "The more we study payments being made, the more we begin to see the unbelievable phenomena of literally sending Farm Bill payments to people who live in Manhattan and San Francisco," says Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. The agricultural lobby and its allies in Congress call this a "safety net" for farmers. No, it's an outrageous raking of taxpayers for subsidies that distort the economy. It's up to the Senate to stop the delusion and return fiscal discipline to farming.

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