The Farm Bill

Recently Tim Johnson was in Mitchell taking credit for a new local broadband system. On June 30th the Mitchell Daily Republic ran a report:

During a visit with local telecommunications officials on Tuesday, Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson said Mitchell’s new broadband system will be envied by every other community in the state.

“It’s cutting edge,” Johnson said. “I think almost every community in the state is going to say they want to do something like it.”

Sancom, a subsidiary of Woonsocket-based Santel Communications Cooperative, plans to build the system with the help of $19.9 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development agency. Mitchell-based Vantage Point Solutions will provide engineering and consulting services for the project, and another Mitchell company - Innovative Systems - will supply software.

The system is expected to serve 6,300 new voice subscribers, 821 new data subscribers and 3,386 new video subscribers.

Johnson met with many of the involved parties Tuesday at the Vantage Point Solutions office in the Palace Mall.

He also took a tour of the remodeling project in the mall’s former On Cue store, which will be the site of Sancom’s new Mitchell Telecom office.

Johnson praised Mitchell’s community leaders for not resting on the success of other economic development projects. He said the new broadband system, along with other ongoing projects, will lay a foundation for “creating a still larger pool of highly trained workers.”

Now compare that report with this June 3, 2004 USDA press release:

Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman today announced, as part of the Bush Administration’s effort to expand the availability of broadband technology in rural areas, the approval of five rural broadband telecommunication loans totaling $47 million to expand access to advanced technology in five states.

“Advanced high-speed Internet technology enables more rural Americans to access information to improve their educational, health and business opportunities,” said Veneman. “President Bush established the goal to have broadband access to every household by 2007 because he understands the value of such technology and is committed to the idea that every American should have the opportunity to succeed.”

Veneman announced in January 2003 that USDA would expand efforts to bring farmers, rural residents and businesses greater access to improved telecommunication technology through loans and loan guarantees to rural telecommunications providers. Funds for the program were authorized through the 2002 Farm Bill. To date, over $253 million in broadband loans have been approved in this program.

The rural broadband access program provides loans and loan guarantees for the construction, improvement and acquisition of facilities and equipment for broadband service in eligible rural communities. Priority is given to applications that propose to serve areas where no residential broadband service currently exists.

In South Dakota, $19,879,000 in loan funds will assist Sancom, Inc. with constructing a ‘fiber to the premise’ broadband system that will serve approximately 6,300 new voice subscribers, 821 new data subscribers and 3,386 new video subscribers in the rural community of Mitchell, South Dakota.

Isn’t it funny that Tim Johnson made no comment about the President’s role in providing this funding? Also note the funding were authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill. Does not look like farmers or ranchers are the ones who are benefiting. Instead Internet providers, engineers, and software programmers are reaping the benefits.

As in 2002, the Democrats are currently blaming President Bush for not providing drought relief to South Dakota farmer...as the President argues that the funding should come from within the current Farm Bill that was passed in 2002.

Here is a 6/30/2002 analysis from Rush Limbaugh:

A month ago Tom Daschle, the Senate majority leader, appeared on NBC's Sunday morning show with Tim Russert, who confronted him with an extract from a Post editorial. The extract wasn't very friendly - it attacked the senator for promoting the budget-busting farm bill - so perhaps the snippy response was understandable. "I am just amazed at the inaccurate reporting about the farm bill," the senator stated, claiming that the bill actually saved money. In the past, he explained, preplanned farm subsidies were supplemented by annual emergency payments, which taken together exceeded the cost of the new farm program.

"We're getting rid of those ad hoc disaster payment approaches. We're actually bringing down the cost of the federal program, and very few journalists and very few commentators report on that." A British prime minister once said that a week is a long time in politics, but even he would have marveled at what happened next. On June 13, just 11 days after Mr. Daschle's TV performance, a press release appeared calling for more ad hoc disaster aid - the sort of payment that had apparently been phased out.

Here is an excerpt from a 6/20/2002 press release from Daschle and Johnson:

In a statement this week, the Bush Administration said that they would not support providing any additional funds for agriculture – including natural disasters such as droughts and floods – for this year or any year until the new farm bill expires in 2007. The Administration said any natural disaster funding should come from the newly-passed farm bill.

"Each day that passes without significant rain in South Dakota means more farmers and ranchers are facing economic disaster. And when farm income declines, our communities lose business and face economic ruin. For this Administration to say that drought assistance must come from farm commodity program spending is like saying that funding to fight the war on terrorism should come from existing Defense Department funding or that money to fight forest fires raging in the western United States should come from existing Forest Service budgets. Emergencies and disasters, by their very definition, are unplanned and therefore require special funding," Johnson said.

In 2004 the Democrats continue to play politics with the Farm Bill. Johnson takes credit for funding the Farm Bill provides to Internet providers (not exactly plow jocks), as Daschle blames Bush and Thune for the lack of assistance the drought stricken ranchers are in great need of.

First, it is typical that the government programs would provide funding to business that provide internet services to those that can’t afford to feed for their cattle. Second, Democrats will take full credit for benefits that were not possible without the effort of Republicans. But then Democrats will blame Republicans for not providing benefits. In this case the Democrats blame Republicans for deficits caused by tax cuts to Internet providers, engineers, and software programmers while the Democrats take credit for when those same individuals benefit from Federal funding. The Democrats are blaming the Republicans for not providing drought relief, as they blame Republicans for the deficits that funding of broadband services contribute to.

The Democrats are trying to have it both ways. They can get away with it, because the media is not doing its job of informing it's customers with the whole story.