Energy Bill

The most recent energy bill passed by Congress will increase ethanol production to a point where 25% of the U.S. corn crop will be used to create a fuel that is not as efficient as gasoline, cannot be shipped by pipeline, and uses huge amount of water to produce. This is not a 'green' fuel. Large commercial farms that average $200,000 in annual income and $2 million in net worth get subsidies, and the bill allows a single farmer to earn more than $1 million before cutting subsidies. The farm bill will cost taxpayers nearly $300 billion, including $5 billion for direct payments each year to farmers, regardless of whether they grow anything. Buried within its hundreds of pages is $93 million in tax breaks for race horses, a $4 billion trust fund for disaster payments on top of subsidized crop insurance that is supposed to take care of such "disasters". Of course this is business as usual for a Congress seeking re-election no matter what party. The addiction to farm subsidies causes prices to rise to the consumer. Unfortunately, many voters ignore these bills and vote not on a candidates record but rather on what they promise, which rarely is fulfilled.