LOD: Too Much to Swallow

Remember the mega-millions poured into making the healthcare debate in Congress so sickening? Well, the lobbying surrounding the 2012 Farm Bill has even more big-money spending from outfits that will make you gag. According to Think Progress, the new Farm Bill “would, among other things, deprive millions of Americans of food stamps, gut food safety protections, and prematurely force genetically engineered crops onto the market.” The fight in Congress is not over and the money keeps flowing. To get a sense of scale, an analysis by Food & Water Watch says that agribusinesses, commodity groups, food manufacturers and other special interests spent $173.5 million on the 2008 Farm Bill — more than $500,000 a day during the 110th Congress. By comparison, the lobbyists’ price tag for the Obama’s healthcare legislation hit $120 million.