The Farm Bill and the Secretary of Labor

Farm Bill

The failure of the super committee means—among other things—that the planned “secret farm bill” won’t enjoy a fast-tracked approval.

Research Associate Daniel Rivera Greenwood comments.

“We should be thankful that the new farm bill will be closely scrutinized and openly discussed. The hidden negotiations of the bill probably included handouts to close associates and lobbyists of the agricultural committees’ leaderships. In fact, one of the details that leaked out was that pheasant hunters, represented by Pheasants Forever, had ‘successfully lobbied lawmakers for provisions that would have steered conservation funding to landowners who preserved grassy areas as habitat for the game bird.'”

Secretary Hilda Solis

In a recent blog post, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis blasted employers for not contributing to pensions.

Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs comments.

“Secretary Solis’s only points out certain bad actors, specifically job creators, which makes her post come off as disingenuous and exposes her explicit pro-union bias. Secretary Solis never scorns Big Labor fraud and worker abuse. In fact, she encourages it. Recent Department of Labor rulemakings have decreased union financial disclosure reporting. Secretary Solis did not give a blistering response to the $1 billion Long Island Railroad pension fund scam. The obvious reason for her silence being that union officials were involved in the scam. A pension scam amounting to $1 billion deserves greater reaction when compared to a measly $8 million in back pay spread over 2,000 employees.”