As the House of Representatives decides our nation’s future costs, one Representative is questioning how they get there. In a letter preceding the latest budget debates in the House, Rep. Collin C. Peterson (D-MN) urged David Dreier, the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules, to consider the affect that certain provisions will have on the country.While the decisions being made about Farm Bill Conservation Programs affect policy, their futures are being decided in a conversation about budget.
Rep. Peterson writes, “Decisions on how much mandatory spending should be allocated to programs that benefit farmers, rural communities, researchers and others should be made by the authorizing committee, not appropriators. Therefore, I would also ask the Rules Committee not to protect these [CHanges In Mandatory Program Spending] CHIMPS and the other legislating provisions when you craft the rule governing debate on H.R. 2112 and allow authorizers to raise relevant points of order.”
Regardless of individual views on the particulars of how money should be spent, I think we can all agree that following our own laws is advisable in a democracy.