Washington – After intense negotiations and conference meetings, the new Farm Bill revealed yesterday offers taxpayers little in the way of true reform. The Club for Growth commends President Bush for threatening to veto the legislation and urges all members of Congress to uphold the president’s veto when the time comes.

Supporters of the Farm Bill are touting its many reforms, but most of them are nothing more than window dressing. These same supporters also neglect to mention the large increases in subsidies and the further distortion of the agricultural market that will occur as a result. Some of the bill’s most egregious elements include:

• Increased farm subsidies at a time of record-high farm income
• New subsidies for sugar, fruit, and nut producers
• The new caps on income in order to qualify for subsidies do not go far enough and leave wiggle room for wealthier farmers to continue to collect subsidies.
• Budget gimmicks that hide as much as $10 billion in extra spending so that the real cost of the Farm Bill will be even higher than supporters claim
• A new program that pays farmers for weather-related farm losses, creating incentives to grow the wrong crops on bad land in bad weather and leading to economic distortions and greater conservation pressures
• Severely hampers progress on the DOHA Round for world free trade negotiations
• Tax breaks for race horse owners and timber companies

“Today, Agriculture Secretary Ed Shafer said the president will veto the Farm Bill, and we commend that action,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Congress should not be allowed to throw more and more taxpayer dollars at every special interest under the sun and call it ‘reform.’ There is nothing reform-minded about a bill that increases subsidies and tax breaks for special interests, further distorts the agricultural market, and hampers the country’s free trade agenda.”

The Club for Growth will be key-voting the vote on the Farm Bill conference report, urging all members to vote “No.” Key votes are included in our Congressional Scorecard for the 110th Congress. The scorecard provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies.

Washington - Today, the Club for Growth released its 2007 annual scorecard, awarding the Defender of Economic Freedom award to six senators and forty-nine representatives who scored a 90 or above on the Club's scorecard (see here).

"These top-scoring members of Congress are staunch defenders of American taxpayers," said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. "Their votes are critical to lowering taxes, cutting wasteful spending, and promoting economic growth for all Americans. The Club for Growth scorecard allows taxpayers to see how their senators and representatives are performing in Congress and find out who is truly fighting for pro-growth, limited-government policies. We hope that support for pro-growth principles will continue to grow, allowing more members to earn this award and more Americans to benefit."

The ratings are based on a comprehensive examination of votes in the House and Senate pertaining to key economic issues, including taxes, wasteful spending, entitlement reform, free trade, and regulation. Each lawmaker is given an economic growth score ranging from 0 to 100, with a score of 100 indicating the highest support for pro-growth policies. The Club is also introducing a searchable database that allows you to search past and current scorecards by party, state, house, and member.