Not long ago Congress was grandstanding in front of the American people, attacking the evil oil company executives for receiving tax breaks despite their record profits. Edward Markey, D-Mass criticized oil companies for reaping “a windfall of revenue” while poor people have to choose between heating and eating because of high energy prices. It was because of this line of thinking that House Democrats voted to roll back $13 billion worth of tax subsidies to American oil companies, despite still offering subsidies to foreign companies.

This week Congress is working toward final passage of the farm bill, with an estimated cost of $300 billion over the next 5 years. Included in this bill is $5.2 billion per year in direct payments to farmers, even as they are reaping record profits due to increased food prices.

The farm bill, which comes along once every five years and will cost upward of $300 billion, in fact will do little to address many of the most pressing concerns. It will not change biofuel mandates that are directing more corn to ethanol and contributing to a global rise in food prices.

It will do little to ease worldwide food shortages. And at a time of high volatility in the futures markets, it will not require tougher regulation.

In other words, Congress seems oblivious. And longstanding critics of American policy are piling on.

The senior Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, Representative Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia, said Democrats were to blame for the jump in food prices because of mandates for higher ethanol production that they included in an energy bill last year.

“When corn prices go as high as they were going, people shift their production out of wheat into corn, out of soybeans into corn, out of rice into corn, even out of cotton into corn,” Mr. Goodlatte said. “The mandate basically says ethanol comes ahead of food on your table, comes ahead of feed for livestock, comes ahead of grains available for export.”

But as lawmakers trying to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the farm bill struggle to meet a Friday deadline when a short extension of the current law will expire, there is little in the bill to help slow the ethanol-driven price increases. In recent weeks, corn prices have hit record levels of $6 a bushel and more.

For starters it is important to note that it is not only rural farmers who are receiving these subsidies. National Review last year showed a map with approximately 200 residents of Manhattan who are also receiving agricultural subsidies from the government, for their rooftop Park Avenue gardens. Clearly this was not the original intention of the subsidy, however as we have learned in the past, once you start offering free money, it is almost impossible to take it away (unless you are taking it from an evil oil company).

So my question to Congress then would be, why is it acceptable to offer farmers a tax subsidy despite record profits, yet unacceptable to offer oil companies a subsidy for the same reason?

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Congress, Features, Taxes