No less a free-marketeer than George W. Bush had high praise for a farm bill laden with $83 billion in government subsidies. "It helps America's farmers, and therefore it helps America," he said at the May signing.
But a closer look at the farm bill that takes effect Aug. 1 shows that two of the biggest beneficiaries are not really farmers. A deeply buried provision raises the level of subsidies to cotton mills and shippers. Sources tell TIME those businesses could reap $1.5 billion over the next six years--at a higher rate of increase than what Congress provided for cotton farmers...
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