Tapscott's Copy Desk - Here are eight congressmen of real courage on farm bill

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Here are eight congressmen of real courage on farm bill

POSTED May 20, 4:47 PM

Who says all congressmen only vote to bring the maximum possible pork to their districts? Andy Roth at Club for Growth took a look at who voted against that monstrosity of a farm bill and how their districts ranked as recipients of farm subsidies for the past decade.

Turns out the district of Rep. Ron Kind, D-WI, ranked as the 30 biggest recipient yet he voted against the bill. Others Members who voted against the farm bill even though their districts ranked among the top 68 included: #37 - Ron Paul, R-TX, #42 - Mike Pence, R-IN, #48 - Jim Jordan, R-OH, Lynn Westmoreland, R-GA, #60 - Dan Burton, R-IN, #63 - Tom Petri, R-WI) and #68 - Devin Nunes, R-CA.

Check out Roth's post and note why he discourages praise for two Kansas Republicans who voted against the farm bill. And note, too, that Andy's work here is an illustration of the Computer-Assisted Research and Reporting (CARR) skills that I teach. Every blogger who is serious about doing in-depth analysis of public policy issues and politics needs CARR skills.

Note as well that the data on the farm subsidies was compiled by the Environmental Working Group, which has done superb work in this compilation for years and has worked with conservatives in Washington to eliminate these kinds of subsidies.