Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Gallows humor: govt gives farm payments to dead farmers
In the last post, I mentioned the psychiatrist, Eric Berne. He talked quite a bit about "gallows humor," and, as I recall, didn't think too much of it. I once heard him give a rap—forty-five years ago, at least—and I thought he was really sharp. I still do. But I disagree about gallows humor. When your back is to the wall, when it's either laugh or cry (Joannie Mitchell: "laughin' or cryin'—you know it's all the same release"), my own spirit is to laugh.
In case, just in case, any of you out there still think we have an honest administration...
USDA Sent $1.1B to Deceased Farmers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070723/subsidies-dead-farmers/diff_D8QIINGG0_D8QIJ8RG1.html
MARY CLARE JALONICK | July 23, 2007 | AP
WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department sent $1.1 billion in farm payments to more than 170,000 dead people over a seven-year period, congressional investigators say.
The findings by the Government Accountability Office were released Monday as the House prepared to debate and pass farm legislation this week that would govern subsidies and the department's programs for the next five years.
GAO auditors reviewed payments from 1999 through 2005 in the report, which was requested by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
"It's unconscionable that the Department of Agriculture would think that a dead person was actively engaged in the business of farming," said Grassley.
The auditors said they found that the department has not been conducting the necessary checks to ensure that subsidy payments are proper.
Of the identified payments to deceased farmers' estates or businesses, 40 percent went to those who had been dead more than three years, and 19 percent went to those who had been dead for seven or more years.
John Johnson, a deputy administrator for the Farm Service Agency, said there is no indication that the payments were improper, since some rules allow estates to continue receiving money after a two-year grace period. The department is hoping to rely less on self-reporting and is working with the Social Security Administration to boost its record keeping, he said.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the report bolsters the argument there should be lower ceilings and stricter limits on farm subsidies.
"Given extremely tight budget restraints, it is no longer tolerable to permit billions of dollars in farm bill payments to go to individuals who in instances don't even farm or are no longer alive," he said.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he is looking into ways to stop estates from continuing to collect farm payments long after the designated recipient for them has died.
"They have plenty of people to check to make sure they aren't handing out payments to dead people, for God's sake," he said.
The GAO findings were first reported Monday by The Washington Post
In case, just in case, any of you out there still think we have an honest administration...
USDA Sent $1.1B to Deceased Farmers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070723/subsidies-dead-farmers/diff_D8QIINGG0_D8QIJ8RG1.html
MARY CLARE JALONICK | July 23, 2007 | AP
WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department sent $1.1 billion in farm payments to more than 170,000 dead people over a seven-year period, congressional investigators say.
The findings by the Government Accountability Office were released Monday as the House prepared to debate and pass farm legislation this week that would govern subsidies and the department's programs for the next five years.
GAO auditors reviewed payments from 1999 through 2005 in the report, which was requested by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
"It's unconscionable that the Department of Agriculture would think that a dead person was actively engaged in the business of farming," said Grassley.
The auditors said they found that the department has not been conducting the necessary checks to ensure that subsidy payments are proper.
Of the identified payments to deceased farmers' estates or businesses, 40 percent went to those who had been dead more than three years, and 19 percent went to those who had been dead for seven or more years.
John Johnson, a deputy administrator for the Farm Service Agency, said there is no indication that the payments were improper, since some rules allow estates to continue receiving money after a two-year grace period. The department is hoping to rely less on self-reporting and is working with the Social Security Administration to boost its record keeping, he said.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the report bolsters the argument there should be lower ceilings and stricter limits on farm subsidies.
"Given extremely tight budget restraints, it is no longer tolerable to permit billions of dollars in farm bill payments to go to individuals who in instances don't even farm or are no longer alive," he said.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he is looking into ways to stop estates from continuing to collect farm payments long after the designated recipient for them has died.
"They have plenty of people to check to make sure they aren't handing out payments to dead people, for God's sake," he said.
The GAO findings were first reported Monday by The Washington Post
