When Congress Works

David Broder's July 31 column for the Washington Post offers info on the new National Housing Trust Fund, which makes a good beginning on creating affordable housing for both cities and rural areas. In "When Congress Works", Broder says,

"For far too long, the federal government has been shirking its responsibility to help the neediest Americans meet their basic housing need. Food stamp allocations have been increased repeatedly to combat hunger, in part because the farm lobby values the additional markets for its products."

Well ... yes. We agree. The farm lobby does appreciate the fact that when people are hungry, they need food ... whether they can afford it or not.

And well ... yes. Finally. The housing lobby, pushed by the home mortgage loan crisis as an extra incentive, finally got the job done, or started. Our congratulations to Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Jack Reed and Richard Shelby ... and all the other folks who helped too. Read more.

NPR Notices -- More on how George Apparently Doesn't Eat

Everyone's catching on: The President continues his silence. Determined to be relevant, he's willing to veto almost anything but funds for the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

NPR described the Mr. Bush's continuing silence -- first in the State of the Union, and continuing five days later, like this: "Let's see ... economy .. check. The success of the surge ... check. Renewing No Child Left Behind ... check. Nasty Iranian rulers ... check. Shot at Bill Clinton's remark about his willingness to pay more taxes ... check."

Never mind that the ability to produce our own food and feed our own people has long been a great strength of our country. Never mind that we can't support or "grow" a strong middle class if our people are hungry. Never mind that for decades U.S. farm policy has long nurtured both food producers and people who need to eat. NPR called its story, "Farmers Angry Bush Left Farmers out of Speech," but we all need to be angry -- farmers and consumers alike because when the President and his lock-step followers in the Congress stop the Farm Bill, they neglect School Lunch, Food Stamps, Food Safety, Food Security and much more, including the farm programs that act as insurance for our food producers so they can stay in business.

So we urge you: Write or call the President today. Let him know that he and his supporters made a big mistake, and it's past time to become cooperative so that we can get the Farm Bill passed and after that, get back to making the decisions necessary to get our economy working again. Click here to find out how: The White House.