dcHarmony: What do Stabenow and Roberts possibly have in common? (The Michigan View 1.27.11)

Posted by hpayne on January 27, 2011

As a gesture to “bipartisan civility” in the wake of the Tucson massacre, dozens of Republicans and Democrats hooked up for the State of the Union address. Washington hailed these mixed prom dates. But in the case of at least one pair united by dcHarmony, taxpayers get stuck with the dinner tab.

The Michigan delegation featured odd couples like Republican Rep. Fred Upton and his Energy Committee colleague, Democrat John Dingell, and GOPer Tim Walberg and Democrat Hansen Clarke. But the oddest couple was liberal Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Religious Right Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas

What could these two kids possibly have to say to one another?

Stabenow is a labor state union toadie who likes tree-hugging, anti-war rallies, and a woman’s right to choose. Roberts, on the other hand, is a farm state, Big Oil-loving, abortion-hating, Iraq War booster who likes long walks with long guns.

But Senator “I can feel global warming when I fly” Stabenow says she’s taken a shine to her right-wing warmingmonger colleague on the Senate Agriculture Committee. “For years, we have worked together to get things done in the committee, and I look forward to continuing a relationship focused on results rather than party labels,” she cooed.

Ah, the Ag Committee – where working to get things done always carries a taxpayer price tag.

Sure enough, Stabenow and Roberts have plenty in common – both hail from agricultural states where ethanol is king. The senators share a passion for subsidizing Big Ethanol, that oldest of taxpayer-bilking boondoggles. This bipartisan love-fest costs taxpayers an estimated $5 billion a year, the result of a staggering 51-cent a gallon subsidy for each gallon of ethanol. Debbie and Pat’s hobby has resulted in a tripling of corn prices as corn is diverted from impoverished mouths to the wallets of rich ethanol producers like Archer Daniels Midland.

Their passion extends to all brands of ethanol as oil “alternatives.” Roberts recently applauded a $76 million federal “investment” to locate a cellulosic ethanol plant in Kansas – and Stabenow boosts similar boondoggles in her state.

While the Michigan and Kansas senators’ SOTU date was hailed as the best of Washington, it actually represents the worst of D.C. The ethanol scam is the triumph of corporate cronyism over the public good.

Beware the new civility. It has a hand in your pocket.

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