People don't really know a lot about Roy Blunt, my Representative back home in Springfield.  He's one of the most powerful people in Washington, the House Majority Whip, as a matter of fact--putting him right behind Dennis Hastert, Tom Delay, and Dick Armey in the House hierarchy.  But Roy works mostly, as Donald Rumsfeld my say, in the shadows and dark alleys.  Here's an example of Roy at work:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17271-200 4Aug19?language=printer" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17271-200 4Aug19?language=printer" target="_blank"http://www.washingtonpost.com... 

Basically, the Senate has slipped a rider into a corporate tax bill that would give the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco (that's good, according to many major public health groups).  But the House has removed that provision....AND would fund tobacco quota buyouts with tax payer, NOT industry dollars.  So, according to the House, it's good policy for the Food and *DRUG* Administration not to regulate a drug, and tax payers should have to pay subsidies to those who grow the drug.  Now, I'm not against tobacco farmer making on honest living, and neither is the Senate, who rightfully want those farmers to be paid for their losses, presumably so those lands can be converted to non-tobacco use or otherwise compensate them for their hardship.  But the House says that Tax Payers ought to save tobacco companies $10 billion on the deal. 

Hmph.  I wonder who might be behind the House version of that deal?  I don't know for sure, but I'll bet it's Republican House Whip Roy Blunt!  It turns out that this provision of the bill is endorsed by Altria Group, Inc., parent company of none other than Phillip Morris, which employs the new Mrs. Blunt (Roy "Southwest Missouri Values" Blunt recently divorced his wife and remarried a Big Tobacco lobbyist) and Andrew Blunt, one of his sons not running for Missouri governor and trying to use the Secretary of State's office to rig the election for Bush (which we've already covered this week in an earlier blog.)

FYI:

http://agpolicy.org/tobacco/2004/BuyoutCo mparisonJuly04-FINAL.pdf" title="http://agpolicy.org/tobacco/2004/BuyoutCo mparisonJuly04-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank"http://agpolicy.org/tobacco/2...

So, wanna help the guy who's threatening to unseat this tobacco pusher?  Click here to meet Southwest Missouri Democrat Jim Newberry.

http://www.newberryforcongress.com" title="http://www.newberryforcongress.com" target="_blank"http://www.newberryforcongres...

-----shimes