July 16, 2013 9:07AM 

# Subtle as a Sledgehammer 

By [Sallie James](https://www.cato.org/people/sallie-james) 

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I’m sure you’ve heard [quite](https://www.cato.org/blog/breaking-possible-end-agri-nutritional-complex) [enough](https://www.cato.org/blog/perhaps-new-farm-bill-wouldnt-be-so-new-after-all) of [me](https://www.cato.org/blog/farm-bill-passes-house) on the farm bill over the last week or so, but I did just want to draw readers’ attention to a [quote from Mary Kay Thatcher of the American Farm Bureau Federation](http://farmpolicy.com/2013/07/15/farm-bill-and-the-ag-economy-monday-3/), speaking on the *AgriTalk* radio program regarding the need for the 1949 Agriculture Act (the so-called permanent law) to “motivate” Congress to pass farm bills every five years:

> **It’s really the sledgehammer that’s there to make sure we don’t just let the farm bill expire and do nothing about it**. And so to remove that, even to replace it with the 2013 law for Title I is just that sledgehammer isn’t going to be there. \[emphasis added\]

At least she’s honest.

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies) 

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