Passing bad bills.

• Position: Jeff Flake's opinion on worst bills - Brief article

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)is a hard-core fiscal conservative, famous for voting against his own party's bills and for his willingness to talk trash about his colleagues' legislative efforts. Citizens Against Government Waste calls him a "taxpayer superhero" for his cost-cutting, small-government attitude. In January reason asked Flake to name the three worst bills oozing out of Congress.

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1 The Farm Bill: "Both the House and Senate versions of the farm bill extend subsidies, distort markets, and hamper future free trade agreements, and the final bill is only likely to get worse in a conference committee. Sugar growers who didn't get what they wanted in the initial legislation are urging conferees to repeal portions of NAFTA."

2 The omnibus Appropriations Bill: "Congress rolled 11 appropriations bills into one massive package and...