• It props up domestic logging interests with a “U.S. Importer Declaration Program” that would keep out low-cost timber products from international competitors.

• It requires USAID to contribute up to $60 million to a doomsday “seed bank” in Norway.

• It funds the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program at a cost of $84 million for child development and food security in foreign countries.

Although sustaining a veto on this title would certainly send a message in support of fiscal restraint, it would probably be too little too late for Republicans to “regain their fiscal brand.”

Of course, the same can be said about Bush’s sudden desire to get tough with Congress on spending. Had he played hardball at the time of the last farm bill in 2002, the GOP might not be in this predicament today.

Creation of the FIT Force shows that McCotter and his Republican colleagues understand the need to take back the brand of fiscal responsibility. However, this is a full-time responsibility and needs to be treated as such. The farm bill was most certainly a lost opportunity.