Stop the Farm Bill [Completed Action]

This ACTION is now COMPLETED.

Coverage of the campaign:

New York Times - Study Says Farm Bill Would Add To Not Cut Deficit

The Hill - Pass a Fiscally Responsible Farm Bill (Op-Ed)

The Free Press - Good Case the Farm Bill Would Add to Deficit

KNEB Radio / AP - Groups Opposed to Farm Bill Inclusion in Fiscal Cliff Deal Speak Out

Buzz Feed Politics - Conservatives, Environmentalists, Find Common Cause Against Farm Bill

Market Watch - CCAGW Joins Coalition to Oppose Lame Duck Farm Bill

Other Words - Snake Oil Deficit Savings

Sunlight Foundation - Did Your Taxpayer Dollars Underwrite the Feast?

 

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Tell Congress to stop well-heeled special interests from jamming through a trillion-dollar farm subsidy bill!

This misguided effort would distract Congress from its only real job right now – responsibly addressing the looming fiscal cliff of across the board spending cuts and tax increases.

A Farm Bill is not needed to keep American farms running:

• Agri-business experienced a record $122 billion in profits in 2012.
• Taxpayers will spend at least $15 billion on insurance policies that let agriculture businesses lock in expected income.
• Crop insurance, federal nutrition programs (food stamps), and most other programs were extended in the FY2013 Continuing Resolution
• This Farm Bill creates new entitlement programs that put taxpayers on the hook for guaranteeing crop prices and even higher incomes for agricultural businesses            

 

The Contact Your Representative Letter:

Dear Representative,

As a constituent I urge you to responsibly address the looming “fiscal cliff” instead of pandering to parochial special interests by passing a nearly trillion dollar farm subsidy bill.

It’s too late to pass a good farm bill this year. Spending what little legislative time remains on a nearly trillion-dollar, multi-year bill that would boost taxpayer subsidies for agriculture – a sector that booked record profits of $122 billion this year – would be irresponsible. You must instead pass a one-year farm bill extension, fully paid for with modest cuts to subsidies for those who don’t need taxpayer support, while concentrating on the truly pressing issues facing the nation.

To be responsible, this farm bill extension must follow the lead of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and immediately end the subsidies known as “direct payments.” This wasteful entitlement program sends $5 billion a year to mostly the largest, most profitable farm businesses, regardless of need. In addition, Congress should bring the costly crop insurance program in line with all other farm subsidy and social welfare programs by subjecting recipients to means-testing and placing limits on the total amounts individual farmers and ranchers can collect. Subsidies to profitable, often foreign-owned, crop insurance companies must end. A number of other outdated, inefficient, or redundant initiatives should be cut back or eliminated as well, including the Market Access Program, the Foreign Market Development Program and the Small Watershed and Biomass Crop Assistance programs. These modest steps would provide more than enough money to extend funding for the programs that expired with the last farm bill.

Taxpayers cannot afford a farm bill that creates new entitlement programs for agriculture. Creating new taxpayer-paid price supports, expanded crop insurance, or open-ended “shallow loss” income guarantees would be a step backward. It is also vital to repeal the outdated Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1938 and the Agricultural Act of 1949. Agriculture interests cynically trot out the specter that these obsolete laws could come into force to leverage Congressional support for new subsidies. These laws have no relevance to modern agriculture and should be repealed.

America needs a dynamic and robust agricultural sector. These limited, well-defined measures constitute the framework for a fiscally responsible farm bill extension that can pass both the House and Senate without getting bogged down in controversy – and allow for a full and robust farm bill debate next year.

 

Launched November 19, 2012

Completed December 19, 2012

 

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