February 8, 2007

Dear Member of Congress:

Taxpayers for Common Sense Action, a nonpartisan, budget watchdog-group, urges you to support efforts to improve upon the President’s 2007 farm bill proposal. While we applaud the proposal for closing loopholes that allow wealthy, larger farm operations to pad their profits, overall, the Administration proposal is far from bold and far from the reform package necessary to rein in the taxpayer-funded giveaways enacted in the 2002 farm bill. In some areas, the proposal is a step backwards.

Carrying an annual cost that runs as high as $20 billion, the current web of farm subsidies wastes taxpayer dollars, invites retaliatory tariffs on American exports, encourages the production of huge crop surpluses that lower U.S. and world crop prices, and threatens to impede successful global trade negotiations. With forecasts of record domestic row crop prices, especially for corn and soybeans, the time for eliminating this wasteful subsidy system has come. As we confront an increasingly dire fiscal future, bold steps are necessary.

We welcome the President’s contribution to the debate, and we look forward to working with the Administration and the Congress to rein in wasteful spending and bring our budget back into balance. There can be no question that reducing agriculture subsidies is among taxpayers’ top priorities, both immediately, and in years to come. Thus, we look forward to working with you on this and other agriculture-related issues and are more than happy to provide ideas for reducing the heavy burden these programs place on taxpayers.

If you would like to discuss this issue further, please contact me or Demian Moore on my staff at (202) 546-8500 x118 or demian@taxpayer.net.

Sincerely,

Ryan Alexander
President

 

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