Farm Bill is a Disaster
Farm Bill Disaster for Taxpayers
Washington – The Club for Growth condemned the Farm Bill deal as a disaster for taxpayers and urged all members of Congress to vote against the bill.
Last week, the House and Senate conferees released the details of a Farm Bill deal and it doesn’t look promising. The bill perpetuates much of the waste and misuse of taxpayer dollars contained in the previous farm bills. Despite promises of reform, the Farm Bill deal contains no meaningful reform of wasteful farm subsidies and piles on additional spending. These include:
- Billions of dollars in direct payments to farmers earning record-high incomes during the biggest commodity boom in decades
- No limit on on-farm income in order to qualify for subsidies. This means taxpayers will continue to fund subsidies to wealthy farmers.
- A $4 billion spending boost above the current baseline for conservation programs
- $10.3 billion in new spending on nutrition
- New tax breaks for Cellulosic ethanol and timber industries
- A continuation of ethanol subsidies that contribute to sky-rocketing food prices while we restrict imports of low-cost ethanol precursors
- Ongoing incentives to grow the wrong crops on bad land in bad weather, only leading to economic distortions and greater conservation pressures
- These egregious farm subsidies prevent any meaningful progress on the DOHA Round for world free trade negotiations
- A $350 million tax break for race horse owners
“This current Farm Bill deal is an insult to taxpayers across America,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey, “including many farmers who see their tax dollars going to the wealthiest farmers. The expiration of the 2002 Farm Bill presented Congress with the perfect opportunity to institute real reforms. Instead, Congress has decided to pile on the waste and special-interest giveaways. The White House has rightly threatened to veto the Farm Bill in its current form and we urge President Bush to follow through on his threat. If ever there was a bill worthy of being vetoed, it is the taxpayer-funded monstrosity known as the Farm Bill.”
