CCAGW Assails Farm Bill Debacle

Business Wire, May 22, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today reacted to the farce known as the Farm Bill. After President Bush vetoed the Farm Bill on Wednesday, the House moved to immediately override the veto, but it was discovered that the President did not receive the correct copy of the bill. Because of constitutional issues, the House and Senate will have to pass the full bill again and send it back to the President, possibly prolonging the process.

This delay affects the adoption of the fiscal year 2009 budget resolution because while the Farm Bill is within the fiscal year 2008 budget, it would generate a $2.9 billion deficit over 11 years under 2009 numbers, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This would violate the Senate's pay-go, forcing them to cut spending or increase taxes to make up the shortfall. Congress doesn't want to be forced to account for their bloated Farm Bill, so the budget will only be passed afterwards.

"This serves to further highlight the fraud that Congress is perpetrating on American taxpayers by passing the most farcical farm bill in history," said CCAGW President Tom Schatz. "While Democratic leadership and Agriculture committee leaders try to claim that this Farm Bill includes reform, the vast majority of subsidies will continue to go to a small handful of the wealthiest farmers."

The Farm Bill will dole out $5.2 billion annually in direct payments to individuals, many of whom are no longer farming, without regard to prices or income. It also creates a new "permanent disaster fund" costing $3.8 billion, money that will mostly go to the same wealthy farmers.

Another new subsidy created by the farm bill, the Average Crop Revenue Election, could end up authorizing $16 billion more in crop subsidies than previously projected. The new Farm Bill ties subsidy payments to current price levels which have reached record highs instead of a more moderate baseline. The Washington Post reported on May 21 that, "The Agriculture Department estimates that subsidy payments to corn farmers alone could reach $10 billion a year if prices -- which have been $5 to $6 a bushel -- were to drop to $3.25 a bushel, a level seen as recently as last year."

"This has to rank as one of the worst farm bills in history and the irony is that it comes at a time that should have been ripe for reform," concluded Schatz.

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.