House Bill H.R. 2419 Fail Americans

Here is a brief outline of the short comings from the new 2008 Farm Bill that just passed the House and is now on its way to the Senate:

1. It provides little improvement to means testing or payment limits.
Married couples with an adjusted gross income of $1.5 million will still receive
subsidies. The payment limit level of $360,000 was not reduced.
2. It continues to dole out $5.2 billion annually in direct payments to individuals
(many of whom are no longer farming) without any regard to prices or income. These direct payments, 60 percent of which go to the wealthiest 10 percent of recipients, were created in 1996 and were supposed to phase out by 2002.
3. It creates a new “permanent disaster fund” worth $3.8 billion - a disaster for taxpayers, most farmers, and the environment. This will encourage planting on disaster-prone land, plus most payments will go to the same producers already receiving the bulk of the direct payments.
4. It increases the support price for sugar, reserves 85 percent of the U.S. market
for domestic producers and creates a new sugar ethanol program. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this new program will cost taxpayers $1.3 billion over ten years, although the real cost is likely to exceed $4 billion. The consumer costs of the sugar program will exceed $2 billion annually.
5. It adds earmarks such as $5 million for grants to broadcasting systems inserted by Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), $3 million for Delta Health Alliance Grants inserted by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), and $1 million for the National Sheep and Goat Industry Improvement Center inserted by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.).

This legislation is a joke and it hurts not only Americans, but people all over the world. I am actually pleasantly surprised that Rep. Tiahart voted AGAINST this bill. However, I feel less confident about my two Senators. So here is my letter to the two Kansas Senators:

Dear Senator:

I am writing today to ask that you take some political risk and reject the new Farm Bill. This Bill has less to do with Agriculture and more to do with special interest and wasteful big government.

Farm income will be at an all-time high in 2008. There is absolutely no reason for over $20B of taxpayer money to fund farming families that have incomes in excess of $1.5M/year. It is tough to explain how someone qualifies for government aid when their income is 150 times the poverty level in the US.

This Bill also drives the cost of food higher for all people as there are incentives to produce less food. There are provisions which drive the price of some commodities, like sugar, to levels that are 2-3 times the world price. While this is good for a few families in Florida that actually grow and process sugar, it is bad for consumers who have to pay the price in lost jobs (think the candy industry) and higher prices for basic food staples.

The Farm Bill has become a toxic mess of legislation. This is politics at its worst and the effects on the economy go well beyond the $20B price tag every year. Please stop this senseless piece of legislation and support President Bush.

Respectfully yours,


Feel free to copy it and send it on to your Senators.