June 5, 2012

U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator,

On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to oppose S. 3240, the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012 (Farm Bill).

According to the Congressional Budget Office, S. 3240 would spend $969 billion over the next ten years, which is only $23.6 billion less than current law. By comparison, the Obama administration proposed $32 billion in savings over ten years, and the budget resolution passed by the House would have cut spending in the Farm Bill by $180 billion. At a time when incomes for farm households are at an all-time high, the federal government should be substantially reducing agriculture subsidies.

Although the Farm Bill does eliminate some wasteful programs, such as the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program, direct payments, and counter-cyclical payments, many profligate programs are left largely unreformed and new one have been created. The bill would implement a shallow-loss insurance program that would guarantee farm revenues of 88 to 90 percent and could end up costing taxpayers even more than direct payments. The sugar program, which has been criticized in the past by CCAGW for inflating the price of sugar and benefiting the wealthiest one percent of sugar farmers, would remain unscathed. Additionally, the bill would replace the current arrangement of wasteful and unnecessary dairy subsidies, price floors, and regulations with a dairy margin protection program and a market stabilization program that would force farmers to cut supply when milk prices threaten to fall.

The bill also leaves intact the Market Access Program (MAP), which delivers advertising subsidies to successful agricultural firms, like Butterball, Tyson, and Sunkist Growers, Inc. that sell their goods abroad. Over the past decade, MAP has provided nearly $2 billion in taxpayer money to agriculture trade associations and farmer cooperatives. In 2011, MAP paid for a reality show in India called “Let’s Design” in order to promote U.S. Cotton. MAP is a salient example of corporate welfare and its termination is included in CAGW’s Prime Cuts database, a compendium of 691 waste-cutting recommendations that would save taxpayers $391.9 billion in the first year and $1.8 trillion over five years. According to Prime Cuts, the elimination of MAP would save taxpayers $200 million in the first year and $1 billion over 5 years.

Members of Congress must use the Farm Bill as an opportunity to address duplication, cut wasteful spending, and make reforms to allow the free market to function efficiently. Although this bill takes some steps in the right direction, it establishes new government programs and leaves intact old ones that would continue to distort the free market, inhibit competition, and drive up prices for consumers and taxpayers. I urge you to oppose the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012. All votes on S. 3240 will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2012 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW