July 10, 2012

Committee on Agriculture
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative,

You will soon mark up the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (FARRM). 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 this legislation.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, FARRM would reduce spending by $35.1 billion – a mere drop in the bucket for a massive spending bill that will undoubtedly cost taxpayers more than a trillion dollars. By comparison, the budget resolution passed by the House would have cut spending in FAARM by $180 billion. Despite the fact that the savings in the bill are ephemeral, this legislation is 60 percent larger than the last Farm Bill. At a time when incomes for farm households are at an all-time high, the federal government should be substantially reducing agriculture subsidies.

Although FARRM terminates many of the wasteful programs that were eliminated in the Senate bill, such as the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program, Direct Payments and Counter-Cyclical Payments, many profligate programs are left largely unreformed and new ones have been created. Instead of the shallow-loss insurance that is present in the Senate bill, the House version would implement a Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Revenue Loss Coverage (RLC) framework that could be even worse.

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 consumers to pay higher prices even when supply outstrips demand.

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. FAARM 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 FARRM. All votes on FARRM will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2012 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW