Washington, D.C.  The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today released the following statement by President Thomas A. Schatz, commenting on the introduction of the “Farm, Ranch, Energy, Stewardship and Health (FRESH) Act of 2007.”  The chief sponsors of the bill are Sens. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.): 

            “On behalf of the more than 1.2 million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I applaud Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), for the introduction of the FRESH Act, which would replace Depression-era farm subsidy programs with programs that would provide a real safety net for farmers when they need it instead of doling out excessive payments to the wealthiest farmers whether they need them or not.

            “Under the FRESH Act’s gradual phase out of direct payments, farmers would receive transition payments, with any amount exceeding $10,000 going into a newly-created Risk Management Account.  These accounts would be farmer-held and managed, and farmers could draw from them to supplement their incomes in less profitable years.

            “By phasing out direct payments, the FRESH Act would move farm policy in the right direction.  When direct payments were created in the 1996 Farm Bill, they were intended to be transition payments that would decline over time, not another entitlement program for the wealthiest farmers, which occurred in the 2002 Farm Bill.  Instead of continuing the convoluted and multi-layered combination of marketing loan and countercyclical payments, which farmers receive regardless of market conditions, the FRESH Act would provide commodity crop farmers with county-based revenue and yield insurance policies.  This would enable farmers to mitigate weather and market risks rather than simply continuing to make payments when there are good harvests and high prices.

            “The FRESH Act’s reform of commodity programs provides savings, some of which would be invested in other priorities, such as nutrition and conservation.  CCAGW particularly appreciates that the authors of the FRESH Act recognize that, at a time when farm income is at record highs and commodity prices are soaring, some of the savings should be directed toward reducing the budget deficit.  The FRESH Act takes a step in the right direction by modestly reducing the deficit by $3 billion over 5 years.  The FRESH Act represents a fresh idea for real reform of farm subsidy programs and should be adopted by the Senate.”

            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.