Using parliamentary tricks to cut the House out of debating a trillion-dollar Farm Bill, an underhanded move that was used on the transportation bill earlier this year, is generating resistance from all over the political and ideological spectrum. Congressman Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and a number of other House Members sent a bipartisan letter to Speaker Boehner urging him to resist this effort and to take this opportunity to end the wasteful direct payments program, where owners of farm land are given taxpayer dollars simply because the land was once used to grow a particular crop, even if that crop is no longer grown on the land.
Taxpayers can't afford for the Farm Bill, or any bill, to be debated behind closed doors. And the time to end direct payments is long overdue.
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TAXPAYERS DESERVE FULL AND OPEN DEBATE ON FIVE-YEAR FARM BILL July 30, 2012
On behalf of the millions of members represented by our organizations, we write urging you to ensure that members of the House of Representatives are not subjected to a “bait and switch” on the Farm Bill. Recent comments from House Agriculture Committee leadership clearly outline a strategy to use supplemental drought assistance and a one year extension as a “Trojan Horse” to get to conference with the Senate on a five-year Farm Bill that is estimated to cost nearly a trillion dollars over the next decade. If successful, this gambit would make a mockery of your laudable commitment to have full and open debate on legislation. One justification used for moving a Farm Bill revolves around the existing drought affecting much of the country. In fact, only 0.2 percent of the projected 2012 Farm Bill spending deals with expired disaster programs. Nearly 80% of the bill’s $957 billion price tag is not even directed at producers, but on other programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Regardless of whether a Farm Bill is passed, crop insurance will still be available and continue to quickly compensate producers for the bulk of their losses. The bill should be used as an opportunity to save taxpayers billions of dollars and it is not necessary for mature and profitable businesses to receive government subsidies. For instance, any future extension should eliminate the direct payments program outright. Ending this wasteful program is something on which everyone agrees. The simple fact is that the 2008 Farm Bill doesn’t expire until the end of September and the only reason to pass a one year extension two months early is to use August to hammer out larger conference agreements on a much larger package. Such a process would deny the vast majority of House members the opportunity to debate and amend the product. We urge you to resist special interest calls to avoid regular order and misuse the current drought to lock taxpayers into a trillion dollars worth of agriculture policy the vast majority of House members have not had a chance to debate. For more information please contact Josh Sewell, Taxpayers for Common Sense at 202-546-8500 x116 or josh [at] taxpayer.net. Sincerely,
American Commitment cc: Members of the House |
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