FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 13, 2007

CONTACTS:
Steve Ellis, 202-546-8500

Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement by Ms. Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the introduction of The Food and Agriculture Risk Management for the 21st Century Act:

Agriculture subsidies are wasteful and inefficient, and they act largely to pad the bottom lines of corporate agriculture. Current agriculture policy distorts our international and domestic commodity markets, prices small and family farms out of the market, does little for the rural economy, subsidizes crops that are of little nutritional value, and transfers billions of taxpayer dollars annually to a small number of producers.

With deficits as far as the eye can see, reform is vital. The farm bill is about much more than just farming – it’s also about political influence and lots of money. The 2002 farm bill will have cost more than $75 billion when it expires later this year. U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows that two-thirds of all subsidy dollars go to just ten percent of subsidy recipients. And of the hundreds of Congressional districts across the country, just 20 take in more than half of all the money.

The Food and Agriculture Risk Management for the 21st Century Act (FARM 21) is an important step in reigning in a system that has cost taxpayers as much as $24 billion per year. This legislation is the beginning of the end of corporate farm welfare. It will bring farm policy into the 21st century, and save taxpayers an estimated $55 billion over the next 10 years. Over $20 billion of these savings will be directed towards debt relief.

Taxpayers for Common Sense applauds the legislation introduced today by Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Dave Reichert (R-WA). Since our founding in 1995, TCS has been working to change the way tax dollars are used to prop up agribusiness. But a modern farm bill remains long overdue.