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February 28, 2008
The Honorable George W. Bush Dear Mr. President, Congress appears ready to complete work on H.R. 2419, the “Food and Energy Security Act of 2007.” Beginning with the presentation of the United States Department of Agriculture’s 2007 Farm Bill proposals, your Administration has been an advocate of farm program reform. Regrettably, neither the House nor the Senate is following that lead. We urge you to follow through on your commitment to veto any farm bill legislation that does not contain significant reforms or that contains budget gimmicks or tax increases to boost program funding. Reports of a pending compromise indicate that as much as $10 billion or more in additional funding will be added to the current baseline, and millionaire farmers would continue to be eligible for payments with some farm subsidies increased over current levels. These proposals being considered in both the House and Senate fail to correct the shortcomings of the status quo. This is unacceptable. The National Farmers Union, American Farm Bureau and other groups recently sent a letter to Congress urging even more in farm state giveaways, saying to do otherwise would be an “unfair burden” to farmers. Our position is that anything less than a veto of an unreformed, bloated Farm Bill would continue to place an unfair burden on taxpayers. Sincerely,
Ryan Alexander
Duane Parde
Thomas Schatz
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