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July 20, 2004 The Honorable Jeff Flake Dear Congressman Flake: On behalf of our members, the undersigned groups thank you for your leadership in the fight to eliminate inefficient, unnecessary farm subsidies. At a time when we are facing record deficits, we cannot afford to waste additional taxpayer dollars by continuing these unneeded commodity programs. Specifically, we applaud your efforts to investigate the impact of the United States’ cotton commodity program in light of Brazil’s recently successful case in the World Trade Organization (WTO) against these subsidies. Now is the time to reexamine the adverse effect of our agricultural policies on our foreign policy goals and the American taxpayers who foot the bill. With U.S. farm exports equaling $50 billion more than any other country and totaling 25 percent of U.S. farm income, American farmers have a huge stake in reducing foreign trade barriers to agriculture. America produces more than we can consume and must find new export avenues to prosper. Farmers do not need federal subsidies to compete in the world market. Last year, the federal government provided roughly $3 billion in subsidies to cotton growers. By continuing to rely on these massive subsidies, we are weakening our rural economies by propping up unproductive businesses and encouraging further reliance on government aid. The vast majority of agricultural subsidies fail to help the small family farmers who are the supposed beneficiaries of the programs. Federal cotton subsidies force taxpayers to fund an endless cycle of overproduction, lowering farm income. Given the skyrocketing federal deficit and our current free trade concerns, we simply cannot afford to frivolously waste taxpayer dollars by continuing on the path of outdated agricultural policies. Thank you again for your leadership on this issue. Sincerely, John Berthoud Thomas Schatz Richard Lessner, Ph.D. Matt Kibbe |
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