The American Enterprise Institute’s Spring edition of the Seasonal Harvest agricultural policy newsletter included a Taxpayers for Common Sense staff-contributed article on the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).

Created during the Great Depression, the CCC has evolved from a tool to simply cut and track checks for farm bill programs to a source of nearly unrestrained administrative power. By exercising what’s known as “Section 5 Charter Act Authority” Secretaries of Agriculture have increasingly used the CCC to increase spending, expand farm supports far from the farm gate, and at times directly undermine Congressional intent.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and certain leaders on the agriculture committees are now contemplating using the CCC authority to increase federal farm income subsidies outside of the farm bill reauthorization process. Doing so would not only increase federal deficits, but also undermine Congress’s responsibility to develop the nation’s food and farm policies. Instead of resorting to budgetary gimmicks and administrative fiat, lawmakers must undertake the hard work of crafting a fiscally responsible farm bill that works for taxpayers, not simply special interests.

You can download the full report here or read it below.