Washington, D.C. - Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) President Tom Schatz today released the following statement:

CCAGW urges the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee to adopt Sen. Richard Lugar’s (R-Ind.) farm bill alternative.  Sen. Lugar’s proposal would provide real reform of crop subsidy programs.  CCAGW is encouraged to see that at least one U.S. Senator is willing to object to the 'stampede to subsidize' that resulted in an unwise, unsound piece of legislation being adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives.  We hope others in the committee and in the full Senate will join him.

However, CCAGW believes that Congress should not even consider the farm bill this year.  It does not expire until September of 2002. The farm bill passed by the House adds another $73 billion in subsidies ¾ a 65 percent increase ¾ to the already existing $95 billion 10-year base.  Congress should not be doing anything now that could undermine U.S. efforts to win the war against terrorism.  Over-committing the federal government’s financial resources to unnecessary farm spending over the next decade will either make that much less money available to fight terrorism or add to future deficit spending.

While the 1996 Farm Bill had finally, after 60 years, begun the process of moving toward dismantling depression-era agriculture programs, H.R. 2646, the Farm Security Act of 2001, as passed by the House, represents a dramatic backward step in farm policy.  This legislation not only continues to subsidize the same old products, but it adds so-called 'countercyclical' payments’ that will result in ‘double-dipping’ for the major farm commodities.  It also restores subsidies Congress had actually managed to eliminate in the past and creates new subsidies for products that have never before been subsidized.

The Senate should dismiss the irresponsible actions of the House and take the time to allow a thoughtful, thorough approach to developing a farm bill that not only assists all American farmers, ranchers and producers to compete in the global marketplace, but also considers the farm bill’s impacts on American consumers, taxpayers, and the environment.  Sen. Lugar’s proposal keeps farm reform on track by phasing out crop subsidies and replacing them with risk management programs that are fair to all agricultural producers.

Finally, CCAGW encourages the U.S. Senate to wait until next year to consider farm legislation in order to take the time to do a better job of passing a sound farm bill than was done in the House.  Sen. Lugar’s proposal is a good starting point. 

CCAGW is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest taxpayer advocacy group with over one million members and supporters nationwide.  It is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.