What happened to "everybody should share in the pain"?
Republicans would prefer to tackle the politically sensitive issue next year when the 2007 farm bill expires, requiring negotiations and passage of a replacement. Many Republicans in the lower chamber, though committed budget cutters, hale from farm states where subsidy cuts would not be appreciated.
A recent article in FBNews, the official newspaper of the American Farm Bureau Federation, quoted Tara Smith, an AFBF lobbyist as saying, "If you try to balance the budget by cutting support to farmers, good luck trying to run again in two years and explain that decision to your farmers back home.''
The Obama administration wants to make some cuts this year, and they don't sound all that drastic to me:
In his proposed budget for 2012, Obama recommended subsidies go only to farmers with an adjusted gross income of less than $500,000 to be phased in over three years. The current cap is $750,000
In addition, the administration maintains the maximum amount in direct payments should be set at $60,000 per farm, down from the current $80,000. In all, the plan would save $2.6 billion over 10 years.
And let's hear it for 9th District Rep. Todd Young of Bloomington. He was the only Indiana House Republican to vote for an amendment to the 2011 spending plan that would have limited farmers to a maximum $250,000 a year in subsidies.
Comments
We've spent decades writing enormous checks to farming operations and unfortunately, many families have built their business and lives around those steady checks and the assumption they'd keep coming forever.
It's going to be painful, but those (and I wish all) subsidies are going to have to be discontinued if we're going to keep this boat afloat.
Farmers have been against those subsidies from the very start. Go back and read some 1948 newspapers, and see what the farmers said about "plowing down" Wallace.
Or read some newspapers about 1963, when the USDA asked farmers to vote on two different farm programs, and they voted against both. "Never again", vowed Orville Freeman - and yes, they've never again asked farmers whether they wanted to eliminate subsidies.
The subsidies aren't FARM subsidies, anyhow. The USDA subsidizes ADM and Kellogg's, not farmers. You're right, Tim, they need to end, as do all special subsidies, credits, and deductions. A flat gross-revenues tax on corporations would be a lot simpler and fairer - and companies would concentrate on making money, not on tax-avoidance.