Farm Bill Full of Pork, Raises Food Costs on American Families

Press Release

Farm Bill Full of Pork, Raises Food Costs on American Families

Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint opposed the Senate farm bill after an amendment to reform the broken subsidy program was rejected. The amendment, known as The Fresh Act, would have replaced the current Depression-era farm payment programs with revenue insurance tools that provide a safety net to all farmers, while eliminating duplicative programs and controlling costs. Unlike current programs, this safety net protects against unforeseen risks, but does not provide automatic payments to farmers when unneeded, and would not continue to distort domestic and foreign agricultural markets. The Fresh Act lost on a vote of 37-48, while the overall farm bill passed 79-14.

"We need a rational agriculture policy in America, but this bill rewards millionaires that don't farm and will cost middle-income American families more at the grocery store," said Senator DeMint. "We cannot continue to force taxpayers to subsidize non-farmers, and continue to artificially inflate the cost of food like corn and milk. I will continue to fight for the passage of the Fresh Act, because we must cut wasteful spending and bring some commonsense to this broken system."

The Heritage Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank, recently concluded:

If the bill is enacted, Americans will continue paying $25 billion in taxes and another $12 billion in higher food prices annually for a program that distributes most of its benefits to millionaires. Additionally, these subsidies would continue to damage the environment (by promoting overproduction), undermine trade (thereby raising consumer prices and restricting U.S. exports), and promote poor diets (by subsidizing the sources of sugars and fats rather than healthier fruits and vegetables)… Lawmakers should scrap this bill and start over.

A recent State newspaper editorial stated:

The only justification for government subsidies to businesses is to ensure an adequate and affordable supply of needed products that would not otherwise be available… They're paid to grow so much extra cotton that the taxpayers have to pay to store it — cotton that sucks up the water that actual people in states such as Georgia need to drink. Meanwhile, the fresh fruits and vegetables that most Americans need more of in their diets receive no subsidies, and so fewer farmers grow them. The result: It's cheaper to buy a Big Mac than an apple. The farm bill isn't about farming at all. It's about power politics.

A recent Wall Street Journal editorial stated:

The most recent USDA records, catalogued by the Environmental Working Group, indicate that some 260 farm establishments will receive $1 million or more under the farm bill now in the Senate. Many of these are giant agribusinesses, not family farms, and some aren't farms at all… Some of the crop payments to the Farming Illini are used to underwrite the school's marching band. Some recipients are even Members of Congress…

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