Grassley, Dorgan Introduce Bill to Limit Payments Under the Federal Farm Program

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GRASSLEY, DORGAN INTRODUCE BILL TO LIMIT PAYMENTS UNDER THE FEDERAL FARM PROGRAM

Bill would help end abuse of farm payment system

U.S. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced legislation Thursday to close loopholes in the farm program that allows some mega-farms and corporate farms to collect seven-figure government checks each year.

The legislation, known as the Rural America Preservation Act, S. 1486, would set a limit of $250,000 for farm payments in an attempt to better target farm program payments to family farmers.

"It is unfair to family farmers and to American taxpayers that the government has been awarding seven-figure payments to corporate mega-farms," said Dorgan. "This bill would set limits on these payments, and I'm going to push to target the money saved to use for a disaster title in the farm program."

"There's no time like the present to include this popular, bipartisan and necessary legislation in the Farm Bill. Rural America can't continue to withstand the pressure that unlimited payments create," Grassley said. "When 10 percent of the nation's farmers receive 72 percent of the payments, it erodes public confidence in federal farm programs. And, it only gets worse every year."

Specifically, the bill caps direct payments at $20,000; counter-cyclical payments at $30,000; and marketing loan gains (including forfeitures), loan deficiency payments, and commodity certificates at $75,000.

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