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Food prices are on the rise worldwide and American families are paying record prices for their groceries, yet the current version of the Farm Bill (H.R. 2419) that passed the House last week costs $714 billion and would increase subsidies by $20 billion over the next decade. The USDA reports that total net farm income has risen 56% in the past two years alone.
The top five crops (cotton, soybeans, corn, wheat and rice) receiving government assistance have enjoyed massive price spikes since the bill was last reauthorized in 2002. The price of cotton has increased by 105%; the price of wheat by 256%, so there is no justification for more subsidies. This bill even repeals the limit on the total amount of subsidies a farmer can receive, and continues direct payments regardless of crop prices.
The Farm Bill expands the size and scope of the federal government by creating new government mandates on the private sector and it vastly expands entitlement programs. Comptroller David Walker says balancing the budget in 2040 could require actions as bold as “cutting total federal spending by 60 percent or raising federal taxes to 2 times today’s level.” For all of these reasons, I voted against the Farm Bill in July 2007 and again last week, and I will vote to uphold the president’s veto.
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