A pair of influential U.S. senators, one of each party, had bad news for agriculture this week. Democrat Max Baucus of Montana told farmers in his home state Monday that they should start thinking about what subsidies they can live without, because cuts are coming, Tom Lutey of the Billings Gazette reports. "Agriculture is still our largest industry by far," Baucus said. "Half our economy is tied to it, so we better make sure it stays strong." Baucus said he would make sure the "budget isn’t balanced on the backs of rural states, although cuts were certain," Lutey writes.
While serious talks about the Farm Bill may be a year away, conversations about what programs to cut have already begun, Baucus said. Among the early targets are the Conservation Reserve Enhancement program and the direct-payment program. One Montana farmer at the meeting, Don Steinbeisser, said he didn't want small-cost programs like the federal sugar program cut, but if Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar has his way that program is in trouble. (Read more)
Lugar told Robert Costa of National Review that he plans to soon introduce legislation that would eliminate the government-mandated tariffs, quotas, subsidies and related price-inflating mechanisms that benefit the sugar industry. "I’m energized to take on the sugar program again because many more Americans understand that they personally pay the costs of government overreach," Lugar said. "It’s time to leave Franklin Roosevelt’s farm policies behind us."
Lugar said that by supporting the sugar industry the government has caused U.S. citizens to pay more than double the world's price in sugar, and the industry is driving jobs in the candy business and others out of the country. "Cutting sugar subsidies was an early vote I took when I came to the Senate in 1977," he told Costa. "Since that time, I’ve authored various bills to end the sugar program and reform the entire Farm Bill subsidy system. Those bills could have saved taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, but usually I found myself nearly alone when push came to shove on voting in favor of reform." (Read more)
While serious talks about the Farm Bill may be a year away, conversations about what programs to cut have already begun, Baucus said. Among the early targets are the Conservation Reserve Enhancement program and the direct-payment program. One Montana farmer at the meeting, Don Steinbeisser, said he didn't want small-cost programs like the federal sugar program cut, but if Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar has his way that program is in trouble. (Read more)
Lugar told Robert Costa of National Review that he plans to soon introduce legislation that would eliminate the government-mandated tariffs, quotas, subsidies and related price-inflating mechanisms that benefit the sugar industry. "I’m energized to take on the sugar program again because many more Americans understand that they personally pay the costs of government overreach," Lugar said. "It’s time to leave Franklin Roosevelt’s farm policies behind us."
Lugar said that by supporting the sugar industry the government has caused U.S. citizens to pay more than double the world's price in sugar, and the industry is driving jobs in the candy business and others out of the country. "Cutting sugar subsidies was an early vote I took when I came to the Senate in 1977," he told Costa. "Since that time, I’ve authored various bills to end the sugar program and reform the entire Farm Bill subsidy system. Those bills could have saved taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, but usually I found myself nearly alone when push came to shove on voting in favor of reform." (Read more)
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