CCAGW
Denounces Senate Passage of
Bloated
Farm Bill
"Agriculture socialism is back with a vengeance," says
Schatz
(Washington,
D.C.) The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
(CAGW) today strongly condemned the Senate's passage of S. 1731, the
Farm Bill.
"CCAGW is disgusted
that the Senate passed S. 1731. Like the House-passed farm bill, S.
1731 represents a dramatic backward step in farm policy," CCAGW
President Tom Schatz said. "Rather than building on free market
reforms begun in the 1996 Farm Bill, both bills continue to
subsidize the products that have always been subsidized, restore all
subsidies that have ever been eliminated, and also create new
subsidies for products that have never been subsidized
before."
"With this bill, wool,
mohair and honey subsidies, once thought to be eliminated, have
risen like a phoenix from the ashes. The sugar program, one of the
most costly to both consumers and taxpayers, remains unchanged.
Finally, a new $2 billion dairy subsidy program has been added to
the Senate bill," Schatz also said.
Like the House bill, S.
1731 adds $73 billion in subsidies to the existing $95 billion
10-year base. This massive increase is unjustified at a time when
such funds are not available and more resources are required for
enhancing our national security.
"S. 1731 is even worse
than the House bill because it front-loads more than 60 percent of
these funds in the first five years of the farm bill," Schatz added.
"This is really nothing more than a gimmick to increase farm subsidy
spending by approximately $20 billion beyond the 65 percent increase
already in the bill."
"It's time to put
agriculture socialism onto the ash heap of history along with so
many other bad ideas," Schatz concluded. "CCAGW encourages President
Bush to veto the bloated and wasteful Farm Bill."
CCAGW is the lobbying
arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest
taxpayer advocacy group with over one million members and supporters
nationwide. It is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to
eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in
government.
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