{"id":2249568,"date":"2024-05-21T14:24:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T18:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/taxpayer-watchdogs-rip-gop-farm-bills-billion-dollar-subsidy-package\/"},"modified":"2024-05-21T14:36:01","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T18:36:01","slug":"taxpayer-watchdogs-rip-gop-farm-bills-billion-dollar-subsidy-package","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/taxpayer-watchdogs-rip-gop-farm-bills-billion-dollar-subsidy-package\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayer Watchdogs Criticize Billion-Dollar Subsidies in GOP Farm Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftaxpayer-watchdogs-rip-gop-farm-bills-billion-dollar-subsidy-package%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2249568&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-the-border-crisis-is-even-worse-than-you-think\/\" title=\"WATCH: Live Recording Exposes The Secret Atrocities Happening At The Border\">recent report revealed<\/a> that industry groups spent over $400 million lobbying for the 2024 farm bill.\u2062 House Republicans&#8217; bill faces criticism for its\u2063 perceived favoritism towards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-justice-department-nominee-faces-ethics-minefield-from-fathers-corporate-interests\/\" title=\"Biden Justice Department Nominee Faces Ethics Minefield From Father\u2019s Corporate Interests\">corporate interests<\/a>. Taxpayer watchdogs, including policy\u2062 experts, voiced concerns about new subsidies benefiting agricultural special interests and the repetitive \u200cnature of farm subsidy recipients. The bill&#8217;s provisions raise\u200d questions about\u2064 the fairness of the\u2062 agricultural \u200dsubsidy system.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Industry interest groups have spent more than $400 million lobbying lawmakers on the 2024 farm bill, <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/state-watch\/4660697-big-lobbying-groups-spend-400-million-on-farm-bill-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according <\/a>to a recent report from the Union for Concerned Scientists. It should be no surprise, then, that the legislation unveiled by House Republicans last week is taking flak from taxpayer watchdogs across the political spectrum as a corporate-sponsored boondoggle.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, policy experts from the Heritage Foundation, National Taxpayers Union, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and the Environmental Working Group held a joint press conference to trash the $<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/05\/17\/exclusive-house-unveils-farm-bill-00158584\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1.5 <\/a>trillion bill as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nolte-joe-biden-job-approval-hits-two-new-record-lows\/\" title=\"Nolte: Joe Biden Job Approval Hits Two New Record Lows\">government giveaway<\/a> to favored special interests. For all the fanfare made of Boeing and Northrop Grumman <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/12\/04\/washington-post-killing-foreigners-is-good-for-american-business\/\">cas<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/12\/04\/washington-post-killing-foreigners-is-good-for-american-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">h<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/12\/04\/washington-post-killing-foreigners-is-good-for-american-business\/\">ing in<\/a> on overseas conflicts to inflate their domestic influence, agribusiness has already spent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/federal-lobbying\/alphabetical-list?type=s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nearly 20<\/a> percent more than the defense industry this year to capture favors from Washington power brokers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-351771666\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-91972dae0f34c0defa93b8dfcf52db6b fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-91972dae0f34c0defa93b8dfcf52db6b\"><\/div>\n<p>Josh Sewell, the director of Research and Policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense, blasted the GOP farm bill for including tens of billions of dollars in new subsidies for agricultural special interests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDrastically increasing government-enforced minimum crop prices to a level that guarantees payments for many of these crops is an exercise to grab more cash, regardless of need,\u201d Sewell said. \u201cMore subsidies are not needed, especially as 70 percent of farmers don\u2019t even grow a commodity eligible.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ewg.org\/news-insights\/news\/2024\/05\/least-10000-farmers-took-over-11b-farm-subsidies-over-39-consecutive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">analysis <\/a>from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) earlier this month found around 10,000 repeat recipients of farm subsidies or disaster relief payments collecting more than $11 billion over 39 years. Farmers remain eligible to collect taxpayer subsidies every year regardless of prior payment. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome subsidy recipients who received payments for 39 consecutive years neither work nor live on a farm, EWG found. In fact, 48 of the 10,250 repeat recipients live in the nation\u2019s 50 largest cities, despite a requirement that farm subsidy recipients be \u2018actively engaged in farming,&#8217;\u201d the group reported. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-95e18d760fb6e9e2b9e5474220e88012 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-95e18d760fb6e9e2b9e5474220e88012\"><\/div>\n<p>EWG Senior Vice President Scott Faber said the House Republican farm bill would set commodity price floors so high that growers would be guaranteed additional taxpayer handouts for cotton, peanuts, and rice every year. Farmers are eligible to collect payments from the federal crop insurance program when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/expert-on-u-n-s-cop26-climate-panic-is-bad-for-people-and-the-planet\/\" title=\"Expert on U.N.\u2019s COP26: Climate Panic Is Bad for People and the Planet\">crop yields<\/a> or revenues fall below guaranteed levels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat would be as if the owners of a casino were engineering the slot machines to pay off every time the mob pulled the handle,\u201d Faber said. \u201cA farm safety net that pays off every year is not a safety net. It\u2019s a trampoline.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/agriculture.house.gov\/uploadedfiles\/detailed_summary_final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">summary<\/a> of the legislation presented by House Republican Agriculture Chairman Glenn \u201cGT\u201d Thompson points to inflation as a reason to lift commodity price floors and therefore subsidies. But Bryan Riley of the National Taxpayers Union said Tuesday the chairman\u2019s bill pursues the wrong remedy while farm equity and assets approach record highs despite the current economic environment, according to this year\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/topics\/farm-economy\/farm-sector-income-finances\/farm-sector-income-forecast\/#:~:text=Farm%20sector%20equity%20is%20expected,of%20farm%20real%20estate%20assets.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">forecast <\/a>by the Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf input prices are a concern, the farm bill should address that through measures that would moderate those input prices,\u201d Riley said. The farm bill as proposed, however, says nothing about rolling back tariffs on steel, fertilizer, aluminum, or lumber. \u201cThere\u2019s more spending for export assistance programs but nothing to encourage more market opening trade agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-9de8da6fc4f1865b22e98fff83791480 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-9de8da6fc4f1865b22e98fff83791480\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cSo, if input prices are a concern, Congress should address those head on by reducing costs for everybody\u201d Riley added, \u201cNot by increasing subsidies that will cost taxpayers billions of dollars in direct funds to politically favored sectors of the farm economy.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>David Ditch, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-education-lesson-from-covid-lockdowns-school-choice-is-imperative-for-every-child\/\" title=\"The Education Lesson from COVID Lockdowns: School Choice Is Imperative for Every Child\">senior policy analyst<\/a> at the Heritage Foundation called the bill, \u201cone of the most common governmental responses to inflation and also the worst governmental response to inflation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ones who are going to be taking the biggest hit are going to be taxpayers,\u201d Ditch said, given the downstream consequences of passing off higher prices to the consumers. <\/p>\n<p>Ditch warned the spending increases will also set a new expectation for the next time the farm bill comes up in another five years. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo even though the cost is going to be in the tens of billions of dollars over the course of this farm bill, in reality it could easily go into the hundreds of billions of dollars in decades to come,\u201d Ditch said. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a5038dfbf38f961e44cc82af827fe1d8 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a5038dfbf38f961e44cc82af827fe1d8\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Industry groups have invested over $400 million in lobbying efforts for the 2024 farm bill, notes a Union for Concerned Scientists report. House Republicans&#8217; recent bill unveiling is under fire from taxpayer watchdogs due to its perceived corporate backing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":2249569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Farm-e1716313319592.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2249568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Farm-e1716313319592.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2249568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2249569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2249568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2249568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2249568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}