WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), a former Secretary of Agriculture, today voted against advancing out of committee a farm bill that relied on budget gimmicks and outdated policy. Despite his opposition, the bill passed in the committee by a vote of 15-5.
“Ag producers and taxpayers deserve an updated, reform-minded farm bill that promotes free market principles and saves taxpayer dollars,” Johanns said. “Unfortunately, the bill considered by the Ag Committee did not do enough to save money, and took us a step back towards 1980s farm policy.
“Just last year, we were able to come together in the Senate to pass a good bill that moved farm policy away from income support and towards risk management. While this bill contains some of those reforms, it represents a significant step backward for ag policy and reduces farm bill spending by just 1.5 percent.
The farm bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee counts $6.4 billion in savings from spending cuts that are not even in the legislation, but were already signed into law in 2011. It also includes a budget gimmick that hides $3.1 billion in payments just outside the ten-year budget window to make the bill appear less-costly. All told, the bill actually saves just $15 billion over ten years instead of the $24 billion its supporters are claiming.
Although last year’s bill would have eliminated target prices, this year’s bill more than doubles target price payments from $1.5 billion to $3.5 billion, moving ag policy away from the goal of a market-based system. Target prices were also increased. Rice’s target price was increased by more than 25 percent, and peanut prices were six percent from levels that have already triggered payments every year for the past decade.
The legislation also failed to achieve available savings by modernizing farm payments or focusing nutrition programs, which can be done without affecting the benefits going to current eligible recipients.
Senator Johanns believes our country needs a long-term, reform-minded farm bill, especially in the midst of a prolonged drought, and looks forward to opportunities to offer fixes during the amendment process.
A video of Johanns’ opening remarks at today’s markup is available HERE
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