Flawed Farm Bill Heads Towards Senate Floor

Washington, D.C. – Statement of Nasima Hossain, NCPIRG’s Federal Public Health Advocate on Senate Farm Bill

NCPIRG

The Senate is moving to vote on the farm bill, S.3240, that would continue the current system of agricultural subsidies to large, profitable, agribusiness. Taxpayers’ hard earned dollars will be handed out needlessly in the billions. And subsidies will continue for corn and soy, which is then processed into junk food ingredients, like high fructose corn syrup, accelerating the obesity epidemic in America.

In this current economic climate the reauthorization of the farm bill should be a straight forward opportunity to end these wasteful subsidies and align our food and farming policies, so the American public has access to healthy and nutritious foods.

We commend the Senate for ending the Direct Payments Program. However we urge the Senate to stop the wasteful crop insurance program. This program has cost taxpayers’ $30 billion over the last decade. And we ask the Senate not to create a duplicate new subsidy scheme (ARC) that would lock in currently high corn and soy prices and once again direct billions of taxpayer dollars to giant agribusinesses.

As this legislation heads to the Senate floor, we urge Senators to stand with the public and vote against this bill, unless it is amended to end these wasteful subsidies.