Bids to limit farm subsidies fail
WASHINGTON – The Senate rejected two attempts to limit annual payments to farmers Thursday, frustrating lawmakers who had hoped that this year’s multibillion-dollar farm bill would scale back the government’s massive subsidy programs.
Senators voted 78-12 late Thursday to cut off debate on the bill and drop some amendments that were not farm-related. The margin comfortably exceeded the 60 votes Democrats needed on the procedural move and set the stage for a final vote as early as today.
“The time has come that we stop this,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the floor. “We need a farm bill.”
Earlier in the day, the chamber rejected a bipartisan amendment to the $286 billion bill that would have limited overall farm payments to $250,000 yearly per married couple, down from the current limit of $360,000. The amendment, rejected 56-43 – short of the 60 needed – also was meant to close loopholes that allow some farmers to collect higher payments and required that farmers be “actively engaged” to receive subsidies.
“We have a federal farm program to help family farmers make it through tough times,” said North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, a Democrat who sponsored the amendment with Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. “It was not created to send multimillion-dollar payments to giant corporate farms, or payments to people who haven’t been near a farm in decades.”
Later in the day, senators rejected an amendment by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, that would have banned payments to farmers who make more than $750,000 a year, after expenses. The vote was 48-47, again short of the 60 votes required.
Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, had hoped to take significant steps to reduce subsidies in the five-year farm legislation this year but was stymied by Southern lawmakers who favor current law. Southern crops such as rice and cotton are more expensive to produce than most other crops grown around the country.
The overall bill would extend and expand crop and dairy subsidies along with popular nutrition aid programs, including food stamps. Most of those programs have been operating under a temporary extension since the last five-year farm law expired Sept. 30.