Farm bill flawed

The House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Republican Party, has separated the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) from their version of the farm bill.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as of 2011, roughly 46 percent of SNAP recipients are children, 44 percent are adults and 7.9 percent are elderly. Broken down by race there are more whites (33 percent), than blacks (22 percent) or Hispanics (16 percent). The SNAP program has always been a coalition between American family farmers and the American people because it gives farmers a permanent market for their farm products.

Taxpayers for Common Sense are against the House version because the large agribusinesses will receive unlimited crop insurance subsidies, higher government set target prices, profit margin guarantees for dairy, market-distorting sugar subsidies and new income guaranteed entitlements that lock in record farm profits forever.

The Farm Bureau is against it because it doesn’t have a workable SNAP program included, and the fact that the Republicans are replacing permanent law governing agricultural programs without hearing from a single witness on what the law should be replaced with is not good policy.

Mom and pop and family farmers, what do you think?

Lawrence Schuchart

Spokane