Key Vote NO on the Farm Bill

Dear FreedomWorks member,

As one of our million-plus FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to vote NO on S. 3240, the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012. This bloated bill contains massive amounts of farm subsidies, wasteful programs, and will increase the federal government’s role in agriculture.

Federal farm subsidies are one of America’s largest corporate welfare programs. Despite the claims that farm subsidies go to struggling family farmers, two-thirds of farm subsidy checks go to the wealthiest ten percent of farmers. The bill contains new budget-busting entitlement programs such as the Agricultural Risk Coverage and Crop Insurance Supplemental Coverage Option that will increase the federal government’s involvement in agriculture.

The bill in Congress includes huge cash transfers from taxpayers to entrenched special interests. It would continue some of the more inefficient practices of the past that benefit only a small group of producers with high-priced lobbyists at the expense of less politically connected consumers. For example, American sugar producers enjoy guaranteed price supports and restrictions on competition that leave Americans paying almost twice the world price for sugar. Even worse, any excess supply is automatically purchased by the federal government to ensure prices do not fall.

The farm bill also fails to reform federally subsidized crop insurance. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this program will cost more than $90 billion over the next ten years. Congress needs to scrap this year’s farm bill with an eye towards replacing the patchwork of mandates, subsidies, and price supports with free-market reforms that more effectively allocate our agricultural resources in ways that serve the American consumer.

I urge you to call your senators and ask them to vote NO on S. 3240, the Agricultural Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012. We will count their vote as a KEY VOTE when calculating the FreedomWorks Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2012. The Economic Freedom Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the Jefferson Award, which recognizes members of Congress with voting records that support economic freedom.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO
FreedomWorks

[Click here for a PDF version of this key vote.]

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