Kevin Colby: News, culture, political blog

The President’s budget proposals for the Department of Agriculture, which I am actually in support of.  These include proposals (savings estimates in parentheses):

To reduce crop insurance premium subsidies and underwriting gains. Taxpayers for Common Sense has written extensively on this topic, and testified on these excessive subsidies during the recent farm bill debate. ($5.2 billion)

To phase out direct payments over three years to farmers with sales revenue of more than $500,000 annually. This is another area where TCS has long been a proponent of reform.  ($9.8 billion)

That reduces program funding for overseas brand promotion and minimizes the benefits that large for-profit entities indirectly gain as members of trade associations who also participate in the Market Access Program.  ($358 million)

Would eliminate the requirement for the Government to pay the storage costs of cotton that is put under loan with USDA.  ($570 million)

The full details of the President’s budget are expected next month.  But in at least one other agriculture-related area the budget falls short. In promising to move the country in a new direction using more renewable fuels, TCS would like to see a clear commitment to reducing subsidies for corn-based ethanol. This is a century old product that should long ago have been taken off of the federal dole.

Information obtained from Taxpayers for Common Sense.