The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste has an urgent action request. The Senate will soon vote on the 2007 Farm Bill. Tell your Senators to put the interests of taxpayers and consumers first by voting in favor of amendments that would bring about true reform of Depression-era agricultural policies! Below is their request details; if you agree, please take action at this website or send a message on your own:
Dear _,
I urge you as strongly as possible to tell your Senators to support TRUE REFORM in the 2007 Farm Bill. The Senate will begin debating the Farm Bill tomorrow, so it is urgent that you send a message to your Senators right away!
The federal government’s Depression-era web of agricultural subsidies, price and supply controls, and import restrictions long ago outlived their justification. Rather than assisting small family farms, federal agricultural policies overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest farmers and mega-agribusinesses -- to the detriment of those farmers most in need. Today, 60 percent of farms receive either no subsidies or less than $2,000 annually, while the top 10 percent of farm subsidy recipients collected 72 percent of total payments in 2003.
What’s more, this handout to well-heeled, politically influential agribusiness is financed on the backs of American taxpayers and consumers like YOU!
At a time when agricultural income is at record highs and commodity prices are soaring, taxpayers have been paying an average of $20 billion annually for the most expensive farm subsidy payments in history. Sugar price supports alone cost us all $1.9 billion each year in higher prices at the grocery counter, not only for sugar, but also for sugar-containing products, like cereal, baked goods, and candy.
The Farm Bill passed by the House of Representatives in July not only failed to reform existing agricultural policies, it increased subsidy payments. The Senate Agriculture Committee made this bad bill even worse by raising taxes on U.S. businesses in order to pay for yet another disaster assistance program for farmers.
As the full Senate takes up the 2007 Farm Bill, Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) will offer an amendment to replace existing farm subsidies with an insurance program that would enable farmers to mitigate weather and market risks. This would provide a real safety net for farmers, instead of doling out excessive payments to the wealthiest farmers whether they need them or not.
Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) will also offer an amendment to cap annual subsidy payments at $250,000 per farmer and close the loopholes that allow mega-farms to get unlimited payments by creating a complex web of multiple entities. Right now, some farmers receive taxpayer-provided subsidies in excess of $1 million annually!
Please tell you Senators to support taxpayers and consumers and bring TRUE REFORM to federal farm policy by voting in favor of the Lugar-Lautenberg and Grassley-Dorgan amendments!
Sincerely,
Thomas A. Schatz, President
***The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), the nation's largest taxpayer watchdog organization with more than one million members and supporters nationwide.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Tell your Senators to vote YES for two Farm Bill amendments
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Tell your Congressmen NO to coal-to-liquid federal subsidies
Taxpayers for Common Sense wants us to write our own U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative, asking them to decline federal subsidy dollars for coal-to-liquid plants. The private sector deems the industry too risky; so, why shouldn't the American taxpayer as well? Here's what TCS has to say; then, please take action by going to their webpage:
Stop Coal-to-Liquids Subsidies
Since the 1930s, the coal industry has made off with $60 billion in taxpayer subsidies, and now they are asking for even more to support the coal-to-liquid (CTL) industry. CTL is a chemical technology developed in the 1920s to turn coal into a liquid fuel. The coal industry has stayed away from this costly and risky industry in the past, but are willing to take the plunge only if taxpayers step in and provide billions of dollars in subsidies, price floors, and loans. Here's why CTL fuel is a bad investment for taxpayers:
• Replacing just 10% of our county's oil consumption with CTL fuels would cost taxpayers $70 billion in construction costs alone, according to an MIT report.
• CTL plants can cost over $6 billion dollars to build and around $350 million per year to operate. • Carbon sequestration technology would be required to contain the large amount of greenhouse gas emissions CTL plants emit. Unfortunately, carbon sequestration is an unproven and costly technology, which could end up adding more than $100 million in plant operating costs.
• CTL fuel is only competitive when the price of oil is high. If oil prices drop below $55 per barrel, taxpayers could end up being forced to spend billions of dollars buying uneconomical fuel. • Congress would be repeating costly mistakes of the past. In the late 1970s, lawmakers tried to jumpstart the CTL industry by creating the $15 billion Synthetic Fuels Corporation. Volatile oil prices caused the synthetic and CTL fuel industries to go bankrupt within five years.
The government should not waste taxpayer money supporting a risky industry that private companies have avoided for years. Send a letter urging your representative to oppose costly CTL subsidies in the appropriations and energy bills!
