The Government Accounting Office has released another troubling report on the nation’s farm subsidy program, this time showing how some farmers are still getting millions in subsidies while bringing in millions in crop revenues:
More than 2,700 people whose gross income topped $2.5 million — making many of them ineligible for farm programs — received more than $49 million in payments between 2003 and 2006, the Government Accountability Office said in a report.
“If this is true, it is a prime example of the kind of waste I intend to end as president,” President-Elect Barack Obama said in a news conference on Tuesday.
We’ll see about that.
The farm subsidy program hands out about $16 billion dollars for about 2 million farmers. Farm subsides are not a good thing. It’s a program I have written about extensively here, here, here, here, here and here.
Of course this being a government program, this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as waste is concerned:
Other potential infractions included a former insurance company executive who received more than $300,000, an owner of a professional sports team who received $200,000, and a top financial services executive who got $60,000, the GAO said.
The $49 million in potential overpayments is a small percentage of total farm payments, but “that’s a lot of money that can go for school lunch programs for low-income kids, or it could be a bottom-line on the deficit,” Grassley said.
Grassley is Chuck Grassley, Republican Senator from Iowa. I would have preferred that he said something more to the tune of, “that’s a lot of money that could go back to the tax payers, so they might give it to charities that provide lunches for low income kids…” but I don’t mind the comment on the deficit.
What are your thoughts on the farm subsidy program and the payments to farmers making millions? Answer in the comments below.
Photo by Nicolas T.
Related posts:
- Subsidizing the Consolidation of the Family Farm: How Farm Subsidies Are Nothing More Than Corporate Welfare
- Breakdown of the Farm Bill Spending – Where Does the Money Go?
- Farmers Report Near Record Profits, Senate Adds $10,000,000,000 to Farm Bill
- Farm Subsidies, Congress, and Paul Allen
- USDA Pays Subsidies to Dead Farmers
