An amendment offered by Sen. Chuck Grassley to limit farm payments was passed by a bipartisan margin of 16 – 6 during debate of the nation's spending plan before the Senate Budget committee.
Grassley said that momentum continues to build for targeting farm payments to small and medium-sized farmers. Last year a similar amendment in the Budget committee passed 14 – 9.
"Farm payments that were originally designed to benefit small and medium-sized family farmers have contributed to their own demise," Grassley said. "Rural America can't continue to withstand the pressure that unlimited payments create. These sky-high farm payments to the biggest of the big are driving many family farmers off the farm and squeezing out chances for first time farmers trying to get started."
Grassley's amendment assumes a limit of $40,000 for direct payments, $60,000 for counter-cyclical payments, and $200,000 for loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains.
Grassley said the $1.221 billion savings from his payment limit proposal will be applied against the reductions suffered several agriculture programs. The Conservation Security Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program will increase $531 million. The Value Added Development Grant Program will increase $24.5 million. This amendment will also provide $665.5 million in new funding for much needed flexibility and growth in child nutrition and welfare programs. These additional resources will allow for increased efforts to insure program integrity and accountability.
"When 10 percent of the nation's farmers receive 60 percent of the payments, it erodes public confidence in federal farm programs. And, it only gets worse every year," Grassley said.
During the last year's budget debate, Grassley sponsored similar legislation to limit farm payments. The amendment passed the budget committee but was taken out during negotiations with the House of Representatives. During the farm bill debate in the 107th Congress, Grassley sponsored a bipartisan amendment that passed the Senate 66 to 31. Grassley said that amendment was critical to family farmers in Iowa and when the farm bill failed to effectively address this issue, Iowa was hurt.