WHAT ARE THE ISSUES FOR
FARM BILL 2012?
Overall, the Farm Bill process for 2012 is now being overtaken by the work of the 12 person Deficit Reduction Commission, appointed to find $1.5 trillion in cuts to government programs by Thanksgiving. That group will likely make huge cuts in major Farm Bill programs before the Farm Bill actually comes up for consideration. Here are the major issues:
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was formerly known as Food Stamps, and now called CalFresh in California. It covers nearly 75% of spending in the Farm Bill. This program helps Americans, both working and non-working, to feed their families especially during the economic crisis. When the last farm bill passed in 2008, there were 25 million Americans getting food benefits. Now there are 45 million Americans relying on SNAP to help feed their families. And those numbers are only going to increase if unemployment benefits expire for millions. On December 10, 2010, Congress passed a Child Nutrition Bill that will help schools serve healthier lunches to children, but it was passed at the cost of future reductions in the budget for SNAP. These reductions mean families will see hundreds of dollars less in monthly assistance beginning in 2013. In 2011, the new House of
Representatives, led by Tea Party conservatives (particularly Rep. Paul Ryan) passed a budget that cut billions from SNAP. It would turn the program into a “block grant” rather than an “entitlement”. However, the Senate will not pass this budget. Likely threats to the SNAP program include: Change from an entitlement program to a block grant: Reductions across the board in monthly benefits to families Changes to rules that will make fewer people eligible, such as making the income limits to qualify lower, so that a person will have to be very poor in order to get benefits. California Representative Xavier Becerra is the only Californian on the Deficit Reduction Committee. He represents a district in Los Angeles with some of the worst poverty in the country. We will be encouraging him to remember how important the SNAP program is when considering deficit reduction.
Subsidies:
The Farm Bill largely consists of payments called “subsidies” to big agricultural producers. These subsidies provide incentives to plant more crops such as corn which are often made into unhealthy products (corn syrup for example which is a major ingredient in many pre-packaged foods). Subsidies have traditionally been opposed by people wary of the influence of the big food corporations, those who want to promote small farmers using organic methods, and those promoting healthier products such as fruits and vegetables (which receive no subsidies) .
- The payments allow the U.S. to produce corn, for example, at extremely cheap prices and “dump” it in Third World countries—where the low price puts their local farmers out of business. Recently World Trade Organization talks broke down over the issue of these subsidies.
- The payments have resulted over the years in large production of non-nutritious foods like corn syrup, which has been linked to diabetes.
- The government is encouraging us to eat more fruits and vegetables but fruit and vegetable farmers get almost no support. The Farm Bill priorities do not reflect good health standards. Some people receiving big payments aren’t even farmers!
- Some people who are already very wealthy are getting thousands of dollars a year in payments authorized by the Farm Bill.
This year those opposed to subsidies have an unlikely ally: conservatives trying to reduce government spending. This poses a dilemma for the Republican Party as it takes control of the House of Representatives: traditionally their supporters include much of rural America which benefits from the farm payments, but they will be under pressure from the anti-deficit, farther-right sector which voted them into power in the 2010 midterm elections. Cuts in agricultural spending could also hurt small growers and those promoting healthy eating, even though they do not receive the big payments that the corn, wheat, soy, hog, and other producers get.
LOCAL FOOD INFRASTRUCTURE
Over the last few years the Farm Bill has also provided for a small sliver of funding for programs that help community gardens, urban agriculture, and other innovative things that bring fresh local food to city residents.
THE DEFICIT REDUCTION COMMITTEE
Political events in 2011 took an unexpected turn with the “debt ceiling crisis.” Tea Party Republicans succeeded in a move in which they refused to pass the usually-automatic raising of the U.S. ‘debt ceiling’ , which simply authorizes the government to pay its bills, in exchange for certain demands. These demands included reductions of trillions of dollars in government spending----almost exclusively targeted at Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other social programs for disabled or retired persons.
The White House agreed to a compromise: the debt ceiling was raised but a bipartisan commission of 12 Senators and Representatives was appointed and given the task of identifying $1.5 trillion dollars to be cut out of government spending by Nov. 23. If this 12 person committee cannot agree by majority on what spending is to be cut by then, an automatic reduction of $1.5 trillion is then taken out of government programs---but certain programs will be protected (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP among them.)
In this scenario other government programs (including the WIC program, housing, other food assistance, help with utility bills for the poor) will likely be cut by up to 60% or eliminated altogether.
It looks like a no-win situation for low income people.
The appointing of such a commission is unprecedented and it’s difficult to see how those who support help for the poor see any kind of victory in this compromise.