New Hunger Report Suggests Ending Farm Subsidies

By Lisa Kellman

The group Bread for the World released its “2012 Hunger Report” Monday, which argues against cutting U.S. food and farm aid budgets.

Officials associated with the report held a press conference at the National Press Club to discuss solving issues within some of the nation’s current food and farm policies.

With the ‘super committee’s’ Wednesday deadline to slash $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit approaching, the heads of congressional agriculture committees have devised a plan to save $23 billion over the next five years by making cuts from programs under their jurisdiction.

David Beckman, president of Bread for the World Institute, supported saving money by shifting away from direct farm subsidy payments and toward a more “comprehensive revenue insurance” system in order to help with farm risk management. 

However, he also voiced concern over making conservation programs and food stamp funding part of the $23 billion cut.

“Because our food and farm policy have been so driven by special interests, they’re suboptimal in almost every respect,” argued Beckman, “Bread for the World’s most urgent recommendation is that Congress not cut SNAP food assistance in order to pay for wasteful farm subsidies.”

Many other panelists called for an end to farm subsidies and other harmful issues.

“We can dramatically improve the health and well being of our population, provide a safety net to farmers, farm sustainably and in an environmentally sound way for less money than we’re spending right now, if we had the courage to face down the special interests that time and again frustrate reform,” argued Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.

Cook cited as an example, Congress’ revised agriculture appropriations bill last week, which counts tomato sauce in pizza as a vegetable and was pushed furtively by frozen pizza lobbyists.

The report also proposed increased funding to child nutrition programs, an additional commitment to aid hunger and food security abroad, and a proposal called “Ag jobs” that would create a guest farm worker program for immigrant laborers.

“All this can be done and you could save a lot more than the $23 billion,” said Beckman.

Savings Panel Pitches Ideas To Super Committee

By Lisa Kellman

A bipartisan panel of experts met Tuesday to do the job the congressional committee on deficit reduction can’t seem to manage.

The panel proposed its own spending cuts and revenue generators that they believe would be the most effective way to reduce the nation’s deficit, and the most likely to pass in Congress by Thanksgiving.

The panel suggested cutting federal healthcare programs, wasteful subsidiesand defense.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction — also known as the super committee — has until November 23 to send Congress a plan to slash the deficit by $1.2 trillion over ten years or an automatic sequestration will trigger, resulting in across the board spending cuts to domestic and defense budgets.

According to David Kendall from Third Way, a centrist think tank, sequestration would result in 12,000 criminals not going to jail, 50,000 new cases of food poisoning, 225,000 pounds of unscreened luggage and half as accurate weather reports because America won’t be able to afford new satellites.

Phil Kerpen from Americans for Prosperity, a conservative nonprofit that has been advocating against tax increases, called for repealing President Obama’s healthcare law, block-granting all federal entitlements and cutting federal agriculture subsidies, which he said would save taxpayers $1.651 trillion.

Gary Kalman from the Public Interest Research Group agreed that industries should have their subsidies cut.

“Some of the dairy management funding…pays pizza chains to market extra cheesy pizza,” Kalman said, citing the wasteful ways in which profitable industries spend taxpayer money.

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah.) joined the panel midway and pushed for revenue neutral tax reform, while Michael Linden from the left-leaning Center for American Progress argued that Americans pay a low tax rate as is and the budget issue could be solved by raising tax rates.

The panel was clearly divided, but they called on members of the super committee to consider their recommendations by visiting EndingSpending.com.