Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, both R-Wyo., are fighting to keep payments in the pockets of farmers who need it most. Enzi and Barrasso sent a letter today to President Barack Obama requesting that payments in the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 be targeted appropriately and in a fiscally responsible manner.
The letter pushes back against a final rule Obama released on Jan. 7 regarding limitations on who can receive taxpayer-funded farm subsidy payments. The rule will help smaller farms secure program payments but unfortunately failed to include a strict interpretation of the term “active personal management” that would ensure that program payments are targeted toward actively engaged, bona fide farmers.
“The flimsy definition currently used for ‘active personal management’ leaves too much room for abuse to creep in and keep the money out of the pockets of farmers who need it most. The President needs to keep our hardworking farmers and ranchers in mind and change his rule to work with them instead of against them,” Enzi said.
“It is important we focus farm programs on hardworking farmers and ranchers while looking out for the American taxpayer in the process. The USDA must take action to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in farm programs,” said Barrasso.
A 2004 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on farm program payments recommended that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) adopt meaningful standards for personal management because the lack of such standards fostered waste and misuse of farm program payments.
In one instance, GAO found that 11 out-of-state partners in a joint venture each qualified for approximately $90,000 in payments exclusively because of their participation in conference calls. This is an example of how those not actively engaged in agriculture can use the existing definition to receive farm payments.
In a bipartisan effort, Senator Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) also signed on to the letter.
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