Agricultural News
Four Coburn Farm Bill Amendments on the Table
Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:49:15 CDT
Four amendments proposed by Senator Tom Coburn are among a package of amendments to the 2012 Farm Bill that will be heard on the Senate floor.
In an interview last week, Coburn had expressed skepticism that his amendments would make it to the floor let alone to a vote. He said the Senate did not have the stomach to face the economic realities confronting the country and the world.
"My four amendments are symptoms of the disease facing our nation. What the American people are going to hear today as we begin voting on amendments is why we 'cannot' cut spending, why we can't limit our appetites, why we can't end subsidies to some of the richest co-ops in the world, why we can't stop sending tax dollars to the Republican and Democrat conventions every year -- why we can't limit some of the conservation programs that go to millionaires," he said.
His most important amendment, the Coburn-Durbin amendment, would reduce the level of federal premium support for crop insurance participants with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) over $750,000 by 15 percentage points for all buy-up policies beyond catastrophic coverage. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates this amendment would save more than $1.2 billion dollars over ten years. Earlier this year, Senators Coburn and Durbin sent a letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee regarding their recommendations for reforming the federal crop insurance program.
Coburn's second major amendment, 2214, prohibits the use of money from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund (PECF) for party conventions in the elections occurring after December 31, 2012. Additionally, it would allow funds disbursed before that time to be returned to the Treasury for the purpose of deficit reduction. Earlier this month, Dr. Coburn introduced this legislation as a stand-alone bill, S. 3257.
Coburn has also offered amendments to trim the Market Access Program (MAP) by 20 percent and to limit subsidy payments to the wealthiest producers.
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