McClintock Explains No Vote On Farm Bill

Washington D.C. — Farm Bill, H.R. 2642, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives 251 to 166. Congressman Tom McClintock voted No on the bill also titled the “Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013.”

Congressman McClintock says, “This bill spends nearly a trillion dollars over the next decade (roughly $8,000 per family) to continue massive subsidies to agribusiness and to support an out-of-control food stamp program.” He continued, “Yes, it does away with the direct payments program that pays farmers NOT to grow crops. But it replaces direct payments with a crop insurance subsidy that puts taxpayers on the risky end of a massive derivative scheme. Proponents say it cuts the program by 1.6 percent (after ballooning 32 percent over the past five years), but if current high commodity prices return to historic averages, taxpayers will pay much more.” McClintock concluded, “That’s why most taxpayer groups oppose it.”

McClintock added that, “In a cynical attempt to pressure Western representatives, the House Leadership inserted a one-year extension of the PILT program, which compensates Western rural counties for local tax revenues they’ve lost because of excessive federal land acquisitions. I strongly support PILT but cannot support the overall bill into which it has been placed.”

The full text of the bill H.R. 2642 is here.