The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Free Markets and Regulatory Reform wrote an op-ed piece for the National Review Dot Com on agricultural subsidies. The piece by a senior research fellow refers back to higher than expected costs for the Ag Risk Coverage (ARC) and the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs in the 2014 farm bill. The piece says those costs are almost double the original estimates, $32 billion over five years rather than the projected $18 billion first forecast. The Foundation says agribusiness groups are after even more handouts as lawmakers prepare to develop the next Farm Bill. The Heritage Foundation is calling on Congress to keep the interests of the taxpayer in mind when developing the upcoming Farm Bill. They want Congress to get rid of the ARC and PLC programs in the next Farm Bill. In the meantime, they’d like to see caps on those programs, ensuring that they aren’t open-ended programs and give taxpayers at least some protection. They note that a House amendment when the programs were first written would have capped outlays but the amendment was removed by legislators during final Farm Bill negotiations.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.