Righting the wrongs of the farm bill

It was with a sense of deep disappointment and regret that I cast my vote against the farm bill considered by the House last month. I voted for the bill the Agriculture Committee produced; however, somewhere between the committee and the floor, the farm bill assumed a dramatically different shape, amassing provisions that would harm farmers instead of helping them; put American jobs at risk; and create disincentives for domestic energy production, further inhibiting our efforts toward energy independence.  Passing a farm bill is necessary for our farmers and ranchers to make the planting and operational decisions for the future and ensure Americans can count on a safe, affordable food supply. I am committed to making farm policy work for America but not if that means paying for excessive spending by resorting to unnecessary tax increases.

The most unfortunate aspect of this situation was that it didn’t have to turn this way. Among the harmful provisions tacked onto the farm bill at the last minute was the formation of an arbitrary relationship between crop insurance and new taxes on crude oil and natural gas production. The rate the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation will determine reimbursements by calculating the ratio of dollars expected to be collected in a year by the Secretary of the Interior and the dollars collected in 2012. Confusing? Absolutely. Necessary? Absolutely not.

This ill-conceived scheme also weakens the stability and effectiveness of the crop insurance program.  Farmers depend on a reliable crop insurance program and because these provisions were added at the last minute and with little research into the probable consequences, we did not, and still do not know, the toll these provisions will take on the crop insurance industry. Coupled with additional fees on domestically produced oil and gas, this tax sends us reeling backward in our efforts to encourage domestic energy production further increasing the cost of fuel and fertilizer for American farmers and ranchers already facing increased input costs.

An additional last minute add-on included a tax on foreign companies with U.S. subsidiaries. This tax increase jeopardizes millions of American jobs by raising taxes on companies that do business in the U.S. and discourages investment in the U.S. Not only does this provision, cunningly added by the Democrat Leadership after the bill left the control of the Agriculture Committee, jeopardize American jobs, it will lead us to abrogate treaties with other nations and lead to significant ramifications for U.S. companies with operations in other countries. It is clear that these tax increases would deliver broad and harrowing consequences for all sectors of the economy.

Where are all of these tax dollars going? Every single penny of the $7 billion in tax increases was directed to nutrition programs that already account for 67 percent, or two-thirds, of the total budget for agriculture. Although the commodity title was reduced by $60 billion in the budget, America’s farmers and ranchers would not see a dime of increased funding. Having exceeded the budget allotment and refusing to designate the additional money needed to help move a forward looking farm bill across the floor, the majority again tacked the cost of funding their own priorities on their favorite revenue generator: the American taxpayer.

I have worked on the Agriculture Committee since first coming to Congress 14 years ago and I have enjoyed being part of a committee that prided itself on its bipartisan nature. In all those years, I have never witnessed or experienced a situation that discarded the committee product to this extent or that precluded the members of the committee and the general membership of the House from legislating on major portions of the bill. Luckily, this does not have to be the way this story ends. We are only one-third of a way through the farm bill process and there is still time to salvage this legislation and turn it into a workable bill that is good for American agriculture, doesn’t stifle domestic energy production, and ensures all Americans continued access to a safe, reliable, affordable food and fiber supply. We only reauthorize a farm bill every five or six years; therefore, it is imperative that we honor the deliberative process we have pledged to uphold. We have the opportunity to make this right, to strip the unacceptable tax increases and bring this legislation before the Congress to be weighed on its own merits without the extraneous provisions that have no place in a farm bill.

Goodlatte is the ranking member of the House  Agriculture Committee.

Special section: Agriculture

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Righting the wrongs of the farm bill
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