Friday, May 08, 2009

Farm-Subsidy Cuts Highlight Political Challenge

President Barack Obama's continued push to save $9.8 billion over 10 years by slashing subsidies to large farms, despite fierce criticism from Capitol Hill, illustrates the challenge he faces in paring back long-running government programs. The farm-subsidy cut was one of the 121 government programs the Obama administration proposed to cut on Thursday in its bid to save $17 billion over the next year. The proposed cuts were included in Mr. Obama's $3.6 trillion budget request for fiscal 2010. The farm-subsidy proposal would eliminate direct payments to farmers with more than $500,000 in annual revenue. In total, the president's budget would reduce federal payments in one form or another to farmers by about $15 billion through fiscal 2019. But with several prominent Democratic lawmakers openly questioning the proposed reductions, and the powerful farming lobby geared up to oppose Mr. Obama, it is far from clear whether he will be successful in achieving the savings outlined in his budget. Targeting farms that make more than $500,000 annually wouldn't just affect the wealthy producers it is aimed at, farm groups say. An average soybean farmer that collects $500,000 in sales would make $36,000 in profits, according to calculations made in March by the American Farm Bureau Federation...WSJ

Obama's proposal to cut 121 programs to save $17 billion is really laughable. That would be a cut of less than one-half of one percent of the total budget, and it appears the deep thinkers in Congress will reject even that miniscule number.

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