Key Vote YES on Free Market Amendments to the Farm Bill, H.R. 2

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or her to vote YES on the free market amendments that have been offered to the Agriculture and Nutrition Act, H.R. 2, more commonly known as the “Farm Bill.”
The amendments below are important parts of the conversation on this legislation, and will steer the Farm Bill in a more fiscally responsible direction, with less government intervention in the market.

  • Amendment #1: Sponsored by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and a group of nine other bipartisan legislators, this amendment reforms U.S. sugar policy. Raw sugar in the U.S. currently costs 84 percent more than it does on the world market. This is because of almost Soviet levels of government controls placed on the domestic sugar market that limits imports and production. This increases prices on consumers and makes it difficult for candy companies to maintain operations in America. The sugar modernization amendment is a long overdue reversal of this disturbing, protectionist trend.

  • Amendment #3: Sponsored by Rep. Tom McClintock, this amendment would phase out agricultural subsidies over a ten to twelve year period. A large portion of the agricultural community currently exists with minimal or no subsidies. The subsidies that do exist are wasteful, and prop up the top farms, and people who aren’t actually farmers. This proposal is a big step towards getting our agriculture policy in line with the free market, and towards a more fiscally responsible government.

  • Amendment #25: Sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), and Jared Polis (D-Colo.), this amendment prevents federal officials from interfering with the sales and transportation of unpasteurized milk across state lines. This ensures that nothing will get in the way of people who want fresh, unpasteurized milk, and those farmers who want to sell it to them.

  • Amendment #31: Sponsored by Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and a coalition of over a dozen other lawmakers, this amendment repeals the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Water Rule, which loosely defines “waters of the United States.” This rule violated private citizens’ property rights by giving the EPA authority to regulate waterways as small as a ditch in someone’s backyard. Repeal of this rule would be a victory for individual liberty.

Given the size, and amount of spending in this Farm Bill, it is important to have an open debate. FreedomWorks will count votes for these amendments when calculating our Scorecard for 2018 and reserves the right to score votes for amendments not listed above as well. The scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of the House and Senate who consistently vote to support economic freedom and individual liberty.

Sincerely,

Adam Brandon, President, FreedomWorks