Today, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives are meeting to negotiate the final text of the Farm Bill, H.R. 2. The Farm Bill is an $860 billion spending bill that funds U.S. agricultural activities. This will impact farmers across the nation and it is important for the conferees to consider much-needed reforms that will last for years.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and tell him or her to support the President Trump’s Farm Bill Reforms Act, H.R. 5629, introduced by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). The bill would reform and modernize the subsidies the federal government grants as a part of its omnibus Farm Bill.

Yesterday, the House Agriculture Committee released its Farm Bill proposal. The Farm Bill is an omnibus bill that needs to be passed every five years or so to address various issues related to American agriculture and the responsibilities of the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The last one was passed in 2014.

When the House of Representatives passed the farm bill earlier this year, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) hailed it as a accomplishment because, he said, it "maintains critical assistance for families in need and improves programs for producers while cutting the cost of government."

This week, I decided to research the Farm Bill to write a little bit about some of the “reforms” House Republicans who support the bill are so proud of. The CBO estimates savings of $35 billion over the next ten years (vs. the current baseline). The CBO is also notorious for underestimating costs, and it looks like this time won’t be any different. 

Democracy and Power 113: Vote Trading“I’ll vote for your legislation, if you’ll vote for mine.” This is never said in public, but occurs constantly. Regularly, our leadership requests legislation, and a politician agrees to the request if our leadership includes his project. Politicians trade votes for their respective benefit, which is seldom for the benefit of Americans.

Last week, while the Fiscal Cliff blamefest was dominating the headlines, another January 1, 2013 crisis was revealed - the so-called Milk Cliff. As explained at Breitbart.com,

Dear Representative:On behalf of the millions of members represented by our organizations, we write urging you to support efforts to cut Washington’s outsized and outdated role in American agriculture.