The lawmakers who will write the final version of the new U.S. farm bill may not accept the Bush administration proposal to deny crop subsidies to the wealthiest Americans, a senior House Republican said on Monday.
"I don't know if there is going to be the will to do that," said Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Republican leader on the House Agriculture Committee.
In a telephone interview, Goodlatte said the White House, while calling for more stringent limits on crop subsidies, put more emphasis on its opposition to tax increases as part of the new U.S. farm law. "The president has taken a very strong position on taxes," he said.
The administration wants to cut off crop subsidies to people whose adjusted gross income, on average, exceeds $200,000 a year. At present, the cut-off is $2.5 million a year in adjusted gross income, with no limit if most of the money is from farming.
Goodlatte cautioned that sweeping change might backfire. For instance, he said, landowners may set high rental rates rather than accept a share of the crop as payment.
"If (tenants) are forced to make a cash rent payment and they can't make it, it would be the opposite effect of what was intended," said Goodlatte. "There's a lot more work that needs to be done on that subject" of the impact of new subsidy rules.
Negotiators from the House and Senate are expected to meet in coming weeks to write a final version of the farm bill. The House and Senate voted in separate bills to revise crop subsidy rules. Both chambers voted to require payments to be tracked to individual recipients and to end the practice of collecting subsidies indirectly. The administration supports both of those steps.
The House farm bill would deny crop subsidies to millionaires. The Senate bill sets a cut-off of $750,000 a year from 2010 unless at least two-thirds of the income is from agriculture. Senators defeated a proposal for a $250,000 a year "hard" cap on subsidies.
While the administration would not change the current limit of $360,000 a year in crop subsidies per farm, the House bill would allow $250,000 a year plus prices supports and the Senate would permit $200,000 a year plus price supports.Reuters
