Farm Subsidies

A new farm subsidy is being proposed by Senators Brown, Ohio, and Thune, S. Dakota, in spite of record high farm income. Current subsidies like many government programs go mostly to the rich. The top 10 percent of direct-payment recipients in 2010 received 59 percent of the money under the program. Those 88,000 people, including farmers, their spouses and absentee landowners, got an average of $29,598.
Here’s why this folly endures. Mr. Thune, a leading voice in favor of deficit reduction, received at least $80,000 in campaign contributions since 2007 from political action committees associated with commodity agriculture, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign spending. Mr. Brown has received $5,500 in PAC contributions from such groups in that period.