House successfully cuts taxpayer-funded Brazilian cotton subsidies

17 Jun '11

2 min read

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind voted against major cuts in conservation funding, nutrition programs, and services to assist women and children by refusing to support the Agriculture Appropriations bill of 2012.

“Instead of making smart cuts to get our spending under control and focusing on creating jobs and supporting our economy, this bill makes devastating cuts on the backs of women, infants, and children and eliminates funding critical to our family farmers,” said Rep. Kind. “That's why I offered and supported commonsense amendments to reduce wasteful government spending without jeopardizing important nutrition and conservation programs.”

Rep. Kind's amendment to prohibit the use of taxpayer subsidies to the Brazilian Cotton Institute, a cost savings of $147 million a year, passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support.

“I'm pleased that a bipartisan group of Members agreed with me that supporting Brazil's cotton industry with taxpayer dollars is wasteful and unnecessary. But the bill as a whole still irresponsibly overlooks other commonsense cuts such as the billions of dollars in outdated farm subsidies going to very few large agribusinesses. We cannot afford to continue spending carelessly and cutting recklessly, especially in this tough economy.”

In addition, Rep. Kind supported additional amendments to cut wasteful government spending including:

Prohibiting the payment of farm subsidies to a person or entity if their average adjusted gross income exceeds $250,000.

Prohibiting funds from being used to provide benefits to farmers in excess of $125,000 per crop year.

The bill cuts WIC aid for pregnant women, infants and children by $650 million - forcing the program to turn away up to 350,000 low-income women and young children next year. This but breaks a 15-year commitment by past Administrations and Congresses to provide enough WIC funding to serve all eligible women, infants, and children who apply.

It also irresponsibly cuts $892 million from voluntary land and water conservation programs that not only protect water supplies and wildlife habit but that reward our farmers for being good stewards of the land. Three out of every four farmers applying for conservation funding assistance are currently turned away because of the inadequacy of funds; this bill only makes it more difficult for our family famers to take advantage of these vital programs.

U.S. House of Representatives

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