23 Members of Congress Receive Farm Subsidies

Sunday, April 03, 2011
Rep. Stephen Fincher
Whether it’s $30 billion, $60 billion or $100 billion, slashing the federal budget means cutting back on a lot of programs. But farm subsidies are not facing the axe, and having nearly two dozen lawmakers receiving such financial support may have something to do with it.
 
The Environmental Working Group has determined that at least 23 representatives and senators, or their family members, applied for farm subsidy payments between 1995 and 2009. Seventeen were Republicans and six belonged to the Democratic Party, with the GOP taking in more than $5.3 million, compared to only $489,856 for Democrats.
 
The biggest beneficiaries of farm subsidies in the current Congress have been:
·       Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tennessee) $3,368,843
·       Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Missouri) $469,292
·       Rep. Kristi Noem (R-South Dakota) $443,748
·       Sen. John Tester (D-Montana) $442,303
·       Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) $330,046
Fincher, Hartzler, Noem and Tester are all first-term members of Congress.
 
Five crops— corn, cotton, rice, wheat and soybeans—account for 90% of the government’s farm subsidies and 74% of subsidies go to the top 10% of farms. According to the Department of Agriculture, 62% of U.S. farmers don’t receive any direct federal payments.
-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff
 
Cut Spending – But Not My Farm Subsidies! (by Chris Campbell, Amber Hanna and Don Carr, Environmental Working Group)
Top Recipients of Farm Subsidies 1995-2009 (Environmental Working Group)

Comments

Margaret Navarrete 10 years ago
The American people are unaware of the waste that is given to these greedy congressmen. They supposed to represent the People, a law must be changed to prohibit this from happening in the future. I will contact my legislator to act.
paul becker 10 years ago
There would seem to be a potential conflict of interest here. How did these public officials vote on recent reductions for hungry families versus how did they vote on cuts for agricultural subsidies? My guess is that they voted their own interests. Is this fair? Is this the American way?

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