Insurance for Corn, Not Kids? 
by Scott Faber
Environmental Working Group - Agriculture
July 10, 2012
http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2012/07/insurance-for-corn-not-kids/

On the same day that the House will vote to end health
insurance subsidies for low income Americans, the House
Agriculture Committee will vote to increase crop
insurance subsidies for the largest and most profitable
mega farms - and will cut nutrition assistance programs
to pay for it.

Many of the same House Agriculture Committee members who
will vote tomorrow (Wednesday) on a proposal to increase
crop insurance subsidies voted against the Affordable
Care Act in 2009, including Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK)
and Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN). Other members
of the House Agriculture Committee who are expected to
support unlimited insurance subsidies for corn and
cotton farmers tomorrow but voted against health
insurance subsidies for low income Americans in 2009
include Reps. Tim Holden (D-PA), Larry Kissell (D-NC),
and Mike McIntyre (D-NC), as well as Reps. Bob Goodlatte
(R-VA), Tim Johnson (R-IL), Steve King (R-IA), Randy
Neugebauer (R-TX), Michael Conaway (R-TX), Jeff
Fortenberry (R-NE), Jean Schmidt (R-OH), Glenn Thompson
(R-PA), and Thomas J. Rooney (R-FL).

Unlike the health insurance subsidies included in the
Affordable Care Act, crop insurance subsidies are not
subject to any limits on who can receive subsidies or
the amount they can receive. As a result, 26
policyholders each collected more than $1 million in
insurance subsidies in 2011 and more than 10,000 each
collected more than $100,000, according to an
Environmental Working Group analysis. Roughly 30,000
policyholders collected 42 percent of all premium
subsidies in 2011.

Rather than place reasonable limits on crop insurance,
the Lucas-Peterson proposal that will be considered
tomorrow by the House Agriculture Committee actually
expands crop insurance subsidies - at a cost of more
than $9 billion. To help pay for this expansion and meet
deficit reduction targets, the Lucas-Peterson proposal
will cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
known as SNAP, by $16.1 billion and cut environmental
programs by $6.1 billion.

In other words, the bill would give unlimited taxpayer
dollars to farmers who are already making record profits
and less support to hungry kids who depend on federal
assistance for food, and to programs that keep drinking
water clean.

Reasonable crop insurance reforms like payment limits
and means testing - which already apply to SNAP and to
health insurance subsidies  - could save more than $20
billion when combined with cuts in subsidies to crop
insurance companies. But such reforms were not
considered by the committee leaders and face an uphill
fight on the floor of the House.

___________________________________________

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