Grassley to introduce bill capping farm payments

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced Tuesday that he would introduce a bill to place a cap on payments an individual farmer receives in a year.

On the Senate floor, Grassley said the idea was part of last year’s Senate-passed farm bill, but that it did not become law because the House failed to pass a farm bill during the 112th Congress.

“A strong safety net is critical to ensuring a safe and affordable food supply,” Grassley said. “Ending some of the most egregious abuses of the farm program will ensure that the farm program payments are going to those who need them most. It’s unacceptable that small- and medium-sized farmers get so little of the very program that was created to help them.”

The Farm Program Integrity Act would establish a per-farm subsidy cap maximum at $250,000, which would apply to whatever programs were developed as part of the new farm bill. Grassley said the bill would also close loopholes that allow non-farmers claiming to manage farms to qualify for federal farm payments.

Grassley said that his measure was partially responsible for some of the more than $20 billion the cost-savings in last year’s Senate farm bill.

The bill is a bipartisan measure cosponsored by Sens. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

“Ensuring our farm program payments are directed to the small and medium sized family farmers is a concept that folks from both sides of the aisle support,” Johnson said. “We face a number of difficult budgetary challenges, and establishing a hard cap on payments and closing loopholes within the program will help to reduce the deficit while also reaffirming the legitimacy of our farm programs.”

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