OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Farm Bill

Statement

Date: June 25, 2012
Location: Springfield, IL
Issues: Agriculture and Food

"The Senate's bipartisan farm bill represents a major step towards putting our agriculture policy on the right track, while also saving more than $23 billion over the next ten years," said Durbin.

Included in the Senate-passed farm bill is an amendment Senator Durbin co-sponsored with Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) that asks the country's wealthiest farmers to shoulder more risk by reducing the level of federal premium support for crop insurance participants with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) over $750,000 by 15 percentage points for all buy-up policies beyond catastrophic coverage. When fully implemented, the Durbin-Coburn amendment will save the federal government more than $1.1 billion over ten years.

"Though our wealthiest farmers are most able to cover their risks, we subsidize their crop insurance at exactly the same rate as we do middle income and lower income farmers," said Durbin. "This amendment corrects that lack of balance while also saving a billion dollars, and Senator Coburn and I are pleased that our colleagues on both sides of the aisle recognized its value.


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