$20B In Tax Dollars Is Allocated To Keep Farms Afloat - And Some Lawmakers Are Benefiting by Sharyl Attkinson (CBS News): Each year, taxpayers fork over about $20 billion in farm subsidies to help keep America's farms up and running. But over the years, more and more of the payments have gone to Fortune 500 companies, the wealthy - and even members of Congress, CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports. Ken Cook, who researches the issue, says it makes about as much sense as putting a milk bucket under a bull. “The big farms get most of the money. Ten percent of the beneficiaries get over 70 percent of the payments . . .Even the members of Congress who vote on farm subsidies and earn $165,200 government salaries can get payments. A dozen of them or their close family have gotten a total of $6.2 million dollars over 10 years. One of them is Arkansas Rep. Marion Berry. He's grown rice his whole life, and has collected subsidies from the start. Today, he and his family members have interests in several farm corporations. Attkisson asked him: “You and your family’s interests received almost $2.4 million in federal payments from 1999 to 2005 according to records?" Berry said: “I don’t have any idea. That sounds like an awful lot of money to me.” Whatever the amount, most Americans would hardly envision Berry as the disadvantaged farmer. “Can you tell me what your net worth is?” Attkisson asked. “My net worth? I don’t have any idea,” Barry replied. “Well, it’s not very much I know.” "This range says $1.7 million to $6.6 million,” Attkisson read to him. “That’s probably pretty close,” Berry said.
The new farm bill working its way through Congress attempts to cut off some of the wealthy. Under one version, no one earning more than $1 million a year could get subsidies. That wouldn't affect Berry. He's worth a lot, but says his yearly income falls below the million-dollar mark. There's nothing illegal or improper about the wealthy receiving farm subsidies. Cook says it's just not fair to taxpayers . . . [Read More]
Tags: Arkansas, CBS, Congressional Pork, farm subsidies, Marion Berry, US Congress To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
0 comments:
Post a Comment