Taxpayers for Common Sense Action
Farm Bill Passage.
In a last ditch effort to finish a farm bill in 2001, Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-AR) offered a substitute nearly identical to the House-passed Farm Security Act (H.R. 2646).
The House version of the bill contained over $170 billion in spending over 10 years, most of which would go to unnecessary subsidies that have previously resulted in overproduction of commodities such as wool and mohair, cotton, sugar, peanuts, rice, and tobacco. This overproduction of crops has resulted in markets being flooded, depressed individual crop prices, and the corresponding need and continued dependence on taxpayer-funded subsidies. The Senate tabled (killed) the Hutchinson amendment.