Kate Whitman – Calls Farm Bill “Just Another Example of a Special-Interest Driven, Wasteful Spending Bill Costing Taxpayers Billions”

        (Peapack, NJ)….  Fiscal Conservative Kate Whitman, Republican Candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s District 7, called for United States House members to vote No on the 2008 Farm Bill.   “The bill is rife with subsidies and budget gimmicks at a cost to hardworking taxpaying Americans of nearly $300 Billion.  At a time when many Americans are struggling to put food on the table due to skyrocketing food prices, the last thing Congress should be doing is passing a bill that rewards wealthy farmers and will contribute to even higher food prices,” commented Whitman.

        The last time the Farm Bill was passed in 2002, it was determined that the average subsidy payment “to large and commercial farms was 1,100 percent larger than the average payment to small farms.” (Taxpayers for Common Sense Factsheet, accessed 5-21-08)  As food prices near record levels, the gap will only increase as Congress actually increased subsidy payments for 2009, conservatively estimated at $25 Billion.  (Heritage Foundation, 5-12-08)  “Sixty percent of these [subsidy] payments go to the wealthiest 10 percent of recipients,” estimates Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), a non-partisan taxpayer watchdog group. 

        “The current and bloated Farm Bill is just another example of a broken system in Washington that would rather reward wealthy farmers than help hardworking everyday Americans who are struggling to make ends meet,” stated Whitman.  She continued, “Limits need to be placed on subsidy payments and Washington needs to get back to working for the people, not against them.”  Whitman concluded, “Irresponsible subsidy payments and budget gimmicks in the 2008 Farm Bill are no different than wasteful earmark pork-barrel spending in budgets, they benefits special-interests and hurt American taxpayers, families and seniors.”

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                            Paid for by Kate Whitman for Congress.