LaMalfa busted for taking subsidies

The House of Representative’s version of the federal farm bill cuts $20 billion from the food-stamp program over the next 10 years, eliminating 2 million recipients, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Freshman Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale, pictured), speaking at a House Agriculture Committee meeting last month, said the private sector should help poor people because “it comes from the heart, not from a badge or from a mandate.”

The farm bill would also eliminate $5 billion in direct payment of crop subsidies to farmers. As Los Angeles Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik reported on Friday, June 14, and the CN&R has reported previously, LaMalfa’s family rice farms have received such subsidies since 1995, totaling $5.1 million.

According to the Times, instead of direct payments, the proposed bill offers government-subsidized crop insurance that assures certain farmers get 90 percent of their average annual revenues. The government pays “roughly two-thirds of the premiums of crop insurance,” reported the Times. LaMalfa supports this as well.