Kent Conrad: “This farm bill is fiscally responsible. It is a 5-year reauthorization. It is fully paid for. It complies with pay-go.…”

“This farm bill is fiscally responsible. It is a 5-year reauthorization. It is fully paid for. It complies with pay-go. It cuts commodity title payments by $7.5 billion over 5 years. That is a fact. In fact, the share of the total Federal budget going to commodity programs is reduced from the previous farm bill, from three-quarters of 1 percent of total Federal spending to one-quarter of 1 percent. That is a fact. This bill tightens payment limitations and eliminates loopholes. It adopts the elimination of the three-entity rule that allowed people to hide behind paper entities to get farm program payments. It eliminates that abuse. It requires direct attribution of farm program payments so a living, breathing human being has to be the recipient of these payments--again, instead of being able to hide behind a mask of phony corporate entities. This bill is fiscally responsible. When my colleague says this bill has tax increases in it--$15 billion he asserted of tax increases-- wrong again. Is there more revenue in this bill? Yes. How can it be there is more revenue but not tax increases? Well, let's look. Let's look at where the revenue comes from--$15 billion over 5 years. Where does it come from? It comes from codifying the ``economic substance'' doctrine that prohibits businesses from using certain tax- avoidance schemes. Is that a tax increase? No, I do not think that is a tax increase.”