Sherrod Brown: “Several of the speakers have said that the committee already made substantial cuts in crop insurance subsidies from the…”

“Several of the speakers have said that the committee already made substantial cuts in crop insurance subsidies from the Government. That is not quite true. There was a bit of a cut, but the cuts were much less than the House of Representatives had in their bill. The House made cuts in the shared risk and the A&O, the administration and operating expenses. They say the crop insurance companies were already cut by $3.5 billion. The vast majority of these savings were due to the sleight of hand, the shifts in time. The CBO cost estimate indicates that only $700 million were actually cut. According to the CBO, the supplemental disaster package adds an additional $2.1 billion to crop insurance. So they took a little here and added more there. It adds up to a net gain of $1.5 billion to crop insurance companies. Their lobby is strong and they are doing well. They have a lot of influence on this body. But the fact is, in the end, this is about one thing: This chart shows that the majority of crop insurance spending goes to insurers, not family farmers or large farmers--not to farmers, period. A majority of this money--the underwriting gains paid to companies was $840 million. Administrative subsidies paid to companies was $960 million. Fifty percent of crop insurance spending goes to crop insurance companies, not to farmers.”