Ron Kind: “My amendment is very simple and straightforward. It would save the American taxpayers $150 million a year by ending a…”

“My amendment is very simple and straightforward. It would save the American taxpayers $150 million a year by ending a new American taxpayer subsidy that is going to Brazilian cotton agribusiness. If this program sounds crazy, it's because it is. But it's also the truth. How did we get to this point? Well, Brazil had a successful WTO challenge against our own cotton subsidy program under our own farm bill. They prevailed; and you would think that the logical, reasonable response from us would be to reform our cotton subsidy program. But that's not what happened. Instead, a new program has been created to the tune of $150 million per year to buy off Brazil cotton agribusiness so they won't pursue economic sanctions against our country. It's foolish, it's wasteful, and it speaks to the need for us to get into serious farm bill reform, especially under the title I subsidy commodity programs. We need to eliminate this new subsidy and then get onto the tough lifting of comprehensive farm bill reform.”