Above: Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley
Among the Senators voting in support of an amendment cutting crop insurance assistance to high income farmers in the Senate farm bill was Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.
The Durbin-Coburn amendment (so named for Illinois’ Dick Durbin and Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn) would cut crop insurance premium subsidies by 15% for farmers who have an average adjusted gross income in excess of $750,000. The amendment’s 59-33 passage was the last big news concerning the 2013 farm bill until the Senate’s next votes on June 3.
Senator Grassley is a long-time proponent of limiting payments to large farmers, and says he voted for the amendment, but not without some hesitation.
A concern I have, even though I voted for it, is ‘Is it going to cause larger farmers to maybe not participate in the crop insurance program. Would that increase the price for everybody else?’
Senate Ag Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow was opposed to the Durbin-Coburn amendment, citing a study that showed smaller producers could pay higher premiums of larger ones were pulled out of the pool. Stabenow claims that premiums could increase 40% for those remaining in the system if larger players get out. Grassley questioned the validity of Stabenow’s source, asserting that the study was published by lobbyists for Southern agriculture.
In a conference call May 28, Grassley told reporters that the Durbin-Coburn amendment also contained a provision allowing that, if premiums rise in one year’s time due to farmers leaving the crop insurance program, the amendment will be repealed.
Grassley also informed reporters at the same conference that the Senate will finish its version of the farm bill by June 6.
