WRITE CONGRESS TO REDUCE POVERTY

The foreign poor — we see them on TV — emaciated, big eyes, swollen stomachs, spindly arms and legs, trying to survive while the TV ad appeals for money. The reality is, our tax money has contributed to their poverty. How? Under our farm bill, our tax money subsidizes agribusinesses that consequently overproduce. These huge corporations dump their products on the market. Poor countries cannot compete; 3rd world citizens are unable to earn a living. The World Trade Organization threatens trade sanctions against the U.S because we hurt the economies of other countries. We do not conform to the World Trade Organization’s law.
Our small farmers are in the same situation as the poor countries; the small farmers can’t compete against the huge corporate farmers which are subsidized with equally huge amounts of money. Subsidies are provided for commodity production under provisions of the farm bill. Of the 9 billion in commodity payments in 2004, 4.5 billion went in direct payments to only 7% of U.S. farms.1 Senator Lugar, a farmer himself, is concerned about the large subsidies received by the large corporations. He states, “In the name of maintaining the family farm and preserving rural communities, today’s farm programs have benefited a select few while leaving the majority of farmers without support or a safety-net.”2
Also, the Catholic bishops support the reduction of trade distortion caused by huge farm subsidies and support caps with the purpose of greater investment in nutrition, international food aid, and rural development.3
March 15, (the date that the old farm bill expires) is fast approaching. Two differences between Congress and the President hold back passage of the bill: 1.The President is opposed to an increase in spending as part of the proposed farm bill, and 2. The President wants a $200,000 cap on subsidy payments. (Currently they can earn $2,500,000.)4 Congress is not in step with the President and the President will veto the farm bill if cost cutting measures are not taken.
We need to write, e-mail, or call Congress about the farm bill. We want to tell Congress that we agree with President Bush; we support the $200,000 earnings cap on subsidies. We know the Big Agriculture lobbyists are busy talking to Congress. They have paid huge campaign contributions. For example, American Crystal Sugar gave $1,146,267 in the 2006 election period to members of Congress.5 Because of their contributions, the lobbyists must believe they have power. But we have greater power. We hold the power to elect the members of Congress. Congress will listen to us, the electorate. We need to tell Congress of our Christian concern for the small farmers and the world’s poor.
In our letters to Senator Lugar and Senator Bayh it would also be good to encourage the Senators to pass S. 2433, the Global Poverty Act of 2007 (The House passed their bill.) The Global Poverty Act is a bill to require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide…who live on less than $1 per day.6 1,000,000,000 people worldwide live on less than $1 per day.7
When thinking about writing your letters, remember what Edmund Burke said, “Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little.”
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1 http://www.bread.org/press-room/news/page.jsp?itemID=32069332; 2http://lugar.senate.gov/farmbill/;
3 http://www.usccb.org/ogl/110th%20Congress%201st%20Session%20Interim.pdf;
4 http://www.farmbill2007.com/; 5 http://www.agobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=98445;
6 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-2433; 7 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.2433.