In Indiana’s Third Congressional District, Marlin Stuzman is campaigning against big government. So, it’s a little inconvenient for him that he and his family has been taking a lot of government money for their farming operations over the years. His explanation is something along the lines of, “they made me take their wretched money.” He just had to take that $100,000 (near $1 million if you look to the whole family operation), damn the luck.
When Sylvia Smith asked the Farm Service Agency, their response was (and I paraphrase), “Uh, not so much.”
Although Stutzman says the direct payments should be eliminated, until they are, “we can’t say no.” He has described the payments as “federal mandates.”
The Agriculture Department says Stutzman could decline the checks.
“It’s a voluntary program,” said Carl Schweikhardt, program specialist for the Farm Service Agency, the USDA operation in Indiana. “You can refuse payment on the farm.”
But, those farm subsidies are something that frequently seem to get overlooked when the usual suspects are railing against Big Government. The most recent version of the Farm Bill is a five-year $288 billion bill. Once again, I think it “doesn’t count” because those subsidies aren’t going to “Them.” It’s like Medicare and Social Security – going to “Us.”
Stutzman told a Gohen Rotary club last summer that he opposed farm subsidies.
Intersting how these posers campaign on these mendacious positions and the idiot idealogues that compose their base proudly support their candidates and parade their willful ignorance.
Stutzman told a Goshen Rotary club last summer that he opposed farm subsidies.
Intersting how these posers campaign on these mendacious positions and the idiot idealogues that compose their base proudly support their candidates and parade their willful ignorance.
My dad was a County Executive Director for the ASCS (now the Farm Service Agency) from about 1960 to 1996. Everything I understood about the subsidies that farmers received required them to apply for them. They were not given it automatically and they had to qualify for the subsidies.
I remember aerial maps of farms being stored at the office in flat files. Those maps were used to certify that the farmers were not using land that was suppose to be set aside. And in the summer I spent many times going out to the farms helping him measure fields and even the silos.
Subsidies were based on what the farmer was growing. Corn, soybeans, wheat, tobacco, etc.
Farmers in each county are also the ones that elect FSA county committee members from within their own group to help manage the needs of the farmers in the county. Maybe if Stutzman actually lived in Michigan where the farm is located instead of Indiana he might have some idea what it is about. I wonder how Stutzman can best represent Indiana in the 3rd when as a farmer supposedly, the farm is in Michigan?
If he was really a farmer how did he find time to farm, work as a part-time state legislator and more importantly work what appeared to be full-time for Mark Souder in the district. It appears to be full-time based on the salary he received for working. If he was even working. I would believe it was more likely to be ghost employment.
If you want to see what people receive in farm subsidies, use this link: http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=18000