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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Record Farm Prices, but Subsidies Still On Autopilot

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Thursday, March 6, 2008   

Des Moines, IA – Thanks to record prices for corn and soybeans, Iowa farm income is soaring, but U.S. taxpayers are still spending up to $20 billion a year on subsidies, with the largest 10 percent of farmers getting the lion's share. Stephen Lauer, a volunteer with Oxfam Action Corps, says the one thing the Farm Bills passed by the Senate and the House have in common is ignoring the inefficiencies of the subsidy programs.

"It isn't fair. There are better uses of our money, conservation, rural development and nutrition programs that benefit more people, and more people who actually need the help."

According to the Environmental Working Group, over 115,000 Iowa farmers split over $3.4 billion in corn subsidies between 2003 and 2005. Lauer thinks the new Farm Bill needs to redirect the money.

"It needs at least an Adjusted Gross Income Limit, so that the subsidies are at least directed toward family farmers or smaller farmers who actually might need some support in bad years."

Lauer says with record-breaking prices for corn, soybeans and wheat, as well as record setting agricultural exports, there is no need for more checks from taxpayers. Many farm state lawmakers are reluctant to put restrictions on the federal money coming into their state, and they argue that farmers are generally satisfied with the existing commodity program.


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