II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 334 

To terminate agricultural direct payments beginning with the 2013 crop 

year. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2013 

Mrs. MCCASKILL (for herself and Mr. FLAKE) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To terminate agricultural direct payments beginning with 

the 2013 crop year. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

5 (1) on September 30, 2012, the final day of the 

6 2012 fiscal year, the total public debt outstanding 

7 equaled more than $16,000,000,000,000; 

8 (2) the Congressional Budget Office projects 

9 that under law in effect as of the date of enactment 

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1 of this Act, the budget deficit for fiscal year 2013 

2 will be $845,000,000,000; 

3 (3) the most recent projection from the Depart4 ment of Agriculture, updated in February 2013, 

5 forecast— 

6 (A) net farm income to be 

7 $112,000,000,000 in 2012, the second-highest 

8 total on record; and 

9 (B) farm asset values, reflecting expecta10 tions of long-term profitability, to rise to a 

11 record $2,536,000,000,000; 

12 (4) direct payments to agricultural producers— 

13 (A) cost the Federal Government nearly 

14 $5,000,000,000 annually; 

15 (B) are fixed payments with no connection 

16 to market conditions or the actual losses of the 

17 producers; and 

18 (C) are not reduced or adjusted in any way 

19 in response to high commodity prices or high 

20 farm incomes; 

21 (5) direct payments that are set based on his22 torical acreage and yield are payable even to people 

23 who do not farm and to agricultural producers who 

24 do not grow the covered commodity for which the di25 rect payments are made; 

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1 (6)(A) direct payments are paid to producers on 

2 less than 22 percent of all farms in the United 

3 States and only for a select number of commodities; 

4 (B) among producers on farms that receive di5 rect payments, the payments are concentrated 

6 among producers on the largest farm operations, 

7 which are those least likely to need support; 

8 (C) more than 51 percent of payments flow to 

9 just 10 percent of recipients; and 

10 (D) more than 73 percent of payments flow to 

11 just 25 percent of recipients; 

12 (7)(A) direct payments were— 

13 (i) enacted through the Agricultural Mar14 ket Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.), title 

15 I of the 1996 Farm Bill; and 

16 (ii) intended to be temporary, transitional 

17 payments to assist agricultural producers fol18 lowing the elimination of target price deficiency 

19 payments; but 

20 (B) the ‘‘transition’’ was never completed and 

21 direct payments were reauthorized in 2002 and 

22 2008; and 

23 (8) direct payments were eliminated by— 

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1 (A) S. 3240 (112th Congress), the Agri2 culture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012, 

3 which passed the Senate on June 21, 2012; and 

4 (B) H.R. 6083 (112th Congress), the Fed5 eral Agriculture Reform and Risk Management 

6 Act of 2012, which was reported by the Com7 mittee on Agriculture of the House of Rep8 resentatives on September 13, 2012. 

9 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con10 gress that direct payments— 

11 (1) are unnecessary and unaffordable; and 

12 (2) should be immediately repealed. 

13 SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF AGRICULTURAL DIRECT PAY14 MENTS. 

15 (a) REPEAL.—Sections 1103 and 1303 of the Food, 

16 Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 8713, 

17 8753) are repealed. 

18 (b) APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.—Notwith19 standing section 701 of the American Taxpayer Relief Act 

20 of 2012 (Public Law 112–240; 126 Stat. 2362), the 

21 amendments made by this section shall apply beginning 

22 with the 2013 crop year. 

Æ 

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