Sen. Mike Lee proposes new protections for farmers
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced a bipartisan bill this week to protect farmers while cutting government spending.
The bipartisan Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act would bring more transparency to checkoff programs, used to aid the marketing and development of agricultural products.
Checkoff programs resulted in influential slogans like 'Got Milk?' and 'Beef. It's What's for Dinner' that allowed farmers to advertise large scale without any individual branding.
Stakeholders like farmers, producers and importers pool their resources to fund the checkoff program, which are directed by multiple boards.
The bipartisan bill has a mix of Democratic and Republican sponsors in addition to Lee, including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rand Paul, R-Ky.
But some programs 'exhibited fraudulent and unethical behavior' in their use of funds, a press release from Lee's office said. In one instance, an investigation found that a U.S. Department of Agriculture subcontractor used the program as a way to pay his employees unauthorized bonuses of approximately $302,000.
A recent audit from the U.S. Government Accountability Office said the Agriculture Department fails to properly review its subcontractors and needs more oversight.
Lee's bill would address these gaps by implementing accountability and transparency measures.
'America's farmers are being ripped off by federal checkoff programs that take farmers' money and play favorites with who they serve,' he said.
'These programs have a reputation for hurting farmers through financial fraud and deceptive practices.'
Under this bill, checkoff programs with more than $20 million in revenue from government contracts would be prohibited from working for parties that influence government policy. An exception would be made for educational institutions.
The OFF Act also prohibits checkoff program board members and employees from engaging in decisions that involve a conflict of interest or any anticompetitive, deceptive or disparaging practices.
It also requires checkoff boards to release their budget and undergo periodic audits by the inspector general of the Agriculture Department and the comptroller general.
'Checkoff dollars too often get channeled to lobbying groups who advocate against the best interests of many of the farmers who are required to pay into the program,' Booker said in the press release.
'This bipartisan bill will prohibit conflicts of interest and anti-competitive practices in these checkoff programs and will ensure that these programs work better for our farmers and ranchers.'
The bill was endorsed by several organizations that represent 200,000 American farmers and ranchers, according to the press release.
'America's farmers and ranchers are fed up with their hard-earned money landing in the hands of corporate lobbyists,' said Farm Action Fund President and Missouri farmer Joe Maxwell.
'We face enough hurdles as it is; the last thing we need is our own dollars extracted against our will and then used to illegally lobby on behalf of the largest corporations that are already squeezing us out of the market. It's the USDA's job to prevent this abuse, and they continue to fail us.'
He called the bill's provisions 'common sense reforms.'
Kansas Cattleman's Association Founder Mike Schultz echoed Maxwell's sentiments.
'Scandal after scandal has proven the longterm corruption in the beef, dairy, and pork checkoff programs that continue to utilize our own tax dollars against us and the day of reckoning is here,' said Schultz. 'American family farmers are up in arms and are determined to see justice in the 119th Congress with the enactment of the OFF Act. Clean up decades of corruption.'
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