The Livestock Compensation Programme in the USA, originally intended as a limited helping hand for dairy farmers and ranchers hurt by drought, has rapidly become an expensive part of the government’s sprawling system of entitlements for farmers, which topped $25 billion last year, say observers.
The programme was supposed to compensate for droughts alone, but a 2003 expansion by Congress allowed other forms of weather to be included. The revision made it exceedingly easy for officials to find qualifying disasters, even if little economic damage was done:
Instead of reining in the obvious abuse, the programme continued to grow larger and costlier, say observers:
Source: By Gilbert M. Gaul, Dan Morgan and Sarah Cohen, No Drought Required For Federal Drought Aid, Washington Post, July 18, 2006
For text (subscription required): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071701237.html
For more on Federal Spending & Budget Issues: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/?Article_Category=25
FMF Policy Bulletin 25 July 2006
