In a recent address, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack suggested using funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC or the Corporation) as a remedy for the lack of financial resources available for lawmakers to fund the forthcoming Farm Bill.
Sec. Vilsack says the Corporation could be a way to increase crop subsidy triggers or even reference prices, calling the $30-billion, government-owned company operated by the USDA, a silver bullet.
“The ARC payments, and the PLC payments, and the CRP payments all come from the Commodity Credit Corporation, so they’ve done it in the past,” Vilsack explained. “They just need to get to a point where they understand and appreciate that is the easiest and simplest and best way to get a Farm Bill done.”
As of now, conservatives in both the House and Senate want limits on the Commodity Credit Corporation’s use for things like climate-smart programs — but other than that, they seem to support this idea. One notable exception is Senate Ag Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who introduced a bill last year to limit, what he called, “wasteful” spending of CCC funds, specifically citing the liberal spending by Vilsack’s USDA.
