EWG has been lobbying on an array of Senate floor amendments.

Dorgan-Grassley is our top priority, of course, and has been for years. We were furious when House leadership deep-sixed Rep Earl Blumenauer's version in Rules Committee, before it could even hit the floor (we replay his indignant House floor speech in the jump--never forget this one, folks). We're pretty sure it would have won (which is why Pelosi obeyed Peterson's instructions to kill it) and then we'd have had a House position coming into conference. So we're pushing Dorgan-Grassley hard for the win this week, as we are for Sen. Klobuchar's amendment to further trim the adjusted gross income means test in the committee bill--bringing them southward to the somewhat less insane "limit" of $250,000 and you're out as a part timer, and $750,000 if you're full-time farming.

But another amendment that could do some real good is RESCU. It takes $2 billion in taxpayers' money back from crop insurance companies and invests it in conservation, McGovern-Dole, food stamps, and deficit reduction.

UPDATE: Someone asked what "McGovern-Dole" means. Sorry for the Beltway-speak.

Here's a fact sheet. Take a look, and if you like what you see, make some calls. We're encouraged by the interest we're seeing in Senate offices.

Brown-Sununu-McCaskill Reduction of Excess Subsidies to Crop Underwriters (RESCU) Amendment

Problem
Since 2000, farmers have received $10.5 billion in benefits from the crop insurance program - but it has cost taxpayers almost $19 billion to deliver those benefits. In fact, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), crop insurance companies take 40 cents out of every dollar that Congress appropriates to farmers.

Savings
This amendment cuts more than $2 billion in wasteful spending from the federal crop insurance program and uses the savings to fund over $1 billion in improvements to the Food Stamp Program, $400 million for conservation programs, $200 million for the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program, and over $600 million for deficit reduction.

Reduces windfall delivery subsidies.
The federal government reimburses crop insurance companies the costs of delivering crop insurance policies. These administrative and operating (A&O) subsidies are based on a percent of total premium. Rising commodity prices have driven up premiums so that A&O subsidies are now over three times what they were 10 years ago, even though the cost of administering the policies has stayed the same.

To account for higher commodity prices, this amendment reduces the A&O reimbursement rate to the 2004-2006 national per policy average. This level is still higher than any year prior to 2006 (see chart below). The amendment does not apply to states that have large crop losses, i.e. states with an insurance loss ratio of 1.2 or over. It also does not apply to the 16 states defined as underserved by USDA. These states include: Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Reduces excessive insurance company profits.
According to GAO, crop insurance companies earn taxpayer-subsidized profits that are more than double industry averages. This amendment would require that insurers share a portion of their underwriting gains (or losses) with federal taxpayers by increasing the federal share of risk from 5 percent to 15 percent.

Stops industry collusion.
This amendment eliminates the provision in the committee-passed bill that exempts insurance companies from anti-trust laws by allowing them to collude during the renegotiation of their risk sharing agreement with the federal government.

Farmers will not pay more for crop insurance.
This amendment does not reduce premium subsidies to farmers. Premium subsidies are set by law and this amendment does not change them