GOP Stands by Brazilian Cotton Subsidies
As the Republicans in Congress continue to push President Obama to approve deep budget cuts as a condition for raising the debt ceiling, most of them refuse to repeal a program that seems like a clear case of wasteful spending. In response to a World Trade Organization ruling that American cotton subsidies were unfair, the U.S. responded by sending $147 million in subsidies to Brazilian cotton farmers, in addition to the $835 million American cotton farmers received in 2010. The House recently voted to repeal this policy, against the wishes of most Republican members
141 of the 242 GOP representatives voted to preserve the measure. Notably, several of the House GOP’s top leaders voted to continue subsidizing Brazilian cotton farmers. Majority Leader Eric Cantor (VA-7), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (CA-22), and Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp (MI-4) all voted down the repeal despite the fiscally conservative rhetoric /a>they have all deployed< extensively in recent months.
The conservative American Enterprise Institute recently made one of the strongest cases against the subsidies to Brazilian cotton farmers. An AEI paper published this week explained that “the odd prospect of US taxpayers subsidizing Brazilian cotton farmers as a condition of continuing subsidies for US cotton farmers … has highlighted the lack of a consistent rationale for farm subsidy programs in general.”
GOP opposition to repealing the subsidy is especially striking in light of how common it has become on the right to criticize Obama for subsidizing Brazilian oil companies while restricting domestic drilling. Rep. Doc Hastings (WA-4), who earlier criticized Obama for trying to “shift our foreign energy dependence from one part of the world to another” by subsidizing Brazilian oil drilling, voted to preserve the program. So did Rep. Ted Poe, who in April blasted the president for “[giving] money to Brazil, while at the same time stonewalling drilling in our gulf,” also voted to preserve the payments to foreign growers. Tea Party favorite Allen West (FL-22) and Rep. Vicky Hartzler, two other critics of the oil measure, also voted against the repeal amendment. Hartzler and Poe both represent districts whose farmers received cotton subsidies in 2010.
Calls to the offices of Hastings, Poe, and West had not been returned at the time of posting.