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From the Thomasville Times-Enterprise: Section A-1 Saturday, June 5, 2004 House to Offer Tobacco Farmer Buyout By Alex P. Joyner THOMASVILLE -- A proposal that would provide tobacco farmers with a $9.6 billion buyout in exchange for them dropping a federal quota program that has propped up the price of the crop since the Great Depression would be an "economic shot in the arm" for hard-pressed tobacco growing communities, U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop said. A culmination of years of lobbying by tobacco growers, the language of the proposal was attached to a bill Friday that the Associated Press reported will restructure corporate tax breaks in response to tariffs the European Union (EU) has laid on U.S. exports because of a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that says the current U.S. corporate tax code is unlawfully subsidizing the sale of U.S. goods overseas. Bishop, a Democrat, said the proposal is a "window of opportunity" to get a buyout in the midst of what he calls "the fast deteriorating value of tobacco quotas." Each year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture sets an allotment on how much tobacco farmers can grow for which the government will support, a number, Bishop said, that is being "eroded." Thomas, Colquitt, Brooks and Lowndes Counties have felt a "tremendous economic decline" due to reductions in tobacco quotas, Bishop said. A free market system would liberate the federal government from subsidizing tobacco -- a present condition contested by the anti-tobacco movement -- and, according to Bishop, "economically infuse" hard-hit tobacco growing communities with cash. "This has been a major undertaking," Bishop said of the lobbying process. "All of the tobacco growing members of Congress have been lobbying both the Democrat and the Republican leadership to try to make this happen. We've had several deals over the past three or four years to try to do for tobacco farmers and the tobacco program what we did for the peanut program in the Farm Bill." Bishop said President Bush initially opposed a buyout -- enraging proponents of the proposal -- but shifted support toward a sell-off as long as it did not increase the federal government's already mammoth deficit. "Some of (Bush's) surrogates have now indicated that he may have misspoken, and given the fact that we are in a political year, we have an opportunity to try to correct this," Bishop said. According to the Associated Press, the issue is "politically sensitive" in tobacco-growing states. This week, GOP leaders warned the president that tobacco farmers' votes could go either way in the November election. Bishop said he expected the House's version of the bill to be voted on next week. The Senate's bill does not have a tobacco provision, the Associated Press reported. "It has been a difficult, difficult undertaking given the fact that health people -- 'anti-tobacco' -- are not interesting in doing anything that would benefit tobacco farmers," Bishop said. "This is one way to end that debate for them but also do right by the tobacco farmers. "The government will not be in the business of supporting tobacco. So it is a win-win for everybody; the people who don't want (the government) to support tobacco for health reason won't have to complain about the government doing that and the farmers who have invested in the communities that have been supported by the proceeds by tobacco and the value and will be able to recoup on investment." EDITORS NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report |
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A proposal that would provide tobacco farmers with a $9.6 billion buyout in exchange for them dropping a federal quota program that has propped up the price of the crop since the Great Depression would be an "economic shot in the arm" for hard-pressed tobacco growing communities, U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop said.
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