Obama Takes on Farm Subsidies

Well, a portion of them, anyway.  From a speech he gave today:

We will go through our federal budget -- page by page, line by line -- eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way.

Let me give you one example of what I’m talking about. There’s a report today that from 2003 to 2006, millionaire farmers received $49 million in crop subsidies even though they were earning more than the $2.5 million cutoff for such subsidies. If this is true, it is a prime example of the kind of waste I intend to end as President.

The figures come from a recent GAO report.

It's a small step, but a step nonetheless.