Crop-Insurance Cuts Test Farm Power as Lobbies Push Back
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Rural groups say they’ll fight a proposed $100 million-a-year cut in crop insurance subsidies, a measure that has won the support of both houses of Congress and could be a test of agriculture’s influence in Washington.
The House of Representatives has endorsed reducing the government’s portion of farmers’ insurance-policy premiums for higher-income farmers, following a Senate measure approved in June. Critics of what’s become the largest U.S. farm-aid program say the measure doesn’t go far enough, while supporters warn of ripple effects through the rural economy.