This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire
By Adam Andrzejewski
Real Clear Wire
If Congress voted to eliminate the Market Access Program — what Citizens Against Government Waste called “the federal government’s most blatant examples of corporate welfare” — the U.S. could save $175.6 million a year.
Over the past decade, the Department of Agriculture program has given nearly $2 billion in taxpayer money to help agriculture trade associations, farmer cooperatives, and individual companies advertise their products overseas, according to Citizens Against Government Waste in its annual “Prime Cuts” report, which recommends ways to reduce the record national debt.
In FY 2023, MAP gave $175.6 million to successful companies and conglomerates like Blue Diamond ($5.1 million), Cotton Council International (CCI) ($13.9 million), National Sunflower Association ($985,000), Pet Food Institute ($1.4 million), Sunkist Growers, Inc. ($2 million), Welch Foods, Inc. ($677,662), and the Wine Institute ($6.7 million), CAGW reported.
While then-President Barack Obama’s FY 2012 budget proposed a 20% cut to the program, it was struck down in the Senate.
A June 2012 report from former Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on the program disclosed that some of the $20 million that was given to the Cotton Council International in 2011 was used to create an Indian reality TV show wherein designers created clothing made from cotton.
The show was apparently intended to promote cotton generally, not necessarily cotton from the U.S. However, India doesn’t need U.S. cotton because the country is a net exporter of the product and produces twice the amount of U.S. cotton growers.
The Market Access Program has given more than $190 million to Cotton Council International over 13 years. “It is long past time to eliminate MAP,” CAGW wrote.
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