Shaheen Introduces Crop Insurance Reform Bill That Would Save Taxpayers More Than $40 Billion
(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, is introducing the Assisting Family Farmers through Insurance Reform Measures (AFFIRM) Act to reform the federal government’s crop insurance program, save roughly $40 billion over the next ten years and protect taxpayers without reducing support for farmers who need it.
“I’m proud to introduce commonsense legislation that would protect taxpayers from footing the bill for wasteful subsidies to insurance companies and large agri-businesses that don’t really need the help, without reducing support for farmers who need it,” said Shaheen. “By enacting long-overdue reforms, we can save taxpayers billions of dollars while fueling a resilient agricultural economy.”
The federal crop insurance program cost taxpayers more than $17 billion in 2022 alone. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Shaheen’s AFFIRM Act would save more than $40 billion over ten years by placing commonsense limitations and reducing wasteful spending in the crop insurance program.
Specifically, the AFFIRM Act would:
- Limit federal crop insurance subsidies to $40,000 per farmer per year and eliminate crop insurance premium subsidies for individuals with an adjusted gross income of more than $250,000.
- Reduce government subsidy of crop insurance companies—capping government payments to insurers for administrative and operating costs at $900 million instead of $1.5 billion.
- Eliminate subsidies for Harvest Price Option insurance policies—allowing farmers to take out generous policies while preventing taxpayers from footing the bill.
- Increase transparency in government spending by requiring the reporting of all individuals or entities that receive federally subsidized crop insurance.
Shaheen first introduced the AFFIRM Act with then-Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) in 2015, and again with then-Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) in 2020. The legislation is endorsed by a coalition of groups including Taxpayers for Common Sense, R Street, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, the National Taxpayers Union, the Environmental Working Group and the National Sustainable Agricultural Coalition.
Senator Shaheen has a strong record of working to improve crop insurance policies to support farmers in New Hampshire. In response to proposed changes to apple crop insurance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Risk Management Agency (RMA) that would have been harmful to growers in New England, Senator Shaheen sent a bicameral letter last year requesting the agency to take into consideration the concerns of New England growers. As a result, regional apple growers are now engaged in conversations with RMA and are forming a working group made up of New England stakeholders to help inform better policymaking. Shaheen has since sent a follow-up letter to urge USDA to continue these efforts and secured related language in the bipartisan Fiscal Year 25 government funding bills passed by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee in July.
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