This Government Accoutability Office Report (GAO-09-528T), dated March 25, 2009, finds that the USDA does not have adequate management controls in place to verify that farm program payments, including those for conservation programs, are made only to individuals who do not exceed income eligibility caps. As a result, USDA cannot be assured that millions of dollars in farm payments are proper. GAO found that $49.4 million in farm payments were made to about 2,700 potentially ineligible individuals between fiscal years 2003 and 2006. About 6 percent of this amount was for EQIP payments; 29 percent was for the Conservation Reserve Program, a program that pays farmers to retire environmentally-sensitive cropland.
The need for management controls will remain critical, since recent legislation lowered the income eligibility caps and makes the number of individuals whose income exceeds these caps likely to rise. In March 2009, USDA announced that it has begun working with IRS to ensure that high-income individuals and entities who request farm payments meet income limits as set forth in law, and that once this verification system is fully operational, it should identify inappropriate payments before they are disbursed. As GAO has previously reported, ensuring the integrity and equity of farm programs is a key area needing enhanced congressional oversight. Such oversight can help ensure that conservation programs benefit the agricultural sector as intended and protect rural areas from land degradation, diminished water and air quality, and loss of wildlife habitat.
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