14 DAY TRIAL // A recent report released by the Government Accountability Office shows that a large number of US farmers who currently benefit from federal subsidies for their crops do not meet the necessary conditions for receiving the money, as they already have incomes of over $1 million yearly. President-elect Barack Obama says that this is the kind of expense he wants to put an end to, so as to bring the White House out of the huge financial gap it now finds itself in.
The report also suggested that between 2003 and 2006, more than 2,700 people, benefiting from a gross income in excess of $2,5 million, received some $49 million from the federal government, although the size of their earnings should have disqualified them from any subsidies program on the spot. "If this is true, it is a prime example of the kind of waste I intend to end as president," Obama said on the matter.
GAO also criticized the United States Agriculture Department (USAD) for numerous inconsistencies in the way it distributed the $16 billion it receives every year to fund nearly 2 million farms and small enterprises throughout the country. Apparently, in one account, the USDA paid $1.1 billion to 17,000 dead people, for 6 years. They started paying in 1999, and only ended the cash flow in 2005, after numerous complaints.
Teresa Lasseter, an official with the Agriculture Department, said that GAO had a more favorable position than the USDA, as its access to tax filer forms offered it a "distinct advantage" in calculating how much money each farmer received. The Department lacks the power to request these files, and a proposal of a tighter collaboration between the USDA and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has already been put forth.
"The bottom line is if the department feels it needs more authority to access IRS data, it ought to come to Congress and ask me for more authority," said Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, the person who asked for the audit, who is also the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee.
GAO is also investigating some 87 people, who received money from the Agriculture Department even if the agency's own lists flagged them as ineligible. The persons received sums between $60,000 and $300,000, and included sports team owners, former company managers and financial service executives.