The Obama administration has cited increases in crop insurance subsidies as one of the reasons it has threatened to veto the “Farm Bill.”

In a statement, the administration said it “strongly opposes” the bill, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, which is up for a final vote in the House on June 20.

Authorizing for the current farm subsidy program ends Oct.1.

The administration said it would veto the bill if presented to the president because it reduces the food stamp program, and “does not contain sufficient commodity and crop insurance reforms,” among other concerns.

The veto statement said the administration objects to the crop insurance provisions because, rather than reducing crop insurance subsidies by $11.7 billion over 10 years, as proposed in the president's budget, the bill would increase reference prices for farmers by roughly 45 percent and “increase already generous crop insurance subsidies at a cost of nearly $9 billion over 10 years to the nation's taxpayers.”

Both the House and Senate have proposed expanding crop insurance subsidies in their versions of the bill. A number of farm-state Senate seats will be up for grabs in next year's elections.

Democrats are joining Republicans in proposing expansive increases in farm programs while cutting the food stamp programs because Democrats want to hold onto their seats.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said that while the House bill would increase federal spending on crop insurance by $8.91 billion over the next decade, the Senate bill would increase crop insurance subsidies by $4.98 billion over 10 years.

R.J. Lehmann, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, a conservative think tank, said, “While pitched by its sponsors as the more 'fiscally responsible' of the two bills, largely due to its projected $20.5 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the House bill actually calls for even larger increases in corporate welfare to mega-farms.”

Congress is acting despite a report last month, which argues that in many cases it allows growers to make more money from insurance payouts than they would from a healthy harvest.

This is particularly so for the industrial-scale operations which have been enjoying record profits, the report says.

There are 17 crop insurers. These include Wells Fargo, ACE Ltd., XL Group, Everest Re Group and Starr International.

The 15 private insurance companies that sell the policies receive a total of approximately $1.3 billion annually from the government, which also backs the companies against losses.

According to the latest data, the government now subsidizes approximately 62 percent of the crop insurance premiums, and the program generally guarantees 75 to 85 percent of a farmer's income.

Lehmann said the House bill includes generous increases in the Supplemental Coverage Option, which covers up to 90 percent of a farmer's crop revenue when elected in combination with a conventional policy.

The Senate bill has strong support from the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. The Senate bill eliminates the $5 billion a year in direct payments and places more of an emphasis on the Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) as the primary risk management tool for America's farmland.

The IIABA was particularly pleased that under the Senate bill, the FCIP will get renewed emphasis.

“As the exclusive sales force of the FCIP, independent insurance agents are uniquely skilled at helping farmers and ranchers make important risk management decisions about their coverage,” said Robert Rusbuldt, IIABA president & CEO.