And you wonder where your tax money goes....

U.S. senators have broken the deadlock that stalled action on a new five-year plan for farm policy. Now it's time for them to break the habit of wasting billions of taxpayer dollars a year on handouts for farmers who don't need them.At a cost of at least $15 billion a year, the current system of federal subsidies favors large farms growing select crops and pays them whether or not they are profiting. It spurs overproduction, wasting limited resources and harming the environment. It tangles trade relations and hurts U.S. exporters.A series of reports in The Washington Post uncovered $15 billion in misspent farm subsidies since 2000. That total included $1.3 billion in payments to non-farmers and $1.1 billion to the estates or companies of deceased farmers.

Yet, the farm bill awaiting action in the Senate leaves the current system largely intact. In some areas, it makes it worse. Big Sugar, long protected by the government, gets an even better deal.Some senators want to amend the farm bill to cap annual subsidies per farming household, or lower income limits for eligibility. While those changes might curb some of the worst abuses, don't be fooled into thinking they are the comprehensive reform for which the farm bill cries out.True change would look more like the proposal from Indiana Republican Richard Lugar, who would replace the current system with crop insurance available to all farmers when they are truly in need. That would save taxpayers money and promote agriculture geared toward the market, not wasteful government programs.