Panel Votes to Prohibit U.S. Hiring of Bill Collectors to Dun Farmers

WASHINGTON —  A Senate subcommittee voted Tuesday to halt the Reagan Administration’s use of a private collection agency to demand repayment of $630 million in past-due farm debts.

“I thought the Farmers Home Administration had just about gone the limit in being hard-hearted,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who proposed the amendment banning the practice. “But this goes beyond anything I’ve seen.”

The Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture added language to its $31-billion 1987 spending bill that would prevent the Agriculture Department from using any of its money to employ private collection agencies such as the one that has sent out 6,500 letters to farmers in recent weeks.

Reports of the use of the private agency angered many farm-state senators, particularly because some farmers said that the payment demands violated understandings they had about working out their remaining debt with local FmHA officials.

‘Bureaucracy Run Amok’

“This is the most idiotic case of bureaucracy run amok,” Sen. Mark Andrews (R-N.D.) said. Andrews said the collection agency was hired without the knowledge of Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Lyng.

Harkin’s amendment was approved unanimously after subcommittee Chairman Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) noted that the Administration was insisting it had legal authority to collect debts owed the federal government.

“Farmers Home is doing a very poor job in dealing with this problem,” Cochran added. “A great deal of insensitivity is being shown. Adopting this amendment will send a message that I think will result in a change in policy.”