Put an end to corporate welfare.

• Author: Moore, Stephen

SECRETARY OF LABOR Robert Reich was right on target late in 1994 when he identified "Federal aid to dependent corporations" as a major contributor to the budget crisis. He also was correct to challenge Congressional Republicans and Washington think tanks to propose termination of Federal activities that fall into the category of "corporate welfare."

The list of corporate subsidy programs is longer and the dollar expenditures are far greater than most members of Congress and the Clinton Administration suspect. Corporate pork is pervasive. For instance, Congress funds more than 125 programs that subsidize private businesses. Subsidy programs to such businesses cost Federal taxpayers more than $85,000,000,000 annually, and the dollar amount has been growing substantially in recent years. Every major Cabinet department has become a conduit for government funding on private industry. Within some Cabinet agencies, such as the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce, almost every spending program underwrites private businesses.

The following list includes some of the more egregious taxpayer subsidies to industries and firms:

* Through Sematech, a consortium of very large U.S. computer microchip producers, the Pentagon provides nearly $100,000,000 a year of support to the industry. However, of the more than 200 chip makers in the U.S., only the 14 largest, including Intel and National Semiconductor, receive Federal support from Sematech. Originally designed to help U.S. firms compete against foreign competition, it now subsidizes the largest producers to help fend off smaller domestic competition.

* An estimated 40% of the $1,400,000,000 sugar price support program benefits the largest one percent of sugar farms. The 33 biggest sugar cane plantations each receive more than $1,000,000.

* Through the Rural Electrification Administration and the Federal power marketing administrations, the government provides about $2,000,000,000 in subsidies each year to large and profitable electric utility cooperatives, such as ALLTEL, which had sales of $2,300,000,000 in 1994. Federally subsidized electricity holds down the costs of running ski resorts in Aspen, Colo.; five-star hotels in Hilton Head, S.C.; and gambling casinos in Las Vegas, Nev.

* During 1994, the Forest Service spent $140,000,000 building roads in national forests, thus subsidizing the removal of timber from Federal lands by multi-million-dollar timber companies. Over the past 20 years, the Forest Service has built 340,000 miles of roads--more than eight times the length of the interstate highway system--primarily for the benefit of logging companies.

* The Department of Agriculture Market Promotion Program spends $110,000,000 per year underwriting the cost of advertising American products abroad.

* In 1994, a House of Representatives investigative team discovered that Federal environmental cleanup and defense contractors had been mi]king taxpayers for millions of dollars in entertainment, recreation, and party expenses. Martin Marietta Corp. charged the Pentagon $263,000 for a Smokey Robinson concert, $20,000 for the purchase of golf balls, and $7,500 for a 1993 office Christmas party. Ecology and Environment, Inc., of Lancaster, N.Y., spent $243,000 of funds designated for environmental cleanup on "employee morale" and $37,000 on tennis lessons, bike races, golf tournaments, and other entertainment.

Congress no longer can afford to ignore the growing scourge of corporate welfare. Any serious attempt to balance the budget will require a strategy for getting businesses off the $85,000,000,000 annual dole.

The Clinton Administration and other proponents of Federal subsidies to the private sector often maintain government support of American business is in the national interest. A multitude...