Texas risks losing billions in push to reduce crop subsidies

WASHINGTON — With its vast agricultural operations, Texas has a multibillion-dollar stake in a debate now under way in Congress over whether to retain crop subsidies.

The system has benefited many Texans, including the owners of the sprawling King Ranch, the trustees of Rice University and more than 4,000 crop-planting Houstonians.

But the subsidies are facing withering fire from a diverse array of critics, ranging from President Bush to liberals. They charge that the subsidies increasingly help wealthy and absentee landowners more than family farmers, and they want to slim down the program in the new farm bill before Congress.