The Trump administration is proposing dramatic cuts to the farm safety net in the president's first budget plan being delivered to Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
The plan proposes tighter caps and means testing for crop insurance subsidies and eligibility for commodity programs. It also would eliminate the Harvest Price option for crop insurance. Combined, the White House is detailing more than $38 billion in cuts to farm programs, crop insurance and conservation over 10 years.
Those farm program cuts don't include a proposed $4.6 billion reduction to USDA discretionary programs for fiscal year 2018. At 20.5% of the discretionary budget, the White House plan largely sticks with the "skinny budget" proposal it released in March.
Budget savings from cuts to USDA and other federal departments would go to increase Department of Defense spending by $25.4 billion in 2018 as well as a $4.3 billion increase in Veterans Affairs and a $2.8 billion increase for the Department of Homeland Security.
Lawmakers in Congress have tried to shield farmers from cuts, citing a 50% decline in farm revenue since 2013—as well as cuts in the 2014 farm bill—as reasons to protect the farm safety net.
Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told reporters Monday the Trump administration's first official budget plan was written "through the eyes of people paying the taxes." Mulvaney said spending is merited based on the number of people a program helps and whether that spending is justifiable to taxpayers. "We simply cannot continue to measure our compassion by the amount of money we've spent," Mulvaney said.
Source: www.dtnpf.com