The White House on Tuesday released its proposed budget that includes cuts to Department of Agriculture programs. The budget proposes an almost 21-percent cut to USDA, the third-largest percentage cut proposed for any agency behind the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department. Significant cuts to rural development, foods stamps, and crop insurance programs are included in the proposed budget.
Overall, the president’s discretionary funding request for USDA in fiscal 2018 is about $18 billion, a decline of about 21 percent from the 2017 annualized continuing resolution level.
Funding for mandatory programs is estimated to be $116 billion, about $7 billion below 2017. Additionally, it appears USDA may loose about 5.5 percent of its total workforce, or approximately 5,263 USDA jobs.
USDA’s acting deputy secretary Michael Young told reporters on Tuesday that these legislative proposals would save $240 billion over a 10-year period. He said about $194 billion of the savings would come from cuts to the SNAP program and another $26 billion form other USDA programs.
USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said there was no “sugarcoating what we will face and USDA will likely see a significant reduction in funding by the time this process is complete.” Secretary Perdue was not confirmed when this budget was put together, so did not have a hand in the budget. “This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone as the president promised before his election that he would realign government spending, attempt to eliminate duplication or redundancy, and see that all government agencies are effectively delivering services to our customers, the taxpayers of America,” Perdue said.
Some of the biggest proposed cuts come from changes to the crop insurance system, which many farmers rely on to keep their operations running. Trump’s budget imposes a $40,000 limit on crop insurance premium subsidies, which could prevent some farmers from insuring their entire acreage. There is currently no limit.
Congress has the final say on the government’s budget. House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, both Republicans, said they “will fight to ensure farmers have a strong safety net.” U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the Sente Agriculture Committee, said she would oppose the cuts, which “would leave farmers, families, and rural communities vulnerable in tough times
The 2018 USDA Budget Summary is available at USDA-Budget-Summary-2018
