U.S. House Republican's proposed ag budget cuts
Farm and Ranch February 14, 2011 U.S. House Republicans last week laid out a partial list of specific current fiscal year budget cuts, including in agriculture. The reductions will be included in an upcoming Continuing Resolution bill to fund the federal government for the seven months remaining in the fiscal year. The cuts to be included are 201 million dollars from the Farm Service Agency, 46 million from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, 237 million from Rural Development Programs, 246 million dollars from agricultural research and 544 million from International Food Aid Grants. Also of interest to agriculture is a five million dollar proposed cut in the EPA’s Cap and Trade Technical Assistance and 25 million for State and Local Air Quality Management. American Farm Bureau Federation Public Policy Director Mark Maslyn expects agreement on some cuts amid a very tough political and budget climate. Maslyn: “Keep in mind we have a deficit this year of 1.5 trillion dollars. And we had an election last fall in which a lot of people ran for office saying they are going to cut 100-billion dollars out of the budget this year.” This is all in the Republican controlled House but Maslyn expects the Democrat controlled Senate will agree to some cutting. Maslyn: “I don’t know of any Senators that didn‘t run for office saying the deficit was not a problem. That would imply that most of them, or many of them, feel that some cuts ought to be made.” I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.
