What the 2012 House Budget Bill means for agriculture if anything

Farm and Ranch April 18, 2011 That 2012 federal budget proposal put forth by U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan was passed by the House of Representatives Friday mostly along party lines.

Speaker: “On this vote the yeas are 235 and the nays are 193. The Concurrent Resolution is agreed to.”

That Republican budget proposes over 177-billion dollars in cuts to agriculture programs over the next ten years. It suggests a 127-billion dollar cut to food stamps, about 30-billion dollars less for commodity programs and about 20-billion in cuts in other programs including conservation. The budget does leave it up to the House Agriculture Committee to determine what actually gets cut.

But since this budget is likely never to see the light of day in the Senate, what does it matter? Well it could according to House Democrats on the Agriculture Committee. In a news release, they say if the House and Senate fail to agree on a final budget resolution, the House Republicans could later try to “deem” their own Budget Resolution as effective for purposes of enforcing House budget rules, something they did in 2002, 2004 and 2006. The Democrats says that would force the House Ag Committee to make the 177-billion dollars in cuts if the Committee wants to pass legislation such as a new farm bill.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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