The House GOP released its budget this week, calling for $10 billion in spending cuts to agricultural programs through the next ten years. However, the plan doesn’t necessarily say how to go about getting to that number. It does recommend reining in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program spending by promoting “state flexibility,” but it does not go into any further detail on how to do that.
While agriculture will not be happy with the spending squeeze given that farm income is down so sharply, the $10 billion is actually much lower than the $70 billion initially proposed. It now appears that House Ag Chair Conaway will be given the flexibility he will need to write a farm bill.
Source: NAFB News Service