Washington Insider: Budget Sets Up Farm Bill Feud

Politico is reporting this week that the administration budget is likely to set up a future farm bill feud. The report says top Democrats on the House and Senate Ag committees were quick to bash the president’s new budget request as a “betrayal” of the 2018 Farm Bill he signed in December. The new fiscal blueprint proposed shrinking USDA’s budget by 15 percent compared with spending estimates for FY 2019, including steep cuts to major farm bill programs the agriculture panels had spent months negotiating. Like virtually all presidential budgets, most of Trump’s plan is going nowhere, Politico says. But key Democrats and some industry groups are still taking it like a jab in the eye — leading to a renewed clash between Congress and the White House in the months ahead of the Sept. 30 funding deadline. “This budget was concocted by a bunch of ideologues who can’t see what’s clearly going on in the farm economy,” House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., told the press. Senate Agriculture ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., was similarly critical, noting the “economic instability and trade uncertainty” facing farmers and ranchers. Politico highlights several “fissures.” For example, it notes that the administration targets popular conservation programs for $8.9 billion in spending cuts over a decade, including elimination of the Conservation Stewardship Program. It also hammers crop insurance and commodity subsidies with some $28 billion in proposed cuts. A coalition of trade groups representing the crop insurance sector called it “short-sighted” in a statement, arguing the policies would become unaffordable for farmers. And, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) nutrition program is back in the spotlight with proposed cuts of nearly $220 billion cut over 10 years, driven by stricter work requirements and a revival of last year’s widely panned “Harvest Box” idea to replace some SNAP benefits with monthly deliveries of nonperishable foods. Politico says that President Donald Trump and USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue were already butting heads with Congress over USDA’s proposed rule to clamp down on states issuing SNAP work waivers for able-bodied adults without dependents. The budget plan offers fresh ammunition for this fight and likely will be fully as controversial as it has been in the past. At the same time, one area the President wants to boost is a competitive research grant program known as the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. The White House requested $500 million, a bump of $85 million. The farm bill authorized up to $700 million annually for the initiative, but appropriators haven’t allocated the full amount. House Agriculture ranking member Mike Conaway, R-Texas, praised the administration’s budget for boosting military and border spending, but even the Texas Republican appeared skeptical of the USDA proposal. “On agriculture, as the president knows, the farm safety net accounts for less than a quarter of one percent — a rounding error by Washington standards,” Conaway said. “So, when the chips are down we must keep our promise to farmers and ranchers and rural America made under the five-year farm bill, and I fully expect the president to be on board.” Perdue, however, defended the cuts as necessary, given the $22 trillion national debt. Politico thinks the White House blueprint won’t become law, but “will shape the budgetary battle among ag policymakers” and will potentially factor into the debate over farm bill implementation. In summary, it notes that members of the military, HIV testing and border security fare well; not so favored are health programs, farmers and food stamp recipients. Certainly, the coming budget fights will be long and difficult, but will include a number of high-stakes items for producers and should be watched closely over the coming months, Washington Insider believes.