How the Ryan budget plan could impact Farm Bill spending

Washington, March 22 – Members of the House Agriculture Committee met this morning to discuss how House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal would impact their options for writing the 2012 Farm Bill.  

The House Budget Committee approved Ryan’s plan on Wednesday by a close 19-18 vote.
The two Republican votes in opposition came from freshmen Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, who suggested the proposed cuts don’t go far enough.

House Speaker John Boehner expressed confidence that the full House would approve the plan next week, which includes $5.3 trillion in government-wide spending cuts and entitlement reforms, and $2 trillion in tax reductions to shrink the deficit $3.3 trillion below President Obama’s latest plan.

If the budget resolution is approved by the full House, members of the House Agriculture Committee are expected to have discretion to make cuts within the total $994.6 billion in budget authority available for mandatory farm bill funding in the March 2012 Congressional Budget Office baseline. However, the Ryan plan proposes about $181 billion in cuts in three primary areas:  Commodity programs, conservation, and nutrition. 

Here are the proposed cuts in the Ryan budget plan:

 

Commodity Related Programs           (Budget Reduction in Millions of Dollars)

 

Reduce Direct Payments by 33%                12,057

Cap crop insurance premium subsidies       15,500

Commodity Export Programs                        3,533 

Subtotal                                                                 31,090

Conservation

Prohibit new CSP enrollment                       10,500

Reduce new CRP enrollment by 50%            5,500

Subtotal                                                                  16,000

SNAP

State Block Granting                                   122,500

Eliminate Categorical Eligibility                    11,500                                                                                                         

Subtotal 134,000

 

Grand Total                                                 181,090

 

The Ryan Budget proposes capping crop insurance premium subsidies at levels currently available for 75% crop insurance coverage, which carry a 55% premium subsidy, potentially making crop insurance more expensive for producers purchasing lower levels of coverage.

 

#30

For more Agri-Pulse news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com