Farm-state lawmakers were chilly to icily dismissive of President Trump’s proposals for large cuts in programs helping agriculture and rural communities. North Dakota Republican John Hoeven, who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee in charge of the USDA and FDA budget said the proposal was unfair given the three-year slump in the farm economy and said: “I’ll work to ensure that we maintain our agriculture budget because good agriculture policy benefits every American every day.”
Hoeven’s counterpart in the House, Republican Robert Aderholt of Alabama, said the president’s proposals for “cutting EPA back down to size” were overdue. “However, I am somewhat skeptical about cuts to programs essential to rural Americans.”
The Appropriations subcommittees could be the starting point for congressional consideration of Trump’s proposal for a $4.7 billion, or 21 percent, cut in discretionary spending by USDA in fiscal 2018, beginning on Oct 1. House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen emphasized the prerogative given to Congress by the Constitution: “Congress has the power of the purse” and, working with the White House, will decide the best use of tax dollars.
Trump’s budget would eliminate McGovern-Dole meals for schoolchildren overseas and end funding for water and sewer projects in rural communities. It would reduce USDA staffing through a streamlining of county offices and “encourage private-sector conservation planning,” according to a two-page summary. Funding for USDA statistical agencies would be reduced as well.
Discretionary spending is a relatively small part, 16 percent, of USDA spending. The White House plans to release in May a package that addresses entitlement programs, such as farm subsidies and food stamps, and tax reform.
Ag groups want larger funding for farm subsidies in the 2018 farm law and have argued against any cuts in funding that would affect the budgetary baseline for the farm bill.
House Agriculture Chairman Michael Conaway said the proposed cuts “could hamper some vital work of the (Agriculture) Department” while farmers and ranchers face low market prices. “As we in Congress get ready to write the budget, we will certainly pay close attention to the President’s recommendations, many of which I suspect will be incorporated into the budget. But, we will also have ideas on what the budget should look like and our priorities will also be taken into account,” said Conaway.
“The good news is this budget will be ignored, as it should be,” said Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the senior Democrat on the committee. The Trump budget showed “a general lack of understanding of what really takes place in rural America,” he said.
As part of a 31 percent cut in funding for EPA, the administration would eliminate funding for the Chesapeake Bay cleanup and for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Some 3,200 jobs would be cut as part of “a focus on core legal requirements” of the agency, giving states a bigger role in environmental regulation and “the president’s priority to ease the burden of unnecessary federal regulations.” The budget would end funding for a program to reduce power-plant emissions, climate change research and international climate change programs.
The chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, William Baker, said the elimination of $73 million to help states reduce pollution “just makes no sense,” reported the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “The EPA role in the clean-up of the bay is nothing less than fundamental.” EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said during his confirmation hearing in January that he would support the federal role in the clean-up, including funding for it, said the Times-Dispatch.
State Department funding would be cut by 28 percent. The White House said the budget “allows for significant funding of humanitarian assistance, including food aid, disaster, and refugee program funding,” but did not list an amount. “This would focus funding on the highest priority areas while asking the rest of the world to pay their fair share.” The United States is the largest food aid donor in the world. The administration said it “challenges international and non-governmental relief organizations to become more efficient and effective.”
“The president’s first budget request includes the deepest cuts to rural development programs since their creation,” said the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Considering that Trump would not cut the Women, Infants and Children food program or funding for meat inspection, USDA would have only half as much discretionary funding in fiscal 2018 as it does now for the remaining programs.
“This means a proposed 50 percent cut to most agricultural research programs, farmer outreach and extension programs, agricultural marketing and farm credit programs, enforcement of grain standards and livestock competition rules, international food aid, and the many smaller nutrition programs that receive annual appropriations,” said NSAC, adding there would be a dramatic cut in staffing.
Kathleen Merrigan, deputy agriculture secretary during the Obama era, said eliminating the water and sewer program “makes no sense” and the White House suggestion for communities to seek bank loans or apply to an EPA revolving fund “do not come close to meeting the need for safe and sustainable water and wastewater systems.”
The National Farmers Union said the budget “has put the needs of rural America and agriculture on the back burner and in many cases, on the chopping block.”