Stabenow: Reid plan would hold farm cuts to $11 billion
By JERRY HAGSTROM
The battle over a bill to raise the debt ceiling is still very fluid in the House and the Senate today, but Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., claimed an initial victory in the budget proposal by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid., D-Nev., to cut farm spending by $11 billion over 10 years.
Stabenow said she convinced Reid to hold the farm cuts in his proposal to $11 billion when others had argued for a cut as large as $30 billion and the House had proposed $48 billion in cuts.
“I made a strong case to the leader that the farm budget had already taken cuts,” Stabenow told reporters after a hearing. “I was able to keep that at $11 billion. I want it to go down, not up.”
She added that she believes the debate over farm spending should be “between $11 billion and zero,” noting that the Simpson-Bowles presidential commission had called for a $10 billion cut in agriculture and that the Gang of Six senators’ proposal called for the $11 billion cut.
The House is scheduled to vote today on the budget proposed by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. If the House passes the bill, the Senate is scheduled to vote on it tonight and it is expected to fail. If that happens, it is unclear how the Congress will proceed.
The Reid plan would cut the direct payments that crop farmers get whether prices are high or low between 2012 and 2021.
The direct payments are now made on a base of 85 percent of a farmer’s historical acreage, and the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the cost of those payments would be $49 billion over 10 years.
The Reid plan would accomplish a $11 billion cut over 10 years by reducing the portion of acreage to calculate direct payments to 59 percent. The proposal would cut $2 billion from the crop year 2012 payments, which would show up as budget savings in 2013 and $1 billion in each year, according to a CBO chart released Wednesday.
According to the Oklahoma Farm Report, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said Wednesday that he believes farmers would have a better chance of getting a full direct payment under the Boehner plan, but he also acknowledged that there would be cuts to agriculture under the Boehner plan.
In a letter to Reid Wednesday, CBO estimated that this provision would reduce net spending by $11.1 billion over the next decade, including its effects on other agricultural income support programs. _[See link below.]_
The Boehner budget calls for massive cuts in government spending, but is silent on how much would be cut from agriculture. Stabenow said today she believes the $48 billion cut in the fiscal year 2012 budget passed by the House would be “devastating” to agriculture, and has previously said she does not support another provision in that bill to turn the food stamp program into a capped block grant to the states with a budget savings of $127 billion over 10 years.
Stabenow said she does not believe the Boehner bill can pass the Senate because it would require a second vote to raise the debt ceiling before the 2012 election.
“Our country cannot stay stuck in the ditch,” Stabenow said, adding that the need for a second vote is likely to cause U.S. credit ratings to go down and lead to other problems in the financial markets. The Boehner bill “is an irresponsible option,” she said.
The battle over a bill to raise the debt ceiling is still very fluid in the House and the Senate today, but Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., claimed an initial victory in the budget proposal by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid., D-Nev., to cut farm spending by $11 billion over 10 years.
Stabenow said she convinced Reid to hold the farm cuts in his proposal to $11 billion when others had argued for a cut as large as $30 billion and the House had proposed $48 billion in cuts.
“I made a strong case to the leader that the farm budget had already taken cuts,” Stabenow told reporters after a hearing. “I was able to keep that at $11 billion. I want it to go down, not up.”
She added that she believes the debate over farm spending should be “between $11 billion and zero,” noting that the Simpson-Bowles presidential commission had called for a $10 billion cut in agriculture and that the Gang of Six senators’ proposal called for the $11 billion cut.
The House is scheduled to vote today on the budget proposed by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. If the House passes the bill, the Senate is scheduled to vote on it tonight and it is expected to fail. If that happens, it is unclear how the Congress will proceed.
The Reid plan would cut the direct payments that crop farmers get whether prices are high or low between 2012 and 2021.
The direct payments are now made on a base of 85 percent of a farmer’s historical acreage, and the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the cost of those payments would be $49 billion over 10 years.
The Reid plan would accomplish a $11 billion cut over 10 years by reducing the portion of acreage to calculate direct payments to 59 percent. The proposal would cut $2 billion from the crop year 2012 payments, which would show up as budget savings in 2013 and $1 billion in each year, according to a CBO chart released Wednesday.
According to the Oklahoma Farm Report, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said Wednesday that he believes farmers would have a better chance of getting a full direct payment under the Boehner plan, but he also acknowledged that there would be cuts to agriculture under the Boehner plan.
In a letter to Reid Wednesday, CBO estimated that this provision would reduce net spending by $11.1 billion over the next decade, including its effects on other agricultural income support programs. _[See link below.]_
The Boehner budget calls for massive cuts in government spending, but is silent on how much would be cut from agriculture. Stabenow said today she believes the $48 billion cut in the fiscal year 2012 budget passed by the House would be “devastating” to agriculture, and has previously said she does not support another provision in that bill to turn the food stamp program into a capped block grant to the states with a budget savings of $127 billion over 10 years.
Stabenow said she does not believe the Boehner bill can pass the Senate because it would require a second vote to raise the debt ceiling before the 2012 election.
“Our country cannot stay stuck in the ditch,” Stabenow said, adding that the need for a second vote is likely to cause U.S. credit ratings to go down and lead to other problems in the financial markets. The Boehner bill “is an irresponsible option,” she said.
