|
Conservative leaders present own farm bill ideas
Story Date: 4/27/2018
| |
Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 4/26/18
A group of conservative House Republicans unveiled Wednesday its own budget plan that proposes deep funding cuts and changes that go far beyond Trump's own proposal, Pro Budget's Sarah Ferris writes.
The fiscal 2019 budget recommendation from the Republican Study Committee proposes its own farm bill featuring long-sought conservative priorities as well as a lengthy section on welfare.
The version of the sweeping legislation is far different than the one presented by House Agriculture Republicans this month. You can find the complete plan here. Here's a rundown of some of the changes conservative leaders are seeking:
- Promote cost-savings by dividing the nutrition and farm policy titles of the farm bill into separate legislation. That happened in the 2014 farm bill but the titles were melded back together in conference, to the dismay of some Republicans.
- End commodity subsidy programs by cutting Price Loss Coverage and Agriculture Risk Coverage.
- Eliminate the sugar and milk programs and allow the free market to regulate those industries without the intervention of USDA.
- Prohibit new enrollments in two flagship USDA-run conservation programs. Cutting back on the Conservation Reserve Program and Conservation Stewardship Program would save more than $11 billion over 10 years, the plan states.
- Implement work requirements and block grants into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps. It would require states to restrict food purchases made with SNAP to only healthy foods and combat SNAP fraud by requiring recipients to show photo ID when shopping. The proposal would also mandate child support cooperation as a condition of eligibility for food stamp benefits, and eliminate the "marriage penalty," which conservatives say dissuades couples from getting married out of fear of losing benefits.
- Reduce crop insurance subsidies paid to farmers to 30 percent and eliminate the government's reimbursement to crop insurance companies for administrative expenses.
|
|
|
|
