An article in The Farm Credit Council “The Insider, reports:
http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-farm-credit-council-insider-usda.html
The White House late last week issued its orders for the sequester cuts, which includes a
reduction of approximately 5% for USDA for the remainder of fiscal 2013. The
cuts are to take place over seven months and amount to about 13% from defense
spending and 9% from non-defense programs.
The plan calls for furloughs of meat inspectors for the
Federal Safety and Inspection Service. FSIS is expected to reduce its spending
by about $53 million out of a $1.05 billion budget. Commodity programs are to
be cut by $329 million and disaster spending is to be reduced by about $70
million.
USDA Secretary Vilsack said the budget cuts could disrupt
the agricultural economy by as much as $8 billion, affecting as many as 60,000
jobs, and could prevent as much as $35 million in USDA loans being made to as
many as 1,500 farmers.
Vilsack added that USDA is prepared to continue distributing
direct payments and is committed to giving farmers in the Average Crop Revenue
Election program options to stay in or withdraw from ACRE.
“Sequester may impact the amount of payments, but I don't
think it will affect whether people get payments,” Vilsack said. He added that
he believes it would be difficult for Congress to reduce or modify direct
payments this year, either in response to the sequester or as part of a new
farm bill.
The Senate last week failed to pass either of two competing
bills to address the sequester. The plan favored by Senate Democrats, urged by
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Agriculture Committee Chairwoman
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) would have included a number of cuts to agriculture
spending, including elimination of direct payments. Chairwoman Stabenow said
this would spare agriculture from a new round of sequestration cuts in the future.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) said
it was disappointing that the Senate failed to pass a replacement, but that he
was pleased that the Reid-Stabenow plan was rejected because it would have
unfairly targeted agriculture.
“The agriculture portion of their proposal called for a 50
percent cut to a single title in the farm bill that accounts for six percent of
overall agriculture spending and less than one percent of overall federal
spending,” Chairman Lucas said.
Complicating the picture for a new farm bill is the fact
that the current continuing resolution funding government operations is set to
expire March 27. Without an extension or a replacement, the federal government
will be unable to spend money to keep certain operations running. House
Republicans are expected to introduce their plan this week for extending
routine government spending through September, the end of the current fiscal
year.
In addition, the Congressional Budget Office last week
released new estimates substantially downgrading the promised savings from the
House and Senate farm bills.
The report says the Senate-passed farm bill would save only
$13.1 billion over 10 years, compared with a promised $23.1 billion last July.
The House Agriculture Committee plan would save $26.6 billion compared with
$35.1 billion estimated last year.
The Farm Credit Administration is exempt from the cuts
required by the sequester. Because FCA’s funding comes from assessments paid by
Farm Credit System institutions and not from appropriated funds, FCA’s budget
will not be reduced.
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