This week, the Obama Administration rolled out a $4.1 trillion budget deal with an $18 billion cut to crop insurance.
Some lawmakers were quick to voice disapproval of the plan. House Ag Chair Mike Conaway says it would be a sever blow to farmers. Pat Roberts, the Senate Ag Chair, calls the new budget an attack on risk management.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley also voiced disapproval in a conference call, He says the budget as a whole usually gets no support and the individual issues in it will get looked at.
But when it comes to crop insurance cuts, he points to the omnibus spending package last year, where they got cuts removed.
Grassley says, "Legislators plus the White House want to take money out of crop insurance. We stopped that. So I think we've got the votes to stop it now. The second thing is, there's just kind of a rule about farm bills over the last 35 years. You spend a year or two writing a farm bill, it's a five year farm bill, you want farmers to have certainty so you don't open up a farm bill."
According to the National Crop Insurance Services, producers pay a collective $4 billion every year for crop insurance. They say cutting it would make farming more expensive especially with low commodity prices.
Source - whotv.com
