Washington, D.C. - Today the House Committee on Agriculture sent its Budget Views and Estimates letter for fiscal year 2017 to the House Budget Committee.
In the letter, Committee members requested that the Budget Committee "give careful consideration to the significant contributions toward deficit reduction already made by the Committee on Agriculture, the substantial reforms these savings entailed, the troubled economic conditions facing farm country that are exacerbated by regulatory burdens and trade and tax uncertainties, as well as our Committee’s work ahead, when determining from which congressional committees and mission areas any future budget savings should come."
In the letter, Committee members also noted the “almost $5 billion that agricultural policies have been sequestered since fiscal year 2013, accounting for a disproportionate 30 percent of the non-defense, non-Medicare mandatory sequester last year” and that “the 2014 Farm Bill reforms are achieving far greater savings than would have been realized had the status quo under the previous farm bill been maintained."
"From our perspective, we believe the Committee on Agriculture has done its duty for now with respect to deficit reduction and that areas constituting the other 98 percent of the Federal budget ought to be looked to first for any additional savings being sought this Congress," Committee members wrote.
Click
here for more information from the business meeting, including the
Budget Views and Estimates Letter for FY 2017, Chairman Conaway's
opening statement, and the
archived webcast.
