In addition to the discretionary cuts to USDA funding described in last week’s blog, the President’s FY19 budget also proposed $254 billion in cuts over ten years to programs in the four main titles of the farm bill, nutrition, crop insurance, commodities, and conservation.
In addition to proposing to reduce USDA’s discretionary spending by several billion dollars in fiscal year 2019, the Trump administration also proposed to make significant cuts to a variety of key farm bill programs that spend money on a mandatory basis, primarily in the areas of nutrition assistance, commodity support, crop insurance, conservation, and trade promotion. Congress is not obliged to adopt the Administration’s proposals on either discretionary or mandatory spending levels, and most budget experts believe that Congress is unlikely to seriously consider most of them. However, they do reflect a willingness to make such cuts, and raise questions about whether the President will sign or veto a future farm bill if it comes to his desk with funding for such programs largely intact.