WASHINGTON, September 9, 2015 - Unless Congress intervenes, the new price support programs created by the 2014 farm bill -- Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage -- will be subject to sequestration cuts just like the direct payments they replaced, according to USDA. The first ARC and PLC payments on 2014 crops are due to go out after Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
The 6.8 percent cut will be taken out of the payments, said USDA spokeswoman Cathy Cochran.
The Obama administration has been pushing congressional Republicans to negotiate a spending agreement that would avert the sequester, but the talks could take until at least the end of the year. President Obama agreed to the spending caps as part of a 2011 budget law, but they were lifted temporarily in 2014 and 2015 as part of the so-called Ryan-Murray agreement.
Many other mandatory spending programs are exempt from sequestration, including crop insurance, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Conservation Reserve Program and school nutrition assistance.
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