House Ag urges hands-off policy on programs during budget talks
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2016 - The House
Agriculture Committee is urging lawmakers to leave farm and nutrition programs
alone as a new budget blueprint is developed.
In an annual letter to the House Budget Committee, House
Agriculture says that farmers and ranchers are struggling to cope with drops in
commodity prices and that the committee is doing a “thorough review” of the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to make sure that it is working
effectively. The Agriculture committee “has done its duty for now with respect
to deficit reduction,” said the letter, which the committee approved Tuesday.
The panel said “economic conditions for
many farmers and ranchers have changed dramatically
since the farm bill debate” and that cotton
farmers in particular are in “serious jeopardy” because of the impact on prices
of policies in China and India.
The letter says committee members “hold
widely differing views” on nutrition assistance programs, including SNAP, but
“we all share a common conviction in the dignity of every person and in the
importance of creating economic opportunity so each and every person is able to
live the American dream.”
House GOP leaders are trying to start the
fiscal 2017 appropriations process earlier this year and hope to have a budget
ready later this month.
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