Vilsack Promotes President's 2012 Budget
Secretary talks to committees about budget cuts that have been made.
Compiled by staff
Published: Mar 2, 2011
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Tuesday spoke before the House Appropriations Committee's Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies subcommittee. His discussion focused on the President's 2012 budget. The proposed budget is for $130 billion, a reduction of $3 billion below the FY 2011 annualized continuing resolution. The Secretary told the subcommittee that this budget makes difficult cuts to programs.
"We are proposing legislative changes to target reductions in farm program payments, which would save $2.5 billion over 10 years, while only affecting 2% of participants," Vilsack said. "In addition, legislation will be proposed to reduce premiums for the catastrophic coverage option under the crop insurance program providing a savings to taxpayers of $1.8 billion over 10 years. These and other reductions must be made if we are serious about deficit reduction and being able to support the critical investments we need to make to secure our future."
The Secretary also addressed Rural Development, including regional economic strategies; development of the supply chain for biofuels and bioenergy; expansion of promising market opportunities; as well as broadband; trade expansion; conservation; and food security and safety, as well as a complete "laundry list" of other issues important to agriculture.
Permalink: Click here
Tagged: farm, insurance, biofuels, Food and Drug Administration, food security
|