Separately, he and his Senate counterpart, Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and the top Democrats on the Agriculture committees issued a statement protesting the cut. “You can’t cripple the mechanism that was supposed to be the mainstay of the Farm Bill”. Producers have signed contracts and purchased policies.
Advertisement
“Members of Congress need to reject any attempt to cut crop insurance or any other farm program”, said Kendell Culp, an ISA director and farmer from Jasper County. Once again, our leaders are attempting to govern by backroom deals where the devil is in the details. Indiana’s farm economy is simply not in the shape it was even just a couple of years ago when the farm bill was approved. The program costs $9 billion annually. She says those serving on the United States Senator Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry were not consulted about that cut. “I don’t think this is what Americans want”. Now we are facing three billion dollars in cuts. “As far as I’m concerned that Farm Bill was a contract”.
As Congress moves toward a budget deal, a $3 billion cut to crop insurance is now on the table. The agreement also would raise the nation’s debt limit through early 2017. “That’s not the right approach”.
“I am very disappointed in this deal, I probably will not be supporting this budget deal”, Ernst says. Crop insurance policies are sold and serviced through private companies.
Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, chairman of the powerful Rules Committee, told CNN he was “seriously” weighing opposing the deal.
“Agriculture, agriculture, agriculture are my problems”, Sessions said. “I oppose any cuts”.
Grassley says crop insurance is a critical program for farmers and needs to be preserved.
Advertisement
“I oppose any efforts to cut or reopen Farm Bill programs”. She praised the deal a “small but positive step forward”. The budget agreement reached between Congressional leaders and the Obama administration puts an 8.9-percent cap on the rate of return for insurance providers between the 2017 and 2026 reinsurance years. “Cutting crop insurance, our last line of defense against a bad crop year, is reckless”. “Farmers need a stronger safety net, not a weaker one; and now is not the time to leave farmers in a bad situation by weakening investment in the crop insurance program”, said Sarah Delbecq, an ICGA director and farmer from DeKalb County.
