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SEC'Y VILSAK TO CONGRESS: "TIME TO LOWER INCOME CAP FOR FARM PAYMENTS"
Mar. 3, 2011
Agri-Pulse reports:
Democrats, Republicans and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack all agreed on one priority in Tuesday's House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee hearing on the Agriculture Department's 2012 budget: federal deficits must be reduced through painful spending cuts.
But there was sharp disagreement on what to cut.
Vilsack stood firm in insisting it's time to lower the income cap for farm program payments. "With farm prices as strong as they are today, we think it is appropriate to ask the most successful farmers to consider perhaps receiving a little bit less than they have been receiving," Vilsack said.
The administration is sticking to its plans to limit eligibility to individuals earning no more than $500,000 in farm income or $250,000 in non-farm income, down from the present $750,000 and $500,000 caps.
Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, asked Vilsack to find more realistic ways to cut spending. But Vilsack insisted that "We're not going to give up on that . . . It's a new day here. We're talking about a lot of things we've never talked about before." Vilsack also said that the administration's proposal "to target reductions in farm program payments" would save $2.5 billion over 10 years "while only affecting 2%" of farm program participants.
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