Agricultural News
Deficit, Debt Reduction Plan Released
Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:59:39 CSTThe Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. has released a comprehensive deficit and debt reduction plan entitled, Restoring America's Future. Written by the Center's Debt Reduction Task Force. the plan aims to reduce national debt to below 60 percent of the economy, reduce annual deficits to manageable levels, and balance the primary budget, which includes everything other than interest payments, by 2014.
The proposal would impact agriculture by recommending: (1) elimination of all support payments based on production history to large commercial producers (with combined farm and non-farm adjusted gross incomes of greater than 250-thousand dollars); and (2) lowering of the cap on direct payments based on production history from its current 40-thousand dollars to 20-thousand dollars. The counter-cyclical payments would remain intact.
The proposal would also reduce the Federal Crop Insurance Programs' administrative and operating costs subsidies to levels consistent with recent studies that estimate a reasonable rate of return for crop insurance companies. The Task Force plan would also reduce the premium subsidy for farmers from its current 60 percent level to 50 percent.
Finally, the Bipartisan Policy Center's Debt Reduction Task Force report would consolidate and cap conservation programs. According to the report, there is significant overlap between the various conservation programs that USDA funds, which creates inefficiencies that strain the federal budget. This proposal would eliminate that overlap by consolidating 16 of the programs into one capped entitlement that grows with inflation.
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