WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today issued the following statement in response to a provision in the new budget agreement that would reduce crop insurance by $3 billion. The measure would also suspend the debt ceiling until March 2017 and lift the Budget Control Act (BCA) caps on spending for two years:
“As a member of the agriculture committee and conferee on the bicameral panel that worked hard to negotiate the final version of the farm bill, I do not believe it is fair to the nation’s farmers and ranchers to go back and require an additional $3 billion reduction in crop insurance after we’ve already reduced spending by $23 billion in the farm bill.
“Based on what I have seen of the debt ceiling and budget agreement announced today, I believe we should do more to reduce the deficit and debt with both long-term savings and economic growth. Ironically, this budget deal takes more out of crop insurance, which has already been reduced by $12 billion since 2008. That’s not the right approach.”
-###-