House and Senate Release FY2014 Proposed Budgets
Budget committee passed chairman Paul Ryan's proposal to balance the budget in 10 years
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) released his budget proposal this past Tuesday calling for cuts to farm programs by $31 billion over the next 10 years, but leaves it up to the House Agriculture Committee to decide how to make the needed cuts. This is a big change from the House’s budget resolution last year, which specifically targeted crop insurance for reduction. The Ryan budget was written in order to balance the budget in 10 years, and was passed by the committee late Wednesday night with a party line vote of 22-17. The budget is expected to come to the House floor for a vote sometime next week.
Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) also released the Senate budget plan this week, and would provide the Senate Agriculture Committee with flexibility to write a five-year farm bill. The budget would assume $23 billion in savings by reforming agriculture programs. The committee is on day two of their markup and hopes to pass the budget through the committee by the end of the week. The Administration on the other hand has yet to release their FY2014 budget and is set to do so on April 8.
To read House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas’ (R-Okla.) statement on the House budget proposal go to: http://agriculture.house.gov/press-release/lucas-statement-ryans-proposed-budget-plan-1
