We have a new farm bill to write this year and I will oppose any attempts to further reduce farm bill spending. I think that, by and large, the current farm bill is working as we intended. We will have to make some tweaks to different programs but we should not be looking to reduce our budget.
Opening Statement by Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin C. Peterson
Business meeting to consider the Budget Views and Estimates Letter of the Committee on Agriculture for the agencies and programs under the jurisdiction of the Committee for fiscal year 2018
--As Prepared for Delivery--
“Thank you Mr. Chairman and good morning everyone.
“As the Chairman indicated and the letter states, CBO estimates that the current farm bill will save $104 billion, nearly four times what we originally pledged. I would argue that Agriculture has gone above and beyond when it comes to deficit reduction.
“We have a new farm bill to write this year and I will oppose any attempts to further reduce farm bill spending. I think that, by and large, the current farm bill is working as we intended. We will have to make some tweaks to different programs but we should not be looking to reduce our budget.
“I also think that attempting to separate the farm and nutrition pieces of the bill would only blow the whole thing up. Hopefully those that were pushing this idea last time learned their lesson.
“The views and estimates letter was collaboration between the Majority and Minority and I look forward to continuing this collaboration as we begin writing the 2018 Farm Bill.
