SAVANNAH, Ga. – Subtropical storm Beryl crept Sunday toward the Southeast U.S.Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd, announced Wednesday they have introduced farm legislation they say will cut federal spending by $40 billion over the next 10 years.
The Rural Economic Farm and Ranch Sustainability and Hunger Act (or Refresh) would overhaul federal farm assistance programs, streamline and update conservation programs and close eligibility loopholes in nutrition programs, the lawmakers said in a joint statement.
The bill would eliminate direct federal payments to farmers, halt sugar price protections and revamp dairy price supports. Those changes account for $16 billion in spending reductions, the lawmakers said.
Congress will renew its broader, multiyear farm bill in 2012, although Lugar said he hopes the House-Senate debt-reduction “supercommittee” will consider Refresh. The debt panel is required to make budget recommendations before Thanksgiving.
Lugar and Stutzman said their bill would cut spending on farm programs by nearly 25 percent, on conservation programs by almost 18 percent and on nutrition programs by 2 percent.
Stutzman said he and Lugar have “proposed genuine safety nets” to alleviate cuts to farmers. For example, the legislation would let farmers protect against losses between 75 percent and 90 percent of their expected crop revenue and buy supplemental revenue insurance underwritten by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency.
Lugar, who manages a family farm in Marion County, is on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Stutzman, a LaGrange County farmer, is a member of the House Agriculture Committee.
