The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee unveiled a new farm bill Friday that he said would reduce spending by $39.7 billion over the next decade compared to existing legislation.
The deeper deficit cuts endorsed by Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) are sure to please conservatives and may help get the bill through the full House.
The bill also makes deep cuts to food stamp programs, which could cost the bill support from liberals and make it more difficult to get a deal with the Senate.
Overall the bill, crafted in consultation with Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) is “vastly identical” to the bill that passed the Agriculture Committee last year, according to a senior aide.
But it reduces spending more than the earlier bill, which House leaders never let come to the floor. It would have cut $35 billion from existing spending.
Much of the bite comes from food stamp and other nutrition programs. They would be reduced by $20.5 billion, compared to $16 billion in last year’s bill.
This is a much bigger cut than what is offered in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s bill released Thursday. It cut $4 billion from food stamp spending and $23 billion overall.
Lucas’s bill finds $13.8 billion in savings from farm programs. Another $6.9 billion in cuts come from environmental programs.
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