House Republican Farm Bill Draft is a Budget Buster.
The Congressional Budget Office says that the Republican House Farm Bill would increase the budget deficit by $33 billion.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their cost estimate for H.R. 8467, the “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024” on August 2, 2024, finding that the Republican Agriculture Committee Farm Bill draft would increase the budget deficit by $33 billion over the next decade.
The Republican-led House Agriculture Committee passed the bill May 23, 2024. The cost increases are caused by an expansion of agriculture subsidies, primarily the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agriculture Revenue Coverage (ARC) programs. CBO estimates that the PLC expansion would cost $34.9 billion, and that ARC payments would increase by $9.8 billion. The budget cuts in the House Republican draft, primarily targeting nutrition programs, reduce the full budget deficit pricetag to $33 billion, according to CBO.
PLC payments are made to farmers when the “annual average market price per unit of a covered commodity falls below the effective reference price set in law. “ ARC payments are made to farmers when the “actual average revenue for a crop (price times production) within the producer’s county falls below the local guaranteed amount, which is based on an average for recent years,” CBO explained.
The $33 billion budget deficit in the House Republican Agriculture Committee Farm Bill draft could make it more difficult for the bill to pass the full House floor vote. No vote is currently scheduled, nor has a detailed Farm Bill draft been issued by Democrats who control the Senate Agriculture Committee.
The current Farm Bill, already extended by Congress for a year, expires September 30, 2024.
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