Trump Budget Includes Crop Insurance Cuts

The fiscal year 2020 budget submitted by President Donald Trump includes a couple of points sure to ignite debate in the budgetary process. The proposal includes imposing work requirements on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients. The Hagstrom Report says the proposed budget also imposes work requirements on recipients of Medicare and federal housing benefits. The work requirements will likely reduce program participation. That’s part of an administration plan to reduce federal mandatory and discretionary spending. A senior administration official says these are the biggest proposed cuts made by any president in history. However, Congress generally doesn’t follow presidential budgets when they write appropriation bills. The budget proposal is typically seen more as a statement of administration priorities. The proposed budget will also cut back on farm subsidies paid out to farmers in the highest income brackets. It would also reduce the average premium crop insurance subsidy from 62 percent to 48 percent. It would also limit commodity, conservation, and crop insurance subsidies to producers that have an adjusted gross income of $500,000 or less.