$1 trillion ag bill full of subsidies, special favors
While the Congressional Budget Office says the bill will reduce federal spending by $16.6 billion, the R Street Institute notes that only $8.6 billion of that comes from trimming farm subsidies. Comparably, the 2014 White House budget wanted $37.8 billion in net cuts to farm subsidies. So the GOP, which provided most of the votes on this bill, will soon be campaigning on fiscal prudence but could not manage to cut less than the president.
“The Obama administration is not exactly known for austere budgets, so the fact that the White House would cut $29.2 billion more in wasteful agriculture spending than the farm bill Congress approved underscores just how terrible this legislation is,” R Street Senior Fellow Andrew Moylan said.
