USDA Requests Flexibility in Budget Cuts

While President Obama has "asked all Cabinet secretaries to cut 5 percent of their discretionary, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has asked the White House to allow USDA 'flexibility' so that" it can make cuts to mandatory programs in fiscal year 2012 rather than make cuts in discretionary programs, as reported in Ag Week.

Deputy Agriculture Secretary, Kathleen Merrigan, manages the USDA budget and stated that discretionary spending only makes up a small percentage of of the USDA budget.  She stated that budget cuts at USDA are difficult because 70 percent of the budget "goes for nutrition programs including food stamps, school meals and the special nutrition program for low income women, infants and children known as WIC."

WIC is a large item in the discretionary budget "that no one wants to cut."  The Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) is also a part of the discretionary budget which no one wants to cut.  If cuts in the discretionary budget are required, they would most likely come from rural development, research, marketing, regulatory, and conservation programs.

Merrigan has asked for input from the undersecretaries in the department, but has not received any ideas so far.

To read the Ag Week story, click here.

Posted: 07/23/2010