The Congressional Budget Office released an official cost estimate of the House Ag Committee’s farm bill and said it’s $33 billion over budget and fails to pay for a large increase in crop subsidies.
The House bill will increase commodity supports by $45 billion over ten years, cut SNAP funding by $29 billion, and greatly restrict USDA’s use of Commodity Credit Corporation funds for discretionary spending.
House Ag Chair GT Thompson said if the CBO doesn’t change its mind, he’ll rely instead on the House Budget Committee to overrule the CBO.
Thompson says the proposed limitations on the $30 billion USDA reserve would save more than enough money to offset the expense of increasing the reference prices that trigger crop subsidy payments by 15 percent.
The CBO cost estimate creates a large obstacle to passing a farm bill that Congress is already 10 months late in passing.