News

Congressman Kind calls Trump budget “Dead on arrival”

A Wisconsin Congressman says President Trump’s budget proposal is going nowhere. “It’s dead on arrival. Republicans, Democrats alike are saying that. The time for any reform of these agriculture programs was when we were considering the farm bill.”

Democrat Ron Kind of La Crosse tells Brownfield the way things work in Washington, it’s too late to reform any farm programs until the next farm bill. “Where was the President and his administration then? Now he submits a budget that he knows isn’t going anywhere because it’s ridiculous, and now they’re talking about reforming some of these agriculture programs?”

Like Trump, Kind supports limiting eligibility for agricultural subsidies, but at even lower gross income cutoffs.  Kind would also like to eliminate the guaranteed 14% profit margin for crop insurance companies, but he says Trump needed to be a part of that discussion during the farm bill deliberations and missed the opportunity.