WASHINGTON,
Feb. 6, 2006-Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today
released details of President Bush's FY 2007 U.S. Department
of Agriculture budget, which meets the department's most
important priorities, while exercising fiscal discipline
to help meet the President's deficit reduction goals.
"The
President's agriculture budget provides important resources
for farmers and ranchers, while doing our part to avoid
passing on the deficit to our children and grandchildren,"
said Johanns. "The agriculture budget provides funds to
protect America's food supply, improve nutrition and health,
conserve and enhance our natural resources and enhance
economic opportunities for agricultural producers."
Total
USDA expenditures are estimated at about $93 billion in
2007, nearly $3 billion below the 2006 level. Roughly
77 percent of expenditures, or $71.3 billion in 2007,
will be for mandatory programs that provide services required
by law, which include many of the nutrition assistance,
commodity, export promotion and conservation programs.
USDA's
discretionary programs account for the remaining 23 percent
of expenditures or $21.5 billion in 2007, a decrease of
$1.2 billion from 2006. Discretionary programs include
the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program; rural development
loans and grants; research and education; soil and water
conservation technical assistance; management of National
Forests and domestic marketing assistance.
The
decrease in expenditures are derived from the proposed
budget reductions, which include some legislative changes
and an assumption that there will not be a need for emergency
disaster assistance funding and other emergency supplemental
funds that were needed in 2006. The resulting savings
enable USDA to fund the nation's priorities.
Highlights
of the FY 2007 budget include:
Avian
Influenza. The 2007 budget includes $82 million
for USDA to continue to work closely with states in domestic
surveillance efforts and to improve preparedness and response
capabilities to help stem the spread of highly pathogenic
avian influenza (H5N1) overseas. Excluding emergency funding
in 2006, this is a $66 million increase in avian influenza
efforts from 2006. USDA is a full partner in a government-wide
effort to prepare the country for a potential pandemic
and the worldwide effort to stop the spread of the virus
overseas.
In
response to the President's request, Congress provided
over $91 million in 2006 for USDA to start efforts to
prepare for a potential influenza pandemic. Those funds
will be used for international efforts; domestic surveillance
of poultry and migratory birds; diagnostics; emergency
preparedness and response; and related research.
Food
and Agriculture Defense Initiative . The budget
proposes $322 million in USDA funding for the multi-agency
Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative, which is funded
at nearly $540 million government-wide. This initiative
began in 2004. Excluding funding for the construction
of the National Centers for Animal Health in Ames, Iowa,
which was fully funded in 2006, the 2007 budget represents
a $127 million increase for USDA to continue improving
the safety and security of America's food supply and agriculture.
Funding
increases include: $23 million in increases to strengthen
the Food Emergency Response Network and the Regional Diagnostic
Network to ensure the capacity to respond quickly to food
emergencies and plant and animal diseases and related
training; $42 million in increases for research to ensure
food safety, develop the means to quickly identify pathogens,
develop improved animal vaccines and better understand
the genes that provide disease resistance and; $62 million
in increases to enhance surveillance and monitoring activities
to quickly detect pest and disease threats and to improve
response capabilities
Energy
Initiatives . The budget continues to support
efforts to provide tools that help producers manage the
impacts of high energy costs, the development of renewable
energy resources and new energy-efficient technology,
as part of the comprehensive energy strategy announced
by Johanns in December 2005.
For
2007, USDA's core investment in energy-related projects
increases to $85 million from $67 million in 2006. This
funding includes resources to support renewable energy
research and demonstration projects and additional efforts
to support energy development and transmission across
public lands. In addition, the budget provides in excess
of $250 million each year in fiscal years 2006 and 2007
for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects through
Rural Development's loan and grants programs.
Commodity
Credit Corporation . Net CCC expenditures were
over $20 billion in 2005 and are projected to exceed $21
billion in 2006 before coming down to around $19 billion
in 2007. In 2007, the reduction of over $2 billion in
CCC expenditures is expected because of lower emergency
disaster assistance, projected modest commodity-price
improvements for some crops and the proposed legislative
changes to reduce farm support program spending.
Reductions
in CCC expenditures resulting from the proposed legislative
changes will produce savings of about $1 billion in 2007.
Over a 10-year period, these changes are expected to save
nearly $7.7 billion. This level of savings compares closely
with the 2006 proposal, excluding the cost of extending
the MILC program for milk producers.
Elements
of the proposed reforms, which are similar to last year's
proposals, include: lowering the payment limit cap for
individuals to $250,000 for commodity payments, including
all types of marketing loan gains; reducing crop and dairy
payments to farmers by 5 percent, requiring the dairy
price-support program to minimize expenditures; and imposing
a sugar marketing assessment to be paid by sugar processors
on all processed sugar and implementing a small assessment
on milk marketed by producers.
Crop
Insurance . Net expenditures for crop insurance
have grown nearly 50 percent between 2001 and 2007 with
the implementation of the crop insurance reforms of 2000.
At the same time, producers have continued to receive
disaster payments through ad hoc disaster programs. The
budget includes proposals to enhance crop insurance coverage,
and reduce costs to deliver the program, so that crop
insurance will provide coverage that is sufficient to
sustain most farmers in times of loss.
Proposals
include a higher minimum coverage level, tying the receipt
of commodity payments to purchase of crop insurance and
changes in fees, premium rates and delivery expenses.
The combination of changes being proposed is expected
to save approximately $140 million per year beginning
in 2008, which is identical to the FY 2006 proposal. This
proposal would ensure that farmers of major commodity
crops have crop insurance with a minimum coverage level
that is sufficient to sustain most farmers in times of
loss.
Domestic
Nutrition Assistance Participation and Funding .
The budget fully funds the expected requirements for USDA's
three major nutrition assistance programs -Food Stamps,
School Lunch and WIC, which combined account for nearly
$55 billion.
WIC
participation will grow slowly to 8.2 million participants.
The budget proposes $5.4 billion to support this level
and includes a $125 million contingency fund, should costs
increase beyond current estimates.
School
Lunch participation is estimated to reach a record-level
30.9 million children each day. The budget provides a
$700 million increase to accommodate this need for a total
budget of $13.9 billion. In addition, the budget includes
a new proposal for a $300 million contingency fund.
Food
Stamp participation is projected to decline by about one
million in 2007, to 25.9 million. The budget of $34.8
billion includes resources to fully fund estimated Food
Stamp participation and also provides a $3 billion contingency
fund should actual costs exceed the estimated level.
USDA
programs also continue to help feed those in need around
the world. The President's budget proposes nearly $100
million for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education
and Child Nutrition Program. This funding level will support
the donation of nearly 80,000 metric tons of commodities
and provide nutrition assistance for an estimated 2.5
million women and children.
Farm
Bill Conservation Program Funding and Program Enrollment
. The budget proposes over $4 billion to continue
implementation of the conservation programs authorized
in the 2002 Farm Bill and support the enrollment of an
additional 23 million acres, mostly through EQIP. In dollar
terms, the largest of these programs is the Conservation
Reserve Program, estimated at $2.1 billion in 2007. The
budget provides $83 million in additional resources to
extend the Conservation Security Program in 2007. In 2005,
CSP was offered in 220 watersheds and in 2006, the program
will be offered in an additional 60 watersheds.
In
addition, to help meet the President's commitment to create,
improve and protect at least 3 million wetland acres over
a 5 year period ending in 2009, the budget includes over
$400 million for the Wetlands Reserve Program. This will
allow for an additional 250,000 acres to be enrolled in
the program in 2007, 100,000 more acres than estimated
for 2006. When combined with other USDA conservation programs,
this will constitute the highest enrollment level ever.
Healthy
Forests . The budget continues implementation
of the President's Healthy Forests Initiative to mitigate
the threat of catastrophic wildfires. Resources proposed
in the budget will reduce hazardous fuels on an estimated
3.2 million acres of land, an increase of 150,000 acres
over the acres expected to be treated in 2006. By the
end of fiscal year 2007, federal agencies, including the
Department of the Interior, will have treated hazardous
fuels on more than 21.5 million acres of our nation's
forests and wooded rangelands since the beginning of fiscal
year 2001 and will have restored an additional 5.1 million
acres.
The
budget also includes $1.8 billion to protect communities
and natural resources from wildland fire and provides
for sustainable forests and communities through full funding
of the Northwest Forest Plan and extension of Payments
to States legislation.
Johanns
also commended the launch today of http://www.ExpectMore.gov
.gov by the President's Office of Management and Budget
that provides the public with easily accessible information
about federal programs, their performance and actions
the Administration is taking to improve performance in
the coming year. The web site is a new tool to help increase
transparency and accountability in federal programs.
Additional
information regarding the FY 2007 budget proposal is available
on the web at http://www.usda.gov/budget
.
#
