The House Agriculture Committee Tuesday submitted its budget views and estimates letter Fiscal Year 2019. The letter now heads to the House Budget Committee for approval.
The estimates letter outlines funding for the upcoming farm bill. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway (R-TX) says his committee is requesting a ?budget-neutral? bill.
?We?re not asking to have to come up with cuts anywhere,? Conaway said. ?We believe the 2014 Farm Bill is performing well enough that we should not have to go beyond what those numbers are there. We?re going to keep things moving with a budget neutral request to the Budget Committee.?
Conaway says the funding decision was influenced by the success of the 2014 Farm Bill.
?The 2014 Farm Bill is coming in about $100 billion less than estimated, four times the commitment of our committee back in (20)14. This farm bill works,”Conaway said. “It delivers the American consumer the most affordable, safest food, fiber supply of any developed nation in the world. We intend to keep that with this renewal.?
Conaway notes creating a farm bill without additional funding will be difficult. However, he does not believe it is impossible.
?There are a number of things out of our jurisdiction that have to get settled,? Conaway said. ?We have 39 programs that don?t have baseline; we?ve had countless requests for additional, new funding. (By) going budget neutral, obviously, there will be no new funds. We?ll have to come to some grips with resetting priorities which are always difficult and hard to do, but not impossible.?
Conaway adds his staff is in the final stages of scoring a draft. He hopes to markup the bill next month, then bring it to the committee for full debate.
