The former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture had his turn in the hot seat of defending a Presidential budget during the Reagan administration.
“I don’t see very many surprises. It is a Trump plan to reform and I quote, the welfare system and replace dependency with dignity to work,” Block said.
His empathy for current Ag Secretary, Sonny Perdue, is strong and Trump agrees that programs have to be downsized and costs reduced.
Block focuses on both farm program payments and food and nutrition benefits. His views on reducing payments to larger farmers may surprise you.
The crop insurance farmers pay for to protect against loses is 60% subsidized by the government. That means the farmer only pays 40% of the cost of the insurance. “I say that level of subsidy is a little harder to defend,” Block says.
Trump wants to put some limits on the crop insurance plan. No more than 40,000 to any one farmer. The argument against that is that big farmers would not participate. The White House would limit eligibility for all commodity support programs to only farmers earning less than 500,000 adjusted gross income. Block says, “That would save a lot of money.”
Most presidential budgets are dead on arrival. The congress writes the budget and the spending bills. However, presidential budgets can have some influence.
“I agree that the food and farm programs need to be reworked,” Block says.
