USDA Proposed Spending Cuts
by Chris Edwards
June 13, 2007
All agricultural and rural subsidies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s budget should be abolished to save taxpayers $25 billion annually. Agricultural trade barriers should also be repealed. Current agricultural and rural policies are economically and environmentally damaging, and they create unfair transfers of wealth.
Food subsidy programs—food stamps, school lunches, and WIC—are more properly state, local, and private activities. They should be devolved to the states, with each state determining appropriate policies for its own residents. Such reforms would save federal taxpayers $55 billion annually. Some states may decide to fund food programs on their own, but competition between the states, and state policy innovations, would likely result in smaller, more efficient programs.
Forest Service subsidies to the states and private businesses should be ended. Congress should also explore options to transfer the national forests to the states or to new independent trusts that would be self-funded from forest-related receipts.
The table shows that these reforms would eliminate 90 percent of the USDA’s budget, saving federal taxpayers $80 billion annually, or about $696 per U.S. household. Under the proposal, the USDA would retain responsibility for animal and plant health inspections, food safety, grain and packing inspections, and conservation activities.
