Trump will try again to cut USDA, says Perdue

The Agriculture Department faces large spending cuts, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday while a White House official said President Trump will ask for one “one of the largest spending reductions in history” in the upcoming fiscal 2020 budget. Perdue told reporters that he encouraged the administration to submit a package “within the realm of negotiation,” considering Congress rejected outright Trump’s previous budgets. Acting White House budget director Russ Vought said the 2020 budget package will meet Trump’s goal of cutting federal spending by 5 percent “by means of one of the largest spending reductions in history” in so-called discretionary spending. Military spending will rise, Vought said in an essay at RealClear Politics.A year ago, Trump proposed a 33 percent cut in federally subsidized crop insurance, along with rolling back funding for agricultural research and rural economic development. The White House proposed “America’s Harvest Box” of processed and canned foods for SNAP households that would replace half of the benefits they use to buy food. The “Harvest Box” was the centerpiece of a proposed $213 billion in SNAP cuts, 30 percent of funding for the coming decade. None of the ideas gained traction on Capitol Hill.