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Gang of Six proposes $11 billion in ag cuts

The so-called bipartisan Senate Gang of Six is getting a lot of attention for its proposed federal spending cuts. One of the Gang of Six, Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota says the group’s proposed cuts are less severe than those proposed by the House.

“The [Gang] of Six has proposed $11 billion in savings out of agriculture over the next ten years,” said Senator Conrad, one of three Democrats in that group, during an interview with farmpolicy.com. “That is about one-quarter of what the House proposal includes, in terms of their cuts to farm programs, to conservation and to crop insurance.”

The House proposal would cripple agriculture, said Conrad. In the Gang of Six proposal, said Conrad, the various committees will decide in their respective jurisdictions where specific cuts are to be made. He says the process is in two stages.

“The first step is a down-payment, some $500 billion in savings government-wide,” he said. “And then the committees are given six months to report how they would achieve the assigned savings they’re given.”

All sectors are going to have to contribute to budget balancing, but Conrad said the House proposal asks a disproportionate share of savings from agriculture.

In total, Conrad says the Gang of Six plan saves $3.7 trillion dollars over a decade. The plan, however, is criticized by those who are against tax increases because it also raises $1 trillion in revenue by closing tax loopholes.