In a last-minute agreement between the House Republican leadership and the House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX), the originally proposed $3 billion cut in the federal crop insurance program in the budget agreement was averted.
According to Conaway, the proposed cuts are to be reversed when Congress considers the appropriations bill. The proposed cuts would cap the rate of return on earned premiums at 8.9% for crop insurers for 2016-17. The House and Senate Agriculture Committee leadership strongly objected to this proposal and reminded everyone this would reopen the 2015 farm bill.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “It is our joint understanding that House leaders will work to reverse these crop insurance changes and find bipartisan alternative deficit reductions savings when they consider an omnibus appropriations bill later this year.”
