Q: What does the President’s budget do to address the budget deficit?
A: Following up on his State of the Union Address, President Bush presented Congress with his annual budget that will meet his goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009. As a fiscal conservative, I appreciate the President giving Congress a budget that gives first priority to national and homeland security and, for the most part, holds the line on domestic programs. Since we are at war, our first priority must be to give our soldiers in harms way everything they need. And, since the terrorist threat remains, we need to continue to strengthen our defenses here at home. While still providing for national security, I’m confident that we can continue to adequately fund important and effective programs here at home too. And, I’ll be hard at work to make sure Iowa gets its fair share. I have started to meet with chamber of commerce groups that come out to Washington, DC from around Iowa to let their representatives know what their priorities are. While there are no longer the unsustainable 15 percent increases for domestic programs like there was during the last year of the Clinton administration, we need to meet Iowa’s top priorities.
Q: There has been a lot of talk about cuts to the farm program, are farmers going to see a big reduction in payments?
A: Farm programs should not be singled out to pay more than their share to limit federal spending. All domestic programs are in the same boat and I’ll make sure that agriculture isn’t put in the position of doing any more to help balance the budget than the other departments of government. One of the proposals in the President’s agriculture budget that has gotten a lot of attention is his inclusion of a hard cap on farm payments, and this is a good place to save. I have been working for years to create a firm limit on farm payments so there would be a safety net for all farmers, but not the current situation where 10 percent of the farmers get 72 percent of the federal payments. The lack of a hard cap gives farmers an incentive to get bigger, which drives up the price of rent and makes it harder for next generation to enter the business of farming. With the President on board I’m optimistic that we can finally make sure the farm program helps the small and medium sized farmers it was intended to, not the large corporate farms that are currently the primary beneficiaries.
Q: What’s the next step for the budget?
A: After the President makes his proposal, Congress gets to work writing a budget that outlines the broad spending levels for the different areas of government. Once these levels are in place, the Appropriations Committee determines the specific funding level for each program. So, while the President has made his proposal, the final determinations on federal spending won’t be set until Congress passes the appropriations bills. I look forward to working with Iowans over the year to make sure the interests of our state are represented in the federal spending bills.