15 different environmental and conservation-oriented groups signed a letter Friday asking Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., to reconsider the plan to take funding from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program over the next decade and shift that spending to boost funding for the child-nutrition school meals program.
The Agriculture Committee is working on a reauthorization of the child nutrition programs and proposes to boost spending for those programs by $4.5 billion over 10 years. The Obama administration had proposed a $1 billion a year increase for those programs. Lincoln's proposal, which is scheduled to get marked up in committee next week, would take about $2.2 billion from the authorized growth in spending for EQIP, to help offset the added expense.
The problem is conservation and agricultural groups and Republicans in Congress, are grumbling about the funding shift. Nutrition advocates are grumbling that Lincoln's proposal doesn't spend enough. When the words "cut to EQIP" were tossed out Wednesday in a telephone news conference with Lincoln on Wednesday, she was quick to jump in.
"This bill would slow down the growth of EQIP but it would still have an indexed growth," Lincoln said.
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Though people are lamenting the cuts in authorized spending, it's important to add that EQIP has not been spending its full authorization anyway. There is a D.C. term, "chimped away" in which EQIP isn't spending the full amount authorized so the appropriators take that extra money and move it elsewhere. So the question is, really, what actually gets to the producer?
In fiscal year 2010, EQIP spent $1.18 billion, not the $1.4 billion it was allotted. The committee’s proposal allows for steady growth of EQIP to $1.447 billion per year in fiscal years 2012-2020.
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When asked about not meeting the administration's request, Lincoln said that given the economic and budget conditions that "getting halfway there or almost halfway there I think is a pretty good deal."
There also is a pattern to the criticism of the spending shift. It goes something like "Hey, we all want kids to eat better, and that's a noble goal, but ...."
From the conservation and environmental groups:
"We understand and appreciate the critical need to provide additional funding for the child nutrition school meal programs. However, we are deeply disappointed in your proposal to cut the Environmental Quality Incentives Program by $2.8 billion over the next decade in order to provide this funding. There are other sources for this funding outside of the Farm Bill conservation programs that could be tapped to pay for these needs without taking away from the programs that support farmers and forest landowners in their efforts to provide conservation benefits in addition to food, forest products, and fiber."
From Environmental Defense:
“We support better child nutrition, but there are better ways to pay for this worthy bill than by cutting USDA’s conservation programs,” said Sara Hopper, director of agricultural policy for Environmental Defense Fund and a former staff member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “The Environmental Quality Incentives Program is a great deal for taxpayers because it spurs private investment in public benefits, including cleaner water, cleaner air and improved wildlife habitat. It’s one of several conservation programs that assists farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners in Arkansas and other states who offer to spend their own time and money to improve the management of their land to benefit the environment.”
From House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas, R-Okla:
"No one would question the importance of child nutrition and I appreciate Senator Lincoln’s efforts. However, it is unfortunate that the funding source for Senator Lincoln’s bill would require cuts to one of the most necessary conservation programs for our farmers and ranchers The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides necessary assistance to our farmers and ranchers who must comply with a growing number of environmental regulations. The threat of the Obama administration placing greater hardships on our agricultural producers with excessive regulations only emphasizes the importance of EQIP. This administration continues to pit programs that benefit our farmers against other programs and it’s to the detriment of American agriculture. We made a commitment to our farmers and ranchers in the 2008 farm bill and I intend to honor that commitment."
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