Tuesday, February 26, 2013 2:48 pm

The seriousness of these budget cuts can be seen in just one federal agency that works with many individuals and rural communities. This would be the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

USDA’s total outlays for FY 2013 are estimated at $155 billion. About 83% of outlays, or $128 billion, are associated with mandatory programs such as crop insurance, nutrition assistance programs, and farm commodity programs.

The remaining 17% of outlays, about $27 billion in FY 2013, are discretionary programs that include
• Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC),
• Federal Food Safety and Inspection,
• Rural Development loans and grants,
• Research and Education,
• Soil and Water conservation technical assistance,
• Animal and Plant Health,
• management of national forests, wildfires, and other Forest Service activities, and
• domestic and international marketing assistance.

To achieve an 8% cut totaling $2.2 billion from FY 2013-level discretionary programs, USDA would have to implement across-the-board budget cuts of up to 10%. The chart below depicts a 10% across-the-board cut for most of USDA’s discretionary programs:

USDA Discretionary Program 2013 Budget
(Million $) 10%
(Million $)
Research $ 1,103 $ 110.30
Research NIFA $ 1,244 $ 124.40
Animal Plant Health Insp $ 765 $ 76.50
Grain Insp P & A $ 40 $ 4.00
Agr Marketing Service $ 79 $ 8.80
Farm Service Agency $ 1,626 $ 162.60

Risk Mgt Agcy Admin & Oper $ 75 $ 7.50
Dole McGovern Intn’l Food Asst $ 1,764 $ 176.40
Rural Development Bus & Industry $ 128 $ 12.80
RD: utilities $ 578 $ 57.80
RD: Housing $ 1,486 $ 148.60
SSNP: WIC $ 7,439 $ 743.90
Food Safety & Inspec $ 996 $ 99.60
NRCS: Tech Asst $ 833 $ 83.30
NRE: Forest Service $ 4,861 $ 486.10
NASS $ 179 $ 17.90
USDA Bldg & Facil $ 244 $ 24.40
  
Total $ 23,440 $ 2,344.9