WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry today said the President’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Proposal ignores the concerns of the nation’s farmers and ranchers.
“I have heard repeatedly from farmers in Kansas and across the country that crop insurance is the key tool in managing risks associated with drought, flood, freeze, hail, and other weather events,” Roberts said. “The President’s budget again turns a deaf ear to our nation’s farmers and ranchers by directly cutting the very tool that helps growers produce a safe and affordable food supply year after year. We have seen these types of proposals from this Administration before and Congress has been right to ignore them.
“The President has also suggested creating a new agency for food safety. Unfortunately, this Administration’s track record of increasing regulations and growing the Federal bureaucracy remains consistent in this budget request. In this tough economy, the last thing producers and consumers need is more red tape.
“Over the course of my chairmanship, the Agriculture Committee will conduct rigorous and thorough oversight of the departments and agencies within our committee’s jurisdiction. We owe it to the taxpayers, farmers, and ranchers to ensure that their government works in an efficient and effective manner, not in ways that waste taxpayer resources or impose ideological agendas. I look forward to the debate on how we accomplish this.”
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