The U.S. Department of Agriculture believes that Congressional Republicans are using the nation's full faith and credit as leverage to impose cuts that will adversely affect rural communities, according to the USDA website.
Republicans propose to add over $3 trillion to deficits through tax cuts and giveaways that primarily benefit the wealthy and big corporations, and the USDA says these cuts will raise costs for hardworking families and set back economic growth.
Beyond the direct impact on USDA programs, these proposed cuts would negatively impact rural communities who access critical services across the federal government. The USDA said that the Republicans' proposal would increase food insecurity.
"Congressional Republicans have put forward an extreme proposal that would increase food insecurity by taking food assistance away from older Americans who rely on SNAP by adding burdensome, bureaucratic requirements and limiting states’ flexibility to protect especially vulnerable people who are already subject to work requirements, like veterans and individuals experiencing homelessness," the USDA website said. "These harmful proposals increase the likelihood that Americans and their families go hungry and jeopardize their long-term health and well-being."
The USDA added that the House Republicans' proposal to cut critical programs by 22% would contradict President Joe Biden's budget plan, which is intended to strengthen rural economies, increase resiliency and support rural health. These cuts would harm American agriculture and the broader economy, including manufacturing, transportation and grocery stores.
"The proposal would mean as many as 1,800 fewer food safety inspectors, leading to a lost production volume of more than 11.5 billion pounds of meat, an additional 11.1 billion pounds of poultry and over 590 million pounds of egg products," the agency said. "The industry would experience a production loss of as much as $416 billion, and consumers would face shortages and higher prices for meat, poultry and egg products at grocery stores and restaurants."
