Budget Debate Intensifies: Agriculture and Energy Programs at Risk

 With Congress yet to approve federal funding levels through the end of fiscal year 2011, April 8 looms as the next deadline to prevent a government shutdown. Congress has enacted a series of temporary funding bills (“continuing resolutions”) to keep the government running through that date, but Republicans, Democrats, and the White House remain divided on how to fund federal programs throughout the rest of the fiscal year, which ends September 30. The outcome could have significant impacts for key agriculture and energy programs that help strengthen our energy security, revitalize rural economies, and protect ecosystems.

In January, House Republicans passed a bill ( H.R. 1 ) to cut this year’s funding more than $60 billion below fiscal year 2010 levels. It would include deep cuts for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Research Centers, national energy laboratories , and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) programs (including the Biomass Program, and cuts in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) farm bill conservation programs and energy programs such as the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) and Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). The bill was defeated in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Since then, two continuing resolutions have cut about $10 billion from a wide range of programs. In the negotiations leading up to the April 8 deadline, reportedly, the White House has put an additional $20 billion in budget cuts on the table . The White House has already proposed much deeper cuts to farm conservation programs than House Republicans called for in its proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 than House Republicans had requested. It is uncertain what additional programs are being proposed for cuts in the current private negotiations.

The DOE’s Bioenergy Research Centers, national energy laboratories, and EERE programs provide basic and applied research to support the development of sustainable bioenergy and biofuels , among other areas, and the USDA’s BCAP and REAP programs assist farm and forest owners in establishing new energy crops and installing more energy efficient and renewable energy technologies, respectively. These programs are contributing to a multi-year national effort to reduce U.S. dependence on petroleum and develop domestic, sustainable, renewable energy resources and businesses. Farm conservation programs provide wildlife habitat, biological diversity, and essential ecosystem services, such as protecting water quality and water supplies and preventing soil erosion. All contribute to helping preserve and increase the value of open lands and working farms, ranches, and forests.