WASHINGTON – Arkansas lawmakers worried Tuesday that the Obama administration is wielding its budget axe too sharply at rural America.
Sen. Mark Pryor, Sen. John Boozman and Rep. Rick Crawford expressed that concern in separate statements issued in response to U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to shutter 16 offices in Arkansas.
“There is no question that each and every USDA office in Arkansas provides a valuable service to its community, and I am concerned about another attempt to balance the budget on the back of rural America,” said Pryor, a Democrat.
Boozman, a Republican, serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
“While Arkansans are happy to help put us on the path of fiscal responsibility, they should not be expected to make all of the sacrifices,” Boozman said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Crawford had a similar response
“The Obama administration cannot hope to cure all our budget woes on the backs of rural Americans,” said Crawford, a Jonesboro Republican and member of the House Agriculture Committee.
At the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting in Honolulu on Monday, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced plans to close 259 offices nationwide.
Seven foreign offices also will be shut as part of an effort to save $150 million annually. The National Resource Conservation Service in Pulaski County has been slated for closure, as well as 10 Farm Service Agency offices in Pulaski, Bradley, Fulton, Garland, Izard, Johnson, Lafayette, Logan, Benton and Faulkner counties. USDA also plans to close five Rural Development offices in Izard, Faulkner, Hot Spring, White and Sevier counties.
The National Farmers Union said Tuesday that Congress is to blame for the “painful cuts” because lawmakers have voted to reduce USDA’s discretionary spending levels by 12 percent since 2010.
“A ‘cut first, ask questions later’ attitude in Congress toward investing in agriculture and rural America is now showing its true cost to farmers, ranchers and rural citizens with these closures. Agriculture cannot be continually asked to do more than its fair share to resolve our nation’s deficit problems – our leaders must look elsewhere to find solutions,” said Chandler Goule, NFU vice president of government relations.
Vilsack said his agency has had to look closely at “the way we do business” to manage the $3 billion, or 12 percent, reduction in discretionary spending that Congress has imposed on USDA since 2010.
“The USDA, like families and businesses across the country, cannot continue to operate like we did 50 years ago. We must innovate, modernize, and be better stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars,” he said.
The USDA plans to hold public hearings in counties where Farm Service Agency offices are to be closed. Among the services provided by those offices are disaster assistance, farm loans and crop subsidies. The USDA plans to shut 131 FSA offices in 32 states, with largest number of closures in Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas.
Pryor said he would work to ensure that communities have a fair opportunity to convince USDA that their facilities should remain open.
Crawford said he would work with residents of Fulton and Izard counties to make the case for their facilities to remain open.
“All of Washington must do more with less. However, with one in 10 proposed closures coming from Arkansas, we cannot sit back and let national bureaucrats harm our state’s rural communities,” he said.
Boozman said his office is reviewing the closures to ensure that the needs of Arkansas are met.
“Consolidating offices is commonsense approach to eliminating government waste, fraud and abuse. However, we must ensure that our ability to serve our rural communities and agri-businesses continues with the same commitment,” Boozman said.