By MEGGIE I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the national deficit at one of the highest levels in history at $4.5 trillion, U.S. Congressmen Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) shared concern with members of an Indiana Farm Bureau delegation in Washington D.C. last week.

“It took 200 years to get to a $1 trillion national deficit, and less than 30 to get to $4.5 trillion,” explained Coats.

“During the election year of 2010, we didn’t even pass a budget,” said Lugar. “Instead, we took one from 2009 and kicked the can down the road with a continuing resolution (a six-month budget extension). At the end of the day, no one is going to cut Social Security or Medicad, it’s political suicide.”

While many agree a restructuring of Social Security is one possible solution, it seems to reach a stallworth in discussion among members of both the House and the Senate, according to Coats and Burton.

“We need to get control of mandatory spending,” said Coats. “So far, we’ve only cut an area that makes up one-sixth of the budget. With interest payments that will continue to grow, discretenary budget cuts won’t solve our deficit issue.”

One possible suggestion provided during Farm Bureau’s visit would be to restructure the Social Security program, incrementally raising the retirement age over time, explained Rep. Burton.

“We need to build public understanding of a shared sacrifice to help get us through this difficult financial time,” added Coats.

On March 9, the House proposed a $61 billion overall budget cut, by the time it reached the U.S. Senate on March 10, the budget cut was slashed to become only a $5 billion reduction.

“We need to get our fiscal spending together, this town has inefficiency and duplicity written all over it with layers of bureaucity,” Coats said. “There are sensible things we can do through attribution to get ahead of things now so we don’t get into crisis mode like Greece. We need to do what’s right to get on path to recovery.

Under the chopping block in the coming months will no doubt be the 2012 farm bill, but still in the early stages of formation, the Congressmen couldn’t be sure to say how much agriculture was at risk.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen, when these issues get critical mass you can start to put the pieces together,” said Lisa Shelton, who works with the House Agriculture Committee on constructing the farm bill.

Shelton further explained that six subcommittees will go through and refine individual policies from the 13 titles within the farm bill before it goes to the House Ag Committee. There will also be a public hearing period where specific rules can be discussed, she added.

“We will break down each title, go through section by section,” Shelton said.
“Agriculture is willing to take some of the burden, but it’s not fair for U.S. farmers to carry the entire load,” said Terry Hayhurst, grain and cattle farmer from Vigo County, Ind.

Currently, the farm bill makes up only one half of a percent of the entire U.S. budget. Within the farm bill, farm or commodity-based programs make up less than 20 percent, while the bulk of the bill is consumed by food and nutrition programs.

“Everyone is being forced to make sensible budget cuts, the federal government needs to do the same,” lamented Coats.