History shows the deficit could impact farm bill passage

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History shows the deficit could impact farm bill passage

An ag economist suggests the current federal deficit could slow passage of the next farm bill.

David Widmar with Ag Economic Insights tell Brownfield today’s situation is similar to a decade ago when the country saw sluggish recovery coming out of the Great Recession.

“The implications were that it was very hard to pass a farm bill in 2013, in fact, it was impossible- we had to pass a one-year extension of the 2008 Farm Bill. Congress was really focused on sequestration and austerity measures to really pull back government spending.”

Widmar says deficit spending approached 10% of gross domestic product in 2009 and was equal to 15% of GDP in 2020. While it did drop to 12% in 2021, he says it is still much worse today than in 2013 when it improved to 5%.

“We will see if that starts to come in and impact Congress’ thinking about how they are going to go about new programs and new spending bills. It could create future challenges for legislation efforts.”

Widmar says it is not a large concern yet, but it is something to keep an eye on.

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