The American Soybean Association (ASA) is strongly urging Congress to reject additional budget cuts to policies within the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry or the House Committee on Agriculture.

ASA, along with other representatives of U.S. agriculture, finance, forestry, energy, trade, local government and more, sent a letter this week to chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House budget and appropriations committees, emphasizing how burdensome delays and more cuts to the 2018 Farm Bill would be to a struggling rural economy.

“We have all begun preparing for the 2018 Farm Bill and recognize that passing a bill with additional funding reductions would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Therefore, as the Senate and House Agriculture Committees begin preparing for the 2018 Farm Bill, it is imperative that the committees not be hamstrung by further budget or appropriations cuts to any farm bill program,” the groups state in the letter. “Instead, we strongly encourage you to recognize the substantial savings already achieved, which far exceed expectations, and to provide the committees the opportunity to complete their work through regular order, without arbitrary budget cuts or caps.”

The groups underscored the significant contribution the 2014 Farm Bill made to deficit reduction.

“Almost three years ago, Congress passed a bipartisan farm bill that made a significant contribution to deficit reduction. This bipartisan legislation was estimated to contribute $23 billion to deficit reduction over 10 years at the time of passage,” the letter states.

The groups encouraged budget flexibility during the committee process for the 2018 Farm Bill.

Click here to read the entire letter.