Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts says President Donald Trump promised not to cut a key crop insurance program that benefits Kansas farmers. The promise comes despite the fact that Trump placed reductions to the program in his budget proposal.
As The Garden City Telegram reports, Trump’s assurances came during a meeting he had with Sen. Roberts at the White House in late June. Roberts said he was able to convince the president it was a very valuable and needed program. Last year, the crop insurance program resulted in $74 million worth of loss payouts to Kansas farmers.
Trump’s budget proposes cutting crop insurance by almost $30 billion over the next decade. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has not indicated which way the administration will go. In a recent appearance in South Carolina, Perdue said crop insurance should be a “safety net and not a promise of profitability.”
