One contact said, “If [Donald] Trump becomes president, I think one of the things USDA does is reverse [Secretary Tom] Vilsack’s $250 billion TFP decision.” Vilsack’s interpretation of 2018 Farm Bill language on this topic allowed him to raise SNAP spending by a quarter trillion dollars.
Of note: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)charged nothing for the provision in 2018 because nobody thought it would allow such a move. Now, CBO would give just $30 billion to remove the authority. One veteran Washington analyst says, “CBO like the GAO has policy prejudices that spill over into its judgements on costs. It also relies a lot on USDA for guidance on costs and that gets political. The system needs to be revamped to get honest score keeping.”
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