U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins speaks at a Future Farmers of America event at the Tennessee State Fair on August 18, 2025. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Democrats on a U.S. House spending panel criticized President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to farm and nutrition programs on Thursday, while Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins vowed to work with members of both parties to address their concerns.
The president’s budget request would make significant cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and eliminate programs that feed hungry people and support needy farmers – even as the rising costs of food, gasoline and other essentials make those programs even more crucial, Democrats on the House Appropriations Subcommittee told Rollins.
“It will be hard for our voters to believe that the USDA is serving America’s farmers and rural communities if the USDA withdraws their services,” said the panel’s ranking Democrat, Sanford Bishop of Georgia.
The proposed USDA budget for fiscal year 2027 would save $4.9 billion, or nearly a fifth, of the department’s budget. Because of the Republican spending and tax cuts bill last year 2.5 million people have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the department’s largest food assistance initiative.
Trump overall in his budget request seeks a huge enhance in defense spending accompanied by cuts to domestic programs.
Availability, cooperation promised
Rollins defended the budget proposal but showed a spirit of cooperation with the panel that writes the annual spending bill for her department, telling Democrats and Republicans that she would be ecstatic to address their priorities. She offered to call several members directly.
When asked by Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan about foreign producers undercutting U.S. sugar producers, she said she was prepared to address the issue in upcoming trade negotiations.
“We have a lot of work to do around the world, but anything you hear, Mr. Congressman, that you think might be helpful to me in whatever way I can get involved… I would like to be more involved in that,” she said. “We are making progress, but it must remain a priority.”
Rollins also pointed to some of her department’s successes over the past year, noting that bird flu cases were down 61% and that egg prices were also down.
The government has also increased exports of key crops, and the Republicans’ massive spending and tax cuts bill increased federal estate tax exemptions, allowing more family farms to be inherited with fewer taxes, she said.
She also called the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, spearheaded by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and in which the USDA also plays an crucial role, “one of our most important legacies.”
She agreed with Maine Democrat Chellie Pingree’s request to develop a “comprehensive overview” for the Make America Healthy Again philosophy.
Rollins is not promising to close the Farm Service Agency
Democrats on the panel, including senior member Bishop and ranking Appropriations Committee member Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, praised the budget request’s numerous cuts.
The budget would eliminate more than 70 USDA programs and was particularly ill-timed as prices continue to rise, DeLauro said.
“Prices of everyday goods continue to rise: food prices are rising, gas prices are rising, utility costs, housing costs and healthcare costs are going through the roof,” she said. “And the administration’s only plan is to decimate the public programs that help ease the burden on working families and farmers across the country.”
Bishop complained that support from the Farm Service Agency, which provides loans, disaster relief and other financial programs, is more complex for farmers to access.
Rollins attempted to justify the proposed cut by pointing out that the cuts mentioned by Bishop represented only about 4% of the total department budget.
But she also said she would never close a Farm Service Agency office and offered to work directly with the Democrat and others to address understaffed offices.
“But as we want to make sure we honor the taxpayer, make sure we do the best we can with every tax dollar while putting farmers first, we are taking important advice from you,” she said.
She added that members should contact the department “if you hear of an FSA office that is not fully staffed, or that farmers are not getting what they need – and I realize they are out there, I don’t live in a Pollyanna world, these are very difficult times.”
She ended her conversation with Bishop by telling him, “Feel free to call me any time, sir.”
Power of the wallet
DeLauro and Bishop led a push to assert Congress’s authority to control spending, implemented by budget committees in both chambers.
Bishop said he expects the USDA “not to circumvent this appropriations process by refusing to spend or obligate program funds once it is signed into law.”
DeLauro asked Rollins about a grant program created in a December 2024 law to assist farmers affected by extreme weather events in the past two years. “Not a single penny” of the $220 million provided for in the law has been distributed to eligible states, DeLauro said.
Here too, Rollins was conciliatory, saying the issue was a priority for the department and that funding for DeLauro’s home state was “on target.”
“Yes, ma’am, we’ll continue,” she said.
