Vilsack endorses Obama's budget proposal

WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Tuesday endorsed President Barack Obama's budget proposal that would cut farm program payments.

Vilsack told members of the House Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on agriculture that a $2.5 billion reduction in farm program payments over 10 years would affect "only … 2 percent of participants."

"The savings would come in addition to savings we have achieved through administrative improvements that reduced the error rate in farm program payments from 2 percent to under 0.1 percent," he said. In addition, the department has worked with the IRS "to eliminate improper payments to wealthy individuals who exceed income eligibility criteria."

"These and other reductions must be made if we are serious about deficit reduction and being able to support the critical investments we need to make to secure our future," he said in remarks prepared for the committee.

Vilsack said in 2010 the department saved $6 billion by negotiating a new crop insurance agreement "$4 billion of which will go to pay down the federal deficit."