Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins is heading to Capitol Hill today to defend the Trump administration’s draconian cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture — and she owes the American people answers. Donald Trump’s USDA budget proposal would devastate farmers, slashing $721 million from rural development programs, threatening high-speed internet access, and eliminating food aid. The Trump administration’s priorities are clear: bankrupt small farmers to fund their Big Ag backers. 

Here’s a look at how Donald Trump’s USDA cuts will harm farmers and rural communities:

Washington Post: “Cut $721 million in funding for rural development programs, including eliminating rural business programs, single family housing direct loans, self-help housing grants, telecommunications loans and rural housing vouchers.  ….

“Cuts to forest management, research and conservation programs, citing oversight issues and alignment with President Donald Trump’s March executive order to boost timber production.”

Agri-Pulse: “USDA Rural Development Programs, Including Financing For Community Facilities And High-Speed Internet Service, Would Be Cut By $721 Million.”

Reuters: “The budget, if passed, would have big impacts on farmers. Cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture budget would total more than $4.5 billion, with the largest cuts from conservation programs that pay farmers to remove land from crop production, rural development programs for water and housing, and research grants. …

“It would eliminate the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program, Food for Progress and Food for Peace, three programs that send U.S. commodities abroad as food aid.”

Science: “NIFA programs on climate change and renewable energy would be axed, and unrestricted grants to universities, often spent on agricultural experiment stations, would be trimmed sharply.”

Capital Press: “The president proposes cutting the USDA by 18%, the Interior Department by 30% and the Environmental Protection Agency by 54%. …

“A $159 million cut to the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, Economic Research Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service. ERS and NASS would take small cuts.”