GOP unveils cuts to nutrition, food safety

House Republicans unveiled deep cuts on Monday to nutrition and food safety programs. 

Under 2012 appropriations measures released on Monday, the Women, Infants and Children food assistance program would be reduced by $832 million or 12 percent. 

The liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated the cuts would force WIC to turn away 325,000 to 475,000 eligible low-income women and young children next year.

The Food and Drug Administration would also take an 11.5 percent budget cut, or about $285 billion, compared to current spending. 

Some Democrats criticized the proposed cuts. 

“At a time when only 1 out of every 5 applicants can get a job, many Americans need help getting by. This bill slashes funding for WIC and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, leaving more people to fend for themselves during the worst recession since the Great Depression," said Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) said. "Our economy is showing positive signs of improvement, but with unemployment still hovering at 9 percent, it’s certainly no time to be pulling the rug out from underneath folks who can least afford it.”

Many of the 2012 cuts were proposed for 2011 but did not make it into an April agreement between House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House on a funding measure for this year.

The Appropriations Committee released its 2012 agriculture spending bill ahead of a subcommittee vote scheduled for Tuesday.

Only part of the FDA’s funding comes from Congress. It also collects fees from the drug and medical device industries, which pay the agency to review new products for approval. With those fees included, the total FDA budget next year would be $3.7 billion.

A coalition of industry and consumer groups fought during the last years of the Bush administration to significantly increase FDA spending, following a high-profile series of food and drug contaminations.

The Appropriations Committee noted that the proposed cut to the FDA is smaller than the total cut across all programs funded under the same spending bill.

In total, the $17.2 billion bill contains $2.6 billion in cuts from current funding, or $5 billion less than President Obama had requested for next year.

“For our part, the Agriculture Subcommittee has sought to begin making some of the tough choices necessary to right the ship. We have taken spending to below pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels while ensuring USDA, FDA, CFTC and other agencies are provided the necessary resources to fulfill their duties,” said Agriculture Subcommittee Chairman Jack Kingston (R-Ga.).

Other major cuts include $354 million from agriculture research, $338 million from rural development and $486 million from international assistance.