U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Wednesday she will fight proposed Trump administration cuts to agriculture.
During comments to reporters at the Illinois Farm Bureau in Bloomington, the Illinois Democrat singled out crop insurance as something that needs to be preserved."There is this idea that the Trump administration is coming with such a huge cut to allow us to negotiate and end up somewhere in the middle. I refuse to let the starting point for negotiations be that massive cut. We need to start with where crop insurance is currently and have the conversation there," said Duckworth.
Duckworth also promised support for innovative programs for younger farmers and safe drinking water in rural communities.
She also said she says she hopes to separate manufacturing provisions from agriculture in talks about revising the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
She held out hope of bipartisan work on infrastructure that could help the agriculture community such as WRDA, or the Water Resources Development Act, which covers the nation's river transportation network including locks and dams.
Duckworth was in Bloomington Normal for meetings with ag leaders during the August Congressional recess.
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