BUDGET-2016-BUD

THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2016 25
communities in their efforts to cope with the
adverse impacts of severe weather events and
climate change.
Maintaining the Nation’s
Natural Resources
American forests are a critical resource for
the economy. They support thousands of timber
and forest product jobs, recreation, hunting
and fishing, and help to clean the air we breathe
and water we drink. However, in the face of a
changing climate and increased risk of wildfire,
drought, and pests, the Nation’s forests are under
increasing pressure and their future health
and the jobs they support are at risk. Moreover,
pressures to develop forest lands for urban or agricultural
uses also contribute to the decline of
forest health. Investments in conservation and
sustainable management and working lands can
help to ensure the forest landowners and dependent
communities have sustainable, forest-based
economic development opportunities. Such investments
also have the benefit of helping to
improve soil and water quality, reduce wildfire
risk, and otherwise manage forests to be more
resilient in the face of climate change. That is
why the Budget invests $83 million, an increase
of $13 million over the 2015 enacted level, for
the Forest Inventory and Analysis program to
deliver landscape scale survey data in all 50
States, including initial surveys and data collection
in interior Alaska, to foster terrestrial carbon
conservation and retention in land and natural
resource management.
Improving the Farm Safety Net
through Common Sense Reforms
In the last 15 years, the Crop Insurance program
has evolved from a small program with
minimal participation to one of the main pillars
of farm support. Overly generous benefits have
almost eliminated the risk in farming at a cost
to taxpayers in the billions. The Budget includes
reforms that are designed to reduce the distorting
aspects of the program while maintaining its
place as an insurance program and a key component
of the farm safety net. Specifically, the
Budget proposes to reduce the subsidy for the
premium on the harvest price protection revenue
insurance, and tighten the prevented planting
crop insurance rules saving an estimated $16
billion over 10 years.
BUILDING A 21 ST CENTURY INFRASTRUCTURE
When we build roads, bridges, ports, communications
networks, municipal water systems, and
other infrastructure, we are not just putting construction
workers and engineers to work—we are
also revitalizing communities, protecting public
health and safety, connecting people to jobs, empowering
entrepreneurs, and making it easier
for American businesses to export goods around
the world. There is certainly enough work to
do, with $2 trillion in deferred maintenance on
the Nation’s infrastructure. Built by far-sighted
investment over generations, America’s worldclass
infrastructure is falling behind the rest of
the world. As other nations have sought to compete
economically by improving infrastructure,
U.S. investment lags behind many of its overseas
competitors. In the most recent World Economic
Forum rankings, the United States had, in less
than a decade, fallen from 7 th to 18 th overall in
the quality of its roads. Building a durable and
reliable 21 st Century infrastructure creates good
jobs that cannot be outsourced and will provide
American workers and businesses with the
transportation and communication networks
they need to help grow the economy. The Budget
includes significant investments to repair the existing
infrastructure and build the infrastructure
of tomorrow in smart, efficient, and cost-effective
ways.
Long-Term Investments in
Upgrading America’s Transportation
Infrastructure
To spur economic growth and allow States and
localities to initiate sound multi-year investments,
the Budget includes a six-year, $478 billion
surface transportation reauthorization proposal.