Winners, losers emerge in Obama's budget.

摘要

Alleviating veterinarians' student loan debt is among the spending priorities President Obama has outlined in his 3.8 trillion dollar 2011 budget. The president is asking Congress to allocate 5 million dollar for the Veterinary Medical Loan Repayment Program. Overseen by the Agriculture Department's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the program will help to repay educational loans for veterinarians who agree to work in officially designated geographic and practice areas experiencing a shortage of veterinary services. Overall, the Obama administration is requesting 148.6 billion dollar for the Agriculture Department in 2011—a nearly 10 percent increase from the 2010 budget. The administration is, however, calling for a 5 percent cut in the USDA's discretionary spending, down from 25 billion dollar in 2010 to 23.9 billion dollar in 2011. The president is also requesting 14 million dollar for a state-administered livestock traceability system. The project had formerly been known as the National Animal Identification System, but the USDA announced in early February that it was scrapping plans for a national scheme and moving toward a state-run program (see JAVMA, March 15, 2010, page 600).