Congress is set to vote on differing budgets for the USDA and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) passed by the Senate and House Appropriation committees, setting up a potential battle similar to last year.
The Senate committee’s version, which passed 27-0, provides $27 billion in discretionary funds. The House version calls for a $355 million reduction from the fiscal year 2024 spending levels to $25.8 billion.
Some of the budget cuts in the House version include eliminating funds for new programs requested by the administration, excluding resources for President Joe Biden’s proposed bureaucratic pay increases, saving taxpayers $281 million and rejecting the funding request for climate hubs, the House Appropriations Committee said.
House bill overview
The House bill emphasizes support for programs critical to the food and drug supply, agricultural research, rural broadband, and animal and plant health.
“This Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill is an important piece of legislation because it touches the lives of Americans daily as we all depend on a safe food and drug supply overseen by both the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration,” subcommittee Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD-01) said.
“This legislation also recognizes that Americans are struggling with inflation, and we must rein in the reckless spending of the Biden administration by targeting funding towards core programs that help America’s farmers, ranchers, and rural communities,” Harris added.
Key allocations include $1.79 billion for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and $1.24 billion for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, reflecting a $33.8 million increase aimed at enhancing meat and poultry inspection. The bill calls for a decrease in funding for the Agricultural Marketing Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), with cuts of $30.7 million and $5 million, respectively.
In terms of nutrition, the bill provides $31.74 billion for child nutrition programs, $7.23 billion for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)—a $205 million increase—and a $777 million boost to $123.16 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to counter inflation adjustments.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service is instructed to reinstate critical agricultural reports, including the July Cattle report.
During the markup, committee Republicans included provisions in the bill and rejected amendments proposed by the Democrats. These amendments aimed to remove provisions that prevent unnecessary rulemaking until the FDA enhances efforts to eliminate illicit tobacco products from the market, promote and advance critical race theory, permit unapproved flags to be flown over federal facilities, fund polarizing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and subject Americans to religious discrimination, GOP members said.
Senate bill overview
The Senate bill allocates $3.8 billion for agricultural research programs, including $1.9 billion for the ARS and $1.7 billion for NIFA, with $445 million dedicated to the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. It fully funds the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility to protect the U.S. agricultural economy and maintain leadership in animal health, biodefense, and biosecurity.
Additionally, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service would receive $1.2 billion to safeguard the nation’s animal and plant resources from diseases and pests such as chronic wasting disease, African swine fever and avian influenza. FSIS is also funded at $1.2 billion to support nearly 8,000 frontline inspection personnel for meat, poultry and egg products at over 6,800 facilities in the U.S.
FSA is allocated $1.2 billion, with provisions to keep county offices open and fund emergency farm loans to meet anticipated demands. The Natural Resources Conservation Service receives $965 million for conservation operations and $53 million for watershed and flood prevention operations.
The bill also fully funds WIC with $7.69 billion, a $667 million increase from fiscal year 2024, and SNAP with $123.22 billion, a $845 million increase.
Some highlights for the livestock sector: the bill directs ARS to conduct research on agrovoltaics assessing the compatibility of various livestock species and crop types with different system designs and analyzing the risks and benefits in different regions. It also supports ARS’ Animal Disease Research Unit in expanding its collaborative work on functional genomics strategies to develop disease-resistant livestock traits and improve resilience in harsh weather conditions, providing an increase of $1.7 million for the Resilient Livestock Initiative.
The bill allocates $5 million for Wildlife Services to hire personnel dedicated to promoting and applying non-lethal human-predator conflict deterrence techniques in interested states. Recognizing the ongoing threat of foot-and-mouth disease to the U.S. animal agriculture industry, the committee provides $6.5 million for the National Veterinary Stockpile to ensure sufficient countermeasures to protect the nation’s food supply from the most harmful animal diseases.
“Our efforts to keep the farm in the Farm Bill go hand in hand with our work on annual appropriations legislation,” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND). “Accordingly, this bill provides vital support to our producers, agri-businesses, land grant institutions and rural communities.”
Both chambers could take action on the funding as soon as this month before they adjourn for their August recess. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
