Thank you, Chairman Cole, and I want to commend your leadership as we wrap up the Committee’s work on the fiscal year 2025 appropriations process with the Agriculture appropriations bill. I also want to recognize the Ranking Member of the Full Committee, Ms. DeLauro, and the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, Mr. Bishop, for their help in getting us to this point. I especially appreciate the conversations Mr. Bishop and I have had, and while I know we don’t agree on everything in the bill, we do agree on the importance of the agencies this bill funds.
As Americans know all too well, our country continues to grapple with inflation driven by the uncontrolled spending of the Biden Administration. In their latest report, the Congressional Budget Office projects that cumulative deficits will total $22.1 trillion over the next 10 years – which is 10 percent higher than their projections just four months ago. We simply cannot continue down this path of spending large sums of borrowed money with little accountability. This bill takes the same approach American families take every day – they have to do more with less under the Biden economy.
For fiscal year 2025, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee’s discretionary allocation is $25.873 billion, a $355 million, or 1.35%, decrease from fiscal year 2024.
The bill maintains funding to support USDA’s efforts to protect our producers from foreign plant and animal diseases and makes important investments in critical agricultural research that will keep our producers on the cutting-edge of technology and production practices.
The legislation continues to invest in the delivery of farm programs, disaster assistance, and crop insurance to farmers and ranchers by maintaining funding for the Farm Service Agency and the Risk Management Agency.
The bill provides $7.235 billion for WIC – a $205 million increase over fiscal year 2024, and $1.2 billion above the FY23 enacted level, to account for the rampant inflation caused by the Biden economy. Participation rates have been steady in recent months, and the program still has significant carryover balances. I believe the increased funding level in this bill will be able to serve all eligible participants. USDA also has a $150 million WIC contingency fund to meet any unexpected demand.
This legislation continues to make critical investments in Rural Development programs, including $100 million for ReConnect to complement existing funds to deploy broadband to the most underserved rural areas. Despite false claims that this bill cuts rural energy programs and loans to help American’s buy homes, the bill actually increases funding for these programs above FY24 levels. But only in Washington is it considered a “cut” when the increase requested by the President’s unrealistic budget is not provided.
For the Food and Drug Administration, the bill provides $3.5 billion in direct appropriations, and, with increased user fees, FDA has a total budget of $6.75 billion to keep our nation’s food, drugs, and medical devices safe and effective.
The bill includes $345 million for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to continue to oversee and ensure the integrity of U.S. derivative markets.
At the same time, this legislation reins in the Biden Administration’s out-of-control spending and over-regulation.
The bill provides $1 billion for the Food for Peace program, a $619 million decrease from fiscal year 2024. But before my colleagues on the other side of the aisle denounce this as a heartless cut, let us not forget that USDA recently transferred $1 billion from the Commodity Credit Corporation for the same purpose of providing international food aid. The Food for Peace program also has $300 million in carryover balances. The funding provided in this bill - plus Secretary Vilsack’s unauthorized transfer of funds from the CCC - results in a program with more than sufficient funding.
On the regulatory front, this legislation reins in harmful regulations that increase the cost of doing business and make it harder to live and work in rural communities. This bill puts a stop to USDA’s regulations under the Packers and Stockyards Act that dictate how poultry and livestock producers raise and market their animals and will raise the cost of food even more. It also blocks revised energy standards for newly constructed homes financed by USDA regulations that would increase costs for rural, lower-income households in an already constrained housing market.
The bill also builds on efforts to prevent the purchase of farmland by companies owned by our foreign adversaries by adding the Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States for agricultural transactions, and it also provides funds for the Farm Service Agency to fulfill its duty to track foreign ownership of agricultural land.
The bill also prioritizes the health and nutritional needs of SNAP recipients by allowing a limited number of states to voluntarily participate in a pilot program to restrict unhealthy food purchases with SNAP benefits. Let me be clear – this does not reduce funding for the program or reduce household benefits in any way. This does not make a nation-wide change to the program. We know some states and cities have been interested in restricting unhealthy foods in the SNAP program, so this allows them to pilot the concept. This pilot would free up SNAP benefits to purchase healthier foods, like fruits and vegetables and encourage USDA to prioritize pilot programs that pair nutrition incentives with non-nutritious restrictions. We should allow states to pilot this idea, evaluate the results, and see how healthy eating makes a difference in the lives and health of SNAP participants.
As I said earlier, this bill takes the same approach American families take every day – they have to do more with less under the Biden economy. We are not appropriating Monopoly money – it’s either hard-earned taxpayer dollars, or billions of borrowed dollars, and it’s our responsibility to make tough decisions while supporting core agency functions.
Source : house.gov