Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2015 Appropriations (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Feb. 4, 2015 |
| Report Number |
R43669 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Jim Monke,Randy Alison Aussenberg,Megan Stubbs,Renée Johnson,Joel L. Greene,Susan Thaul,Tadlock Cowan,Dennis A. Shields,Mark A. McMinimy,Randy Schnepf |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The Agriculture appropriations bill funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), except for the Forest Service. It includes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) andâin the House and in even-numbered enacted fiscal yearsâthe Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The FY2015 Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriation was enacted as Division A of the FY2015 Consolidated Appropriations Act, P.L. 113-235 (December 16, 2014), an omnibus appropriation that included 11 of the 12 appropriations subcommittee bills. Although the fiscal year began under a continuing resolution, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees reported their Agriculture appropriations bills (H.R. 4800 and S. 2389) in May 2014âthe earliest joint action in years. The House considered H.R. 4800 on the floor on June 11, 2014, procedurally read through most of the bill, and adopted several amendments. The bill was left unfinished when floor action was suspended due to House Whip leadership changes. The Senate considered a minibus appropriations bill on June 19, 2014, that included the Agriculture bill. But Senate consideration quickly stopped over a disagreement about procedures for amendments.
The official, enacted discretionary total in the FY2015 Agriculture appropriation is $20.575 billion, which is $90 million less than (-0.4%) the comparable Senate-basis amount for FY2014 that excludes CFTC. On a House jurisdiction basis that includes CFTC, the FY2015 discretionary appropriation effectively is $20.825 billion, which is $55 million less than (-0.3%) the comparable, official FY2014 amount. Despite the small decrease overall, many agencies receive small increases compared with FY2014.
In addition to these amounts, the FY2015 appropriation includes another $116 million of emergency spending that does not count against the discretionary allocation, including $91 million for agricultural conservation and $25 million for Ebola-related activity at FDA. Thus, if the emergency spending is included in the comparison, the Senate-basis spending level that includes emergency appropriations is $26 million greater than the comparable FY2014 amount.
Mandatory spending in the FY2015 Agriculture appropriation is $126.5 billion, nearly $2 billion more than FY2014, mostly due to costs in child nutrition (school lunch and related programs).
Notable policy riders affecting the Agriculture appropriation this year include a provision to allow white potatoes in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) "food package," and to require a review of the WIC food package to determine whether white potatoes would remain eligible. Regarding National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, the appropriation requires USDA to allow states to exempt schools that demonstrate a hardship from implementing a whole grain requirement. The appropriation requires scientific evidence before sodium reduction targets can go into effect. And it also prohibits processed chicken cooked in China from being used in the National School Lunch Program and other USDA child nutrition programs. The appropriation prevents the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration from finalizing proposed rules on livestock and poultry marketing practices, and effectively bans horse slaughter by prohibiting USDA from inspecting horses.
