Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2007 Appropriations (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Jan. 4, 2007 |
| Report Number |
RL33412 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Monke, James;Becker, Geoffrey S.;Chite, Ralph M.;Cowan, Tadlock;Hanrahan, Charles;Rawson, Jean M.;Zinn, Jeffrey A.;Richardson, Joe;Thaul, Susan;Jickling, Mark |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriations bill includes all of USDA (except the Forest Service), plus the Food and Drug Administration and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The full House passed the FY2007 agriculture appropriations bill on May 23, 2006 (H.R. 5384, H.Rept. 109-463). On June 22, 2006, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version (H.R. 5384, S.Rept. 109-266). The full Senate took up the bill on December 5, 2006, but only to consider a crop disaster amendment, which was defeated. Because a final bill has not been enacted, a continuing resolution (P.L. 109-383) is providing funds for agriculture-related agencies through February 15, 2007, at the lower of either the FY2006 level or the House-passed level in H.R. 5384.
The House-passed bill provides a total of $93.9 billion, $691 million (-0.7%) less than the $94.6 billion Senate-reported bill. In addition, the Senate-reported bill includes $4 billion of emergency agricultural disaster assistance, which does not count against budgetary caps. The House bill has no disaster provisions.
The House bill provides $17.8 billion in "net" discretionary appropriations, but because certain mandatory programs are limited, the "gross" discretionary amounts are higher. The House's $18.4 billion "gross" discretionary subtotal is 1.5% less than the Senate's, and 0.7% less than in FY2006.
About $76 billion, or about 81%, of both bills is for mandatory programs (e.g., Commodity Credit Corporation, crop insurance, and most food and nutrition programs). Mandatory funding would decline nearly $7 billion from FY2006, due to how crop subsidies are financed and economic conditions for food stamps.
The House bill would allow prescription drug importation, and the Senate bill would facilitate travel to Cuba for selling licensed agricultural and medical goods. Both provisions have drawn veto threats from the White House in previous years.
Two farm commodity provisions were stripped from the House bill by points of order. The provisions would have extended the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) and a peanut storage subsidy. The latter remains in the Senate-reported bill.
The Senate-reported bill reduces rural development programs by 11% from FY2006 (-14% in the House bill). Discretionary conservation programs fall by $3 million in the Senate bill and $75 million in the House bill. Animal and plant health programs rise $94 million (+12%) in the Senate and $115 million in the House. Both bills reject the President's proposal to award more research funds competitively.
Both bills reject an Administration proposal to terminate the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. Moreover, the House bill would provide $25 million of discretionary funds to expand a fresh fruit and vegetable program to school in all states, while the Senate bill would add $9 million in discretionary funds to a $9 million mandatory pool. This report will be updated as events warrant.
