Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2016 Appropriations (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Feb. 23, 2016 |
| Report Number |
R44240 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Jim Monke, Coordinator |
| 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 also funds the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and—in evennumbered
fiscal years—the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Agriculture appropriations include both mandatory and discretionary spending. Discretionary
amounts, though, are the primary focus during the bill’s development since mandatory amounts
generally are set by authorizing laws such as the farm bill.
The largest discretionary spending items are the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); agricultural research; FDA; rural development; foreign
food aid and trade; farm assistance programs; food safety and inspection; conservation; and
animal and plant health programs. The main mandatory spending items are the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), child nutrition, crop insurance, and the farm commodity
and conservation programs funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation.
The FY2016 Agriculture Appropriation was enacted as part of an omnibus bill on December 18,
2015 (P.L. 114-113). Separate Agriculture bills were reported in both chambers, but neither went
to the floor (H.R. 3049, S. 1800). The fiscal year began under continuing resolutions.
The enacted omnibus appropriation uses a budget allocation that was provided in the Bipartisan
Budget Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-74), which is higher than what was available to develop the Houseand
Senate-reported bills. The final Agriculture appropriation provides $21.750 billion for
discretionary amounts, which is an increase of $925 million over FY2015 (+4.4%), after
adjusting for differences in CFTC jurisdiction.
Compared to FY2015, the $925-million increase is largely allocated among a $318-million
increase for the Rural Housing Service; $250 million extra for Food for Peace grants for
international food aid; a $178-million increase for the Agricultural Research Service, mostly for
buildings and facilities; a $132-million increase for the Food and Drug Administration, mostly for
food safety; and $157 million more than last year for emergency conservation, watershed, and
forestry programs, some of it offset by a disaster declaration.
In addition to specifying budget authority, the appropriation prescribes various policies or
conditions that affect how some agencies may use their appropriation. Among notable policyrelated
provisions in the appropriation are to permanently repeal some country-of-origin labeling
(COOL) laws, continue to prohibit horse slaughter facility inspection, prevent the import of
processed poultry from China for certain nutrition programs, continue to implement with
flexibility the whole grain and sodium requirements in the child nutrition programs, set some
terms for the formation of dietary guidelines, and restore the use of commodity certificates for the
marketing loan program, including not being subject to payment limits.
