Appropriations for FY2004: U.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Feb. 5, 2004 |
| Report Number |
RL31801 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Ralph M. Chite, Resources, Science, and Industry Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
On January 23, 2004, the President signed into law an FY2004 consolidated appropriations
measure
( P.L. 108-199 , H.R. 2673 ) that includes annual funding for the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and Related Agencies. The full House approved the conference agreement of the
measure on December 8, 2003. Senate floor action on the conference agreement was delayed for
several weeks until a cloture motion was approved and the conference agreement was adopted on
January 22, 2004. Part of the reason for the delay in Senate consideration of the measure was
opposition to a conference-adopted provision that postpones implementation of country-of-origin
labeling (COOL) for fresh fruits and vegetables, and red meats, for two years, until September 30,
2006. Until enactment of P.L. 108-199 , FY2004 spending for USDA and related agencies had been
governed by several continuing resolutions (most recently P.L. 108-135 , H.J.Res. 79 ),
which allowed FY2004 spending to continue at the FY2003 level.
The FY2004 consolidated appropriations act contains $80.63 billion for USDA and related
agencies for FY2004 (excluding the effects of a 0.59% across-the-board rescission in all
discretionary, non-defense accounts, as required by the final law). As originally reported by their
respective committees, H.R. 2673 and S. 1427 contained nearly identical
appropriations of $77.49 billion. However, the Senate added $2.2 billion to the mandatory food
stamp account to reflect more recent projections of program participation, and conferees added $1
billion to the food stamp reserve account. Just over three-fourths ($63.7 billion) of the spending in
the agriculture portion (Division A) of P.L. 108-199 is classified as mandatory spending, including
food stamps, child nutrition programs, crop insurance, and the various farm support programs funded
through USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation.
The balance of spending ($16.9 billion) in Division A is for discretionary programs, which is
$198 million below the Administration's request and $61 million below both the House- and
Senate-passed levels. Discretionary spending in Division A of the measure is $963 million below
the FY2003 enacted level including supplementals. Agriculture appropriators were allocated nearly
$1 billion less for FY2004 discretionary accounts than the FY2003 level including supplementals.
To help achieve this goal, P.L. 108-199 includes an FY2004 appropriation for foreign food aid that
is $572 million below the FY2003 level (which was bolstered by supplemental spending). Also, P.L.
108-199 contains provisions that limit or prohibit spending on certain mandatory conservation, rural
development, and research programs, which in total reduced spending in these accounts by
approximately $650 million from authorized levels.
The measure did not include a Senate provision that would have relaxed the licensing
requirement for travel to Cuba for the sale of agricultural and medical products. Conferees also
rejected a House provision that would have blocked FDA from preventing individuals from
importing cheaper FDA-approved prescription drugs from foreign suppliers.
