June 4, 2014
www.gfb.org
Vol. 32 No. 22
APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEES PASS AG SPENDING BILLS The House and Senate Appropriations Committees each passed bills to fund programs in agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other programs for fiscal year 2015. The House Appropriations Committee passed its version on May 29 by a 31-18 vote. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed its version on May 22 by a 30-0 vote. Both bills move to their respective chamber floors, though no dates for deliberations have been announced. The House bill contains $20.9 billion in discretionary spending, the same amount enacted for fiscal year 2014. The Senate bill provides $20.575 billion in discretionary spending, including $100 million in disaster relief funds. The House version includes an amendment by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) that would increase Agricultural Research Service (ARS) funding by $155 million to reconstruct the USDA Southeastern Poultry Lab in Athens. Georgia Farm Bureau has asked members of Congress to approve the funding for improvements to the poultry lab, which for decades has provided some of the world’s leading research into the reduction and elimination of avian influenza. The House bill also included an amendment from Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) that would prohibit the USDA from purchasing poultry processed in China for use in the National School Lunch Program. The House bill provides $869 million for conservation funding, $43 million more than the 2014 spending level. Both bills included amendments to prohibit the USDA from spending federal dollars to inspect horse processing plants. According to a Senate Appropriations Committee summary, the Senate bill’s discretionary spending is $90 million less than the fiscal year 2014 enacted level but $228 million more than the president’s budget request. It contains $1.023 billion for the Food Safety Inspection Service. The Senate bill includes a $4 million increase in research funding to study pollinator health and enable ARS to develop and test best management practices to help prevent colony collapse disorder. Also included in the Senate bill are $1.183 billion for the Farm Service Agency, $3.5 billion for farm ownership loans and $2.645 billion for farm operating loans. The Senate package allots $20 million in the feral swine eradication program and $2 million in additional funding for research and surveillance to combat Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv).