Appropriations for FY2004: U.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies

Publication Date: September 2003

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Agriculture, forestry and fishing; Banking and finance

Type:

Abstract:

The full House approved its version of the FY2004 appropriations bill (H.R. 2673) for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and related agencies on July 14, 2003. The Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of the measure (S. 1427) on July 17. Senate floor action on S. 1427 is pending.

H.R. 2673, as passed by the House, and S. 1427, as reported, contain a nearly identical total FY2004 appropriation of $77.493 billion, which is $2.91 billion above the FY2003 enacted level of $74.582 billion (including supplementals), and $136 million below the administration’s FY2004 request of $77.629 billion. Of this amount, just over three-fourths ($60.5 billion) of the spending in both bills is classified as mandatory spending, the same level as requested by the Administration.

The balance of spending in the two bills ($17.005 billion) is for discretionary programs, which is $136 million below the Administration’s FY2004 request and $872 million below the FY2003 enacted level including supplementals (or $393
million below FY2003, excluding supplementals). To help achieve the $872 million reduction in spending, both bills provide an FY2004 appropriation for foreign food aid that is more than $600 million below the FY2003 level (which was bolstered by supplemental spending). Also, both bills contain 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 $550 million from authorized levels.

Although the twomeasures provide a nearly identical total appropriation, there are a number of differences in spending priorities within the various mission areas of USDA. The House-passed bill provides $71 million more than the Senate for discretionary conservation programs and $36 million more than the Senate for foreign assistance. The Senate-reported bill exceeds the House level by $60 million for rural development programs and by $37 million for domestic food programs.

The House bill contains a general provision that prohibits USDA from promulgating regulations that implement country-of-origin labeling requirements for meat and meat products. It also prohibits the Food and Drug Administration from spending funds to stop the reimportation of FDA-approved drugs sold in Canada and overseas. The Senate bill is silent on these issues, but contains a provision to relax the licensing requirement for traveling to Cuba to pursue opportunities to sell agricultural and medical products.The Senate might also consider a floor amendment to reduce individual payment limits for farm support programs.

Neither bill concurs with the Administration request to create a new discretionary account of $432 million for funding technical assistance formandatory conservation programs, nor does it concur with an Administration proposal to limit the amount of federal subsidy accruing to the private insurance companies participating in the federal crop insurance program.