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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Friday, March 07, 2025
Lawmakers announce a deal with the White House on topline spending levels for fiscal 2024, clearing the way for appropriators to finalize budget details for USDA and other departments and agencies.
Congress starts the new year the way it ended a chaotic 2023, with an unresolved standoff over appropriations for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1 and no certainty about when, or even whether, lawmakers will move a new farm bill in 2024.
Congress averted a government shutdown that could have disrupted a wide range of federal services starting Sunday when the House and then the Senate approved a stopgap spending bill to keep agencies funded through Nov. 17.
With a government shutdown looming on Sunday, the House plowed ahead with debating additional cuts to USDA and farm bill programs as part of a fiscal 2024 spending bill that has no chance of becoming law.
Everyone agrees it’s a mess and very few admit they actually want to see it happen, but it looks like Government Shutdown 2023 is set to become the latest example of the world’s largest economy grinding to a halt – or at least the federal government portion of it.
A shutdown of the federal government would put many of USDA's critical services at risk, including nutrition assistance, marketing and housing loans, and the ability to provide technical assistance to Congress as it works on writing the farm bill, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.
The House is set to debate the annual funding bill for USDA and FDA this week, even as a partial shutdown looms at the end of this week unless House Republicans and Democratic-controlled Senate can agree on a stopgap spending bill.
House Republicans remain unable to agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded in October. Meanwhile, senators left town Thursday still unable to get agreement on bringing up a three-bill spending package that includes its version of the USDA-FDA bill.
