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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Thursday, April 03, 2025
House Republicans are proposing more modest cuts to spending at USDA than GOP appropriators tried last year, but they also are attempting to block USDA's new regulations for the meat and poultry industry and slow down new food traceability requirements.
Passage of a new farm bill this year remains a long shot, but the House Agriculture Committee’s planned markup of a bill on May 23 could help some vulnerable Republicans while putting pressure on a handful of Democrats who are in close re-election races.
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.
Farmers going through difficult times financially would have fewer options for assistance if House Republicans’ spending plan for fiscal 2024 were to become law.
Republicans on the House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee on Thursday advanced a fiscal 2024 spending bill for USDA and FDA over Democratic accusations that it was a “sham proposal” that relied on funding rescissions that were unlikely to materialize in time.
Many farm groups are calling on Congress to mandate more funding for agricultural research, arguing that the U.S. is falling behind China and other countries. But a top House appropriator says that funding for research decisions should continue to be left to the discretion of the lawmakers who write the annual spending bills for USDA.
Lawmakers are well into their preparatory hearings for writing the next farm bill. But a veteran Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee suggests the bill’s fate is going to hinge on whether lawmakers come up with more funding for it.
