The House Appropriations Committee yesterday advanced the fiscal year 2018 Agriculture Appropriations bill out of full committee, on a voice vote.The bill totals $20 billion in discretionary funding, which is $876 million lower than the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and $4.64 billion above the president’s budget request. The overall total for both discretionary and mandatory programs is $144.9 billion.
The vote followed lengthy debates about non-core functions of the bill. Programs such as farm subsidies, crop insurance and food stamps are largely unaffected by the bill. As approved by the committee, the legislation includes funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program at their full authorized annual levels of $200 million and $34.5 million respectively, as authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.
The committee also endorsed the creation of the new undersecretary position at USDA for trade which will help coordination and communication between USDA and USTR and help level the playing field for U.S. agricultural interests in international markets.
In addition, language regarding USDA’s proposed rule on Chinese Poultry Slaughter Equivalency was included in the manager’s amendment that instructs FSIS to meet its statutory obligations as they relate to poultry trade with China. USDA has stated that the bill’s language would not prevent the department from moving forward with rulemaking.
It is unclear whether the bill will be considered as a stand-alone measure on the House floor or whether it will be incorporated into an omnibus or one of several “minibuses” of combined appropriations bills later this year. The Senate has not yet taken up the FY18 agriculture funding bill, but could begin work as early as the end of July.
