House Republican Appropriations Committee Doubles Down on Rural Budget Cuts.
Party-line votes prevented Democrats from restoring some of their key 2021-2022 budget wins during yesterday’s marathon FY2024 Appropriations markup.
Yesterday, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee passed their version of the coming fiscal year’s budget for agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and rural development programs. Republicans passed the package 34-27, with all Republicans in support and all Democrats in opposition. The budget draft now moves to the full House for a vote.
The hours-long markup was highly contentious, and included numerous votes to amend the Republicans’ initial draft offered in May. The Republican-passed budget plan would cut discretionary domestic spending while rescinding unspent funds from many of the Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act priorities. If implemented, rural America would see significant reductions in rural investments and nutrition program benefits starting October 1, 2023.
"By redirecting nearly $7.5 billion in unobligated funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, this bill funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission with an effective allocation of $25.3 billion – a decrease of two percent from this fiscal year, and an increase of only $188 million above FY22 levels,” said Representative Andy Harris (R-MD), who chairs the Subcommittee responsible for the agency budgets and was the lead Republican managing yesterday’s hearing.
“This legislation supports critical ag research and plant and animal health programs, invests in rural communities, expands access to broadband, provides nutrition assistance to those in need, and ensures that American consumers have a safe food and drug supply,” Harris said.
Democrats blasted the Republican budget cuts, as well as numerous riders included in the legislation.
“The ink is barely dry on the debt limit agreement, House Republicans are already reneging on the agreement,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said. “The 2024 Agriculture bill brings us back to 2007 and abandons rural America, slashing WIC by $800 million, cutting the Renewable Energy for America Program by $500 million, gutting rural electric investment in clear energy and energy efficiency by $1 billion, and eliminating loans that serve as a financial lifeline that has already helped more than 20,000 distressed farmers.”
“This bill does nothing to address the shortages that have forced doctors around the country to choose which patients are more deserving of life-saving chemotherapy drugs than others. In short, this bill exemplifies Republican values: taking food out of the mouths of hungry people, creating hurdles for women to access medication, raising energy costs for rural Americans, and making it harder for small farmers to make ends meet – while at the same time tipping the scale in favor of big corporations and protecting big tobacco. This is a harmful bill that is completely detached from reality and has no chance of becoming law,” DeLauro said.
Democrats offered several amendments during the markup that would have preserved key wins from their 2021 and 2022 legislative majorities. All were voted down on party-line votes. These amendments included:
Preserving loan modifications for thousands of disadvantaged farmers.
Retaining almost $10 billion in funding for Rural Electric Cooperatives to transition to renewable energy sources.
Maintaining $500 million in rural clean energy investments by farmers and rural small businesses through the Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP).
Preserving USDA funding for equity, inclusion, and diversity White House Executive Orders.
The Republicans also passed amendments that shifted another $500 million in REAP funding from grants to loans, as well as maintaining their conservative anti-abortion provisions and other controversial social “wedge issues.”
In addition, the Democrats did not offer a drafted amendment to preserve Packers and Stockyards Act reforms proposed by the Biden White House.
Republican cuts to federal nutrition programs were included in their Appropriations package, despite Democratic opposition. These cuts will have significant impacts on rural America. Rural people tend to have higher poverty rates, and depend on federal programs to purchase their groceries.
“The bill continues the assault on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s first line of defense against hunger that helps people keep food on the table and supports local economies,” said Luis Guardia, President of Food Research & Action Center (FRAC). “It would inflict further harm and increase food insecurity by arbitrarily throwing people off SNAP by increasing the age of those unemployed and underemployed adults who face arbitrary three-month time limits on SNAP eligibility, from 18 to 56, unless they document sufficient monthly work hours.”
“The committee’s effort to further squeeze participation and benefits for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a threat to the health and well-being of millions of babies and young children, and their mothers. It’s unfathomable that some in Congress want to gut WIC’s program benefits that would impact 5 million pregnant women, new moms, and young children, along with slashing the program’s essential fruit and vegetable benefits. This should not happen at any time, but especially not during a time of rising food costs,” Guardian said.
Yesterday’s Agriculture Appropriations Committee markup session is the next step in Congressional negotiations for the FY2024 federal budget. The current budget expires on September 30, 2023. The budget must be passed and agreed to by the full U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and signed by President Biden. Hundreds of billions of dollars supporting rural people and rural communities are at stake in the Appropriations process.
NOTE—The Cocklebur will continue to report on the federal appropriations process. Numerous issues were presented in yesterday’s hearing that we will continue focus on during the next steps in the Congressional budget process. These issues include corporate control over livestock markets, nutrition programs, foreign ownership of farmland, conservation programs, and rural clean energy provisions.
If you’re interested in re-publishing this or any edition of The Cocklebur, please let us know by emailing thecocklebur@substack.com.
The Cocklebur covers rural policy and politics from a progressive point-of-view. Our work focuses on a tangled rural political reality of dishonest debate, economic and racial disparities, corporate power over our democracy, and disinformation peddled by conservative media outlets. We aim to use facts, data, and science to inform our point-of-view. We wear our complicated love/WTF relationship with rural America on our sleeve.