Agricultural News
Consideration of Ag Appropriations Bill to Resume Midday Wednesday
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:13:29 CDT
The US House of Representatives will resume consideration of HR 2112, the appropriations bill for the US Department of Agriculture and the Food And Drug Administration for Fiscal Year 2012, which begins October 1, 2012.
Debate began yesterday afternoon on the house floor. Republicans and Democrats went back and forth throughout much of the afternoon over whether or not there was adequate funding for nutrition programs, especially the Women's, Infants and Children's program. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., chairman of the Ag Appropriations Subcommittee asserted that increases in mandatory funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the School Lunch and Breakfast programs would ensure that low-income Americans wouldn't go hungry and WIC funding would also be covered. But several members wanted to make major cuts in USDA agencies and programs. In an effort to get three agencies to work more together, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, introduced language that would eliminate $1.8 billion in funding for USDA's Agricultural Research Service, the Economic Research Service, and the National Agriculture Statistics Service. Kingston (R-Ga.) argued against the cuts in light of the cuts already in the bill, and a recorded vote was requested.
Our Congressional sources report that at least nine amendments have votes that will occur once consideration is picked up after 11 AM central time today. We have been provided with 13 other amendments that will also be considered at some point during the debate.
Click on the PDF file link below to see amendments that have been offered for printing in the Congressional record. And, click here for the Appropropriations Committee overview of the Ag budget proposal.
You can also find the full text of the bill by clicking here for the bill before final Committee amendments. And, you can find the amendments that were accepted in the Appropriations Committee by clicking here.
00043_FY12_Preprinted_Amendments_6-14-2011.pdf
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