	Scope of the Agriculture Appropriations Bill

The Agriculture appropriations bill—formally known as the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act—provides funding for
All of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) except the Forest Service, which is funded in the Interior appropriations bill. In even-numbered fiscal years, CFTC appears in the enacted Agriculture appropriation. The bill includes mandatory and discretionary spending, but the discretionary amounts are the primary focus during the bill's development. Within the discretionary total, the largest discretionary spending items are for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); rural development; agricultural research; FDA; foreign food aid and trade; farm assistance program salaries and loans; food safety inspection; conservation; and animal and plant health programs ( Figure 1 ). The main mandatory spending items are the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, and other food and nutrition act programs), child nutrition (school lunch and related programs), crop insurance, and farm commodity and conservation programs paid through USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). Action on FY2017 Appropriations8

The FY2017 appropriation for Agriculture and Related Agencies was enacted on May 5, 2017, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act ( P.L. 115-31 , Division A). The fiscal year started on October 1, 2016, under continuing resolutions (CRs) that lasted for seven months. In regular action, the House and the Senate Appropriations Committees reported their FY2017 Agriculture appropriations bills ( H.R. It achieves this primarily by increasing budgetary offsets over the FY2016 level through greater rescissions of prior appropriations and greater scorekeeping adjustments primarily from "negative subsidies" from loan programs that charge fees. Comparison of Amounts in the FY2017 Appropriation

The budget authority provided to agencies in the major titles of the bill increases by $462 million (the top of the shaded bars in Figure 3 ), even though the official total decreases by $623 million compared with the FY2016 discretionary appropriation. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Food and Drug Administration. +$42 million , including $36 million more for food safety activities. Farm Service Agency. +$20 million to modernize headquarters facilities. Disaster assistance. -$114 million , comprised from $38 million less appropriated for programs than in FY2016 ($206 million in the second CR plus $28 million in the omnibus appropriation) and $76 million more in disaster designation offsets that do not count against budget caps. -$46 million , comprised primarily of $25 million more for Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) grants, and $26 million more for Agricultural Research Service (ARS) operations, offset by $112 million less for ARS buildings and facilities. Policy Issues

In addition to setting budgetary amounts, the Agriculture appropriations bill is also a vehicle for policy-related provisions that direct how the executive branch should carry out the appropriation. The FY2017 appropriation prohibits FSIS from inspecting horse slaughter facilities. The enacted appropriation limits the scope of rules for the 2014 farm bill's changes to inventory requirements for SNAP-authorized retailers. SNAP Households' Reporting Requirements. The law provides $25 million, $5 million less than was provided in FY2016. Processed Poultry from China. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)—in the House Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee only, and 3.
The Agriculture appropriations bill funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) except for the Forest Service. It also funds the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and—in even-numbered fiscal years—the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). (For CFTC, the Agriculture appropriations subcommittee has jurisdiction in the House but not in the Senate.)
Agriculture appropriations include both mandatory and discretionary spending. Discretionary amounts, though, are the primary focus during the bill's development, since mandatory amounts are generally set by authorizing laws such as the farm bill.
The largest discretionary spending items are the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); agricultural research; FDA; rural development; foreign food aid and trade; farm assistance programs; food safety inspection; conservation; and animal and plant health programs. The main mandatory spending items are the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), child nutrition, crop insurance, and the farm commodity and conservation programs paid by the Commodity Credit Corporation.
The FY2017 appropriation for Agriculture and Related Agencies was enacted on May 5, 2017, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 115-31, Division A). The fiscal year started on October 1, 2016, under continuing resolutions (CRs) that lasted for seven months. About a year earlier, the House and the Senate Appropriations Committees reported their FY2017 Agriculture appropriations bills (H.R. 5054, S. 2956) in April and May 2016.
The discretionary total of the enacted appropriation is $20.877 billion, which is $623 million less than enacted in FY2016 (-2.9%). It achieves this primarily by increasing budgetary offsets over the FY2016 level through greater rescissions of prior appropriations and greater scorekeeping adjustments.
However, the budget authority for FY2017 provided to agencies in the major titles of the bill actually increases by $462 million compared to FY2016. Increases primarily include $163 million more for discretionary conservation programs than in FY2016, $119 million more for rural development, $65 million more for discretionary domestic nutrition programs, $52 million more for animal and plant health programs, $51 million more for agricultural research programs, $42 million more for the Food and Drug Administration, $29 million more for the Farm Service Agency, $20 million more for USDA administrative facilities, and $17 million more for food safety inspections. Reductions primarily come from a rescission of unused domestic nutrition assistance funding ($850 million rescission), supplemental funding for international food aid ($116 million less than in FY2016), agricultural research facilities ($112 million less), greater use of a disaster designation that does not count against budget caps ($76 million extra offset), and disaster assistance ($38 million less).
The appropriation also carries mandatory spending that totaled about $132.5 billion. The overall total of the FY2017 Agricultural appropriation therefore exceeded $153 billion.
In addition to setting budgetary amounts, the Agriculture appropriations bill is also a vehicle for policy-related provisions that direct how the executive branch should carry out the appropriation. Notable policy provisions in the FY2017 appropriation include provisions prohibiting inspection of horse slaughter facilities, importing processed (cooked) poultry meat from China, rules about inventory requirements for SNAP-authorized retailers, requirements for SNAP households to report moves out of state, and waivers for schools to not meet whole grain and sodium requirements.