	Most Recent Developments

On December 8, 2004, the President signed into law the FY2005 Consolidated AppropriationsAct ( P.L. Division A of P.L. 108-447 contains $85.3 billion in FY2005 funding for the U.S.Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies, including $16.9 billion in discretionary spending.The total appropriation does not reflect the effect of a provision that requires a 0.8% across-the-boardrescission in all discretionary spending in the measure. Discretionary Spending

Approximately three-fourths of total spending within the U.S. Department of Agriculture is classified as mandatory, which by definition occurs outside the control of annual appropriations.Currently accounting for the vast majority of USDA mandatory spending are: the farm commodityprice and income support programs (including ongoing programs authorized by the 2002 farm billand emergency programs authorized by various appropriations acts); the food stamp program andmost child nutrition programs; the federal crop insurance program; and various agriculturalconservation and trade programs. The FY2004 levelreflects the 0.59% across-the-board rescission to all non-defense, discretionary accounts, withoutexception. (1) An estimated $66.3 billion, ornearly 80%, of this requestedspending is for mandatory programs administered by USDA (primarily the CCC,crop insurance, and most food and nutrition programs). It is this category of spending for whichappropriators have direct control over annual spending levels. Table 2. 4818) forFY2005. The only amendment adopted in the Senate subcommittee was ageneral provision that would relax restrictions on travel to Cuba to promote and sellU.S. agricultural products. This provision was subsequently deleted by conferees. On November 20, 2004, the conference agreement wasfolded into an FY2005 consolidated appropriations bill (H.R. 4818, H.Rept. 108-447 ) on December 8, 2004. The following sections of this report review the major provisions in the FY2005 conference agreement for USDA and related agencies as finally enacted, and comparethe FY2005 funding levels with the House-passed and Senate-reported measures, theAdministration's FY2005 request, and the enacted FY2004 levels ( P.L. 4766 ) and the Administration request for$1.317 billion. The FY2005 House committee report ( H.Rept. For the resource conservation and developmentaccount, H.R. In practice, appropriatorsoften place limits on mandatory spending in annual appropriations bills. Discretionary Programs. A Chabotamendment to H.R. 108-447 eliminates or limits FY2005 funding to carry out several mandatory rural development programsauthorized in the 2002 farm bill ( P.L.107-171 ). The Administration proposal and House and Senate bills would have fundedfood stamp and related programs at a total of $33.6 billion in FY2005 -- $2.7 billionmore than projected FY2004 spending for these programs. 108-447 provides $5.28 billion for the WIC program for FY2005. This is approximately $190million above the Administration amended budget request of $5.087 billion. The conference report leaves in both the House andSenate report language which contains a provision that prohibits FDA from usingfunds to enforce the current statute that bans importation of prescription drugs byparties other than drug companies. 4766 ) level and $3.4 million above the enactedFY2004 level, but $1 million below the Senate-reported ( S. 2803 ) andAdministration-requested levels.
On November 20, 2004, the House and Senate approved the conference agreement on the FY2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act ( H.R. 4818 , H.Rept. 108-792 ), whichcombined nine annual appropriations bills into one measure. The President signed H.R.4818 into law ( P.L. 108-447 ) on December 8, 2004. Division A of the act provides theU.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies with $85.28 billion in budget authority forFY2005, which is $1.3 billion below FY2004 and $2.0-$2.3 billion above the FY2005 House-passed( H.R. 4766 ) and Senate-reported ( S. 2803 ) bills, and the Administration'sFY2005 request.
An estimated $66.4 billion, or nearly 80%, of the total FY2005 spending in Division A is for mandatory USDA programs, primarily farm commodity support programs and various nutritionprograms. The mandatory total for FY2005 is $1.45 billion below FY2004, mainly becauseimproved farm commodity prices have required reduced spending for farm commodity supportauthorized by the 2002 farm bill. FY2005 mandatory spending is approximately $2 billion above therecommendations of the House, Senate, and the Administration, mainly because of a revision innutrition program funding needs subsequent to these recommendations.
For all discretionary programs, USDA and related agencies receive $16.98 billion for FY2005, before taking into account the effect of a 0.8% across-the-board rescission on all discretionaryaccounts required by P.L. 108-447 . Discretionary spending is the category over which appropriatorshave direct control in annual spending bills. The pre-rescission discretionary total is about $140million above the enacted FY2004 level and the FY2005 House level, $210 million above the Senatelevel, and $413 million above the Administration request. Once it is applied, the rescission likelywill bring FY2005 spending close to the FY2004 and House level of $16.84 billion.
In order to meet an FY2005 discretionary allocation that was close to the FY2004 enacted level, appropriators, as in past years, placed limitations on authorized levels of spending in the 2002 farmbill for various mandatory conservation, rural development, and research programs. P.L. 108-447 reduced authorized FY2005 mandatory spending levels for these programs by a total of about $1.2billion, and applied those savings toward meeting the discretionary allocation.
Among the provisions that were deleted by conferees in the final law were a Senate provision that would have relaxed licensing rules for businesses seeking to travel to Cuba to promote and sellagricultural products; and a House provision that would have prohibited FDA from enforcing thecurrent law that bans importation of prescriptions drugs by parties other than drug companies.
Key Policy Staff
Division abbreviations: RSI = Resources, Science and Industry; DSP = Domestic Social Policy; G&F = Government and Finance