	Most Recent Developments

An FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act, P.L. 111-8 , was enacted on March 11, 2009, more than five months after the beginning of the fiscal year. A continuing resolution had funded operations from October 1, 2008, until the omnibus was enacted. In addition, two supplemental appropriations bills for FY2009 have been enacted during the 111 th Congress: P.L. 111-5 in February 2009 (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARRA) and P.L. 111-32 in June 2009 (the Supplemental Appropriations Act). The regular Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriation in the FY2009 omnibus totals $108.3 billion, up 19% from FY2008. This total is composed of $87.8 billion in mandatory appropriations (up 21%, mostly because of rising food stamp demand), and $20.4 billion of discretionary appropriations (up 14% from FY2008). The ARRA supplemental provided $26.5 billion (about 25% of the amount in a regular appropriation although outlays may occur over a multi-year period), mostly for domestic food assistance. The second supplemental provided $771 million for international food aid and domestic farm loans. 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—covers funding for the following agencies and departments:
all of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (except the Forest Service, which is funded by the Interior appropriations bill), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the Department of Health and Human Services, and in the House, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC); in the Senate, CFTC appropriations are handled by the Financial Services appropriations subcommittee. Action on FY2009 Appropriations

The FY2009 Agriculture appropriations bill was marked up in the House subcommittee in June 2008 and reported by the Senate full committee in July 2008 ( Table 2 ). Senate Action

The Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of the Agriculture appropriations bill ( S. 3289 , S.Rept. Exceptions for Agriculture and Related Agencies programs in the continuing resolution included:
allowing a higher base allocation for FDA under the continuing resolution by including in FY2009 funding the $150 million of supplemental emergency funding that was provided in FY2008 in addition to the regular FY2008 appropriation; allowing mandatory spending increases for programs in the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to maintain program levels (an unspecified increase, likely in the billions of dollars); increasing the discretionary funding for the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition program to an annual rate of $6.658 billion (up from $6.02 billion in FY2008); increasing funding for the Food and Nutrition Service's Commodity Assistance Program to $234 million (up from $210 million in FY2008); and increasing the rural housing rental assistance program to $997 million (up from $479 million in FY2008 and equivalent to the Administration's request). However, the 2008 farm bill (P.L.
The Agriculture appropriations bill includes all of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) except the Forest Service, plus the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) appropriation also has been enacted with the Agriculture appropriations bill, even though jurisdiction in the Senate for CFTC funding moved to the Financial Services appropriations subcommittee in FY2008.
An FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act, P.L. 111-8, was enacted on March 11, 2009, more than five months after the beginning of the fiscal year. A continuing resolution had funded operations from October 1, 2008, until the omnibus was enacted. In addition, two supplemental appropriations bills for FY2009 have been enacted during the 111th Congress: P.L. 111-5 in February 2009 (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARRA) and P.L. 111-32 in June 2009 (the Supplemental Appropriations Act).
The regular Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriation in the FY2009 omnibus totals $108.3 billion, up 19% from FY2008. This total is composed of $87.8 billion in mandatory appropriations (up 21%, mostly because of rising food stamp demand) and $20.4 billion of discretionary appropriations (up 14% from FY2008). Discretionary programs with the most notable increases include rural housing, domestic nutrition assistance, and the Food and Drug Administration. The omnibus reduces three mandatory programs in the 2008 farm bill by $484 million, including two conservation program and one specialty crops program. The omnibus contains 521 congressionally designated earmarks for agriculture and related programs totaling $380 million. These earmarks are 16% fewer in number and 6% fewer in dollars than FY2008, the first year that such disclosure was required.
The ARRA supplemental provided $26.5 billion (about 25% of the amount in a regular appropriation, although outlays may occur over a multi-year period), mostly for domestic food assistance. The second supplemental provided $771 million for international food aid and domestic farm loans.
During the regular appropriations cycle, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of the Agriculture appropriations bill on July 17, 2008 (S. 3289, S.Rept. 110-426). The bill would have provided $97.2 billion in total funding, including $20.4 billion in discretionary appropriations. The Senate bill contained provisions to reduce mandatory spending by $641 million for 18 conservation, bioenergy, specialty crop, research, and rural development programs below the levels authorized in the 2008 farm bill.
The House Appropriations Committee did not report an FY2009 Agriculture appropriations bill. The subcommittee approved a bill on June 19, 2008, but the full committee stopped regular action on FY2009 appropriations bills over procedural difficulties. Thus, no information is publicly available on the contents of the House subcommittee markup.