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INSIGHTi
FY2024 Agriculture Appropriations:
Status and Scope
Updated July 19, 2023
Status of Agriculture Appropriations
The Agriculture appropriations bill—formally known as the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and
Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act—funds the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA), excluding the U.S. Forest Service. It also funds the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) in the Department of Health and Human Services and, in even-numbered fiscal years, the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Table 1 shows the status of FY2024 action on Agriculture appropriations and the previous two fiscal
years. For FY2024, both the House and Senate appropriations committees have reported bills.
Table 1. Status of FY2022-FY2024 Agriculture Appropriations
FY2022
FY2023
FY2024
Admin
House
Senate
Enacteda Enactedb Request Subcmte
Cmte
Floor
Subcmte
Cmte
Floor
Enacted
3/15/2022 12/29/2022 3/13/2023 5/18/2023 6/14/2023
—
X
6/22/2023
—
—
P.L. 117-
P.L. 117-
OMB
Voice vote H.R. 4368
S. 2131
103,
328,
Appendix
H.Rept.
S.Rept.
Division A Division A
USDA
FDA
118-124
118-44
Cong. Rec. Cong. Rec.
CFTC
Vote of
Vote of
3/9/2022, 12/20/2022
FCA
34-27
28-0
Book III
S7819
Source: CRS using Congress.gov, OMB, and agency websites.
Notes: OMB = Office of Management and Budget; USDA = U.S. Department of Agriculture; FDA = Food and Drug
Administration; FCA = Farm Credit Administration; CFTC = Commodity Futures Trading Commission; X = did not occur.
a. For FY2022, see House-reported H.R. 4356 and H.Rept. 117-82, House-passed H.R. 4502 (Division B), and Senate-
reported S. 2599 and S.Rept. 117-34.
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b. For FY2023, see House-reported H.R. 8239 and H.Rept. 117-392, House-passed H.R. 8294 (Division B), and Senate-
introduced S. 4661 with unofficial explanation.
Scope of Agricultural Spending
The federal budget process treats discretionary and mandatory spending differently. Committees in
Congress are organized around these types of spending and their corresponding responsibilities for
authorizing and appropriating. Federal spending for agricultural programs relies on both discretionary
spending and mandatory spending.
• Discretionary spending receives most of the attention during the annual appropriations
process. Budget enforcement is through budget resolutions that set spending limits.
Discretionary spending typically includes agency operations and grant programs. In
FY2023, discretionary Agriculture appropriations are $25.5 billion (Table 2, Figure 1).
• Mandatory spending is minimally addressed during the appropriations process and
supports entitlement programs. Budget enforcement occurs during the authorization
process (e.g., omnibus farm bills, which follow budget rules including Pay-As-You-Go).
In FY2023, mandatory agriculture and nutrition spending is $216 billion.
Appropriations Amounts
For FY2024 USDA and FDA agency operations, the House-reported bill proposes $25.9 billion, a $615
million reduction (-2%) compared with FY2023. The Senate-reported bill proposes $26.8 billion, a $289
million increase (+1%). Both are less than the Administration’s request (Table 2).
For the official total discretionary budget authority, the House-reported bill proposes $17.8 billion
compared with $26 billion in the Senate-reported bill. Besides differences for agency operations, the
House-reported bill proposes larger rescissions and scorekeeping adjustments (-$8.4 billion; Table 2). The
House-reported bill’s rescissions include $5.8 billion from P.L. 117-169, commonly referred to as the
Inflation Reduction Act, for farm loan debt relief and rural energy programs and $1.7 billion from limiting
the Commodity Credit Corporation and Section 32 accounts.
Table 2. Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations, FY2022-FY2024
Budget authority in millions of dollars
FY2022
FY2023
FY2024
Proposed Change
from FY2023 to
House-
FY2024:
reported Senate-
P.L. 117- P.L. 117-
Admin.
H.R.
reported
Agencies and Programs
103
328
request
4368
S. 2131
Enacted
House
Senate
Discretionary Accounts
Research, Education, and Economics
(Agricultural Research Service, National
Institute of Food and Agriculture, National
Agricultural Statistics Service, Economic
Research Service)
3,676
3,823
4,188
3,732
3,868
—
-91
+45
Marketing and Regulatory Programs
(Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service,
Agricultural Marketing Service)
1,341
1,413
1,448
1,355
1,420
—
-58
+7
Food Safety and Inspection Service
1,109
1,158
1,290
1,197
1,205
—
+39
+47
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FY2022
FY2023
FY2024
Proposed Change
from FY2023 to
House-
FY2024:
reported Senate-
P.L. 117- P.L. 117-
Admin.
H.R.
reported
Agencies and Programs
103
328
request
4368
S. 2131
Enacted
House
Senate
Farm Service Agency, Risk Management
Agency, Business Center
1,868
1,923
2,020
1,904
1,947
—
-19
+23
Natural Resources Conservation Service
(Conservation Operations, Watershed and
Flood Prevention, Watershed Rehabilitation,
Healthy Forests, Urban Agriculture)
1,005
1,034
1,227
911
1,015
—
-122
-19
Rural Development (Rural Housing Service,
Rural Business Cooperative Service, Rural
Utilities Service)
3,970
4,079
4,861
4,038
3,941
—
-41
-138
Food and Nutrition Service (Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants, and Children; Commodity Assistance
Programs; Nutrition Programs Administration)a
6,709
6,741
7,066
6,638
7,027
—
-102
+286
Foreign Agricultural Service (Food for
Peace, McGovern-Dole)
2,217
2,242
2,311
2,223
2,297
—
-18
+55
USDA Departmental Administration and
other appropriations in General Provisions
666
578
733
416
541
—
-162
-37
Food and Drug Administration
3,317
3,543
3,915
3,504
3,563
—
-39
+20
Subtotal: Agency operations
25,878
26,534
29,059
25,919
26,822
—
-615
+289
Commodity Futures Trading
Commissionb
382
[365]
295
345
[365]c
—
-20
[+0]
Rescissions, Changes in Mandatory
Spending, Scorekeeping Adjustments
-1,139
-1,061
-462
-8,430
-833
—
-7,369
+228
Total, Discretionary Budget Authority
Senate jurisdictionb
[24,738]
25,471
28,595
[17,488]
25,988
—
-7,983
+517
House jurisdictionb
25,120
[25,836]
28,890
17,833
[26,353]
—
-8,003
[+517]
Mandatory Spending
Federal Crop Insurance Corporation
12,281
15,395
14,695
14,695
14,695
—
-700
-700
Commodity Credit Corporation
14,402
16,832
10,612
10,612
10,612
—
-6,220
-6,220
Section 32 (Funds for Strengthening
Markets, Income, and Supply)
1,391
1,483
1,574
574
1,574
—
-910
+90
Child Nutrition Programsa
26,789
28,456
32,009
31,973
32,001
—
+3,517
+3,545
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP), and Food & Nutrition
Act Programsa
140,438
153,861
149,641
121,992
122,133
—
-31,869
-31,728
Total, Mandatory Spending
195,301
216,027
208,531
179,846
181,015
—
-36,182
-35,013
Loan Authority
Rural Development Programs
46,208
46,870
44,874
45,979
45,884
—
-891
-986
Farm Loan Program
10,386
10,652
10,686
10,686
10,686
—
+33
+33
Source: CRS using appropriations text, reports, and unpublished Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tables.
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Notes: Amounts are nominal budget authority. Numbers may not sum due to rounding. Excludes supplemental
appropriations.
a. Reflects that CBO scores a portion of the Child Nutrition Program and SNAP as discretionary spending (usually less
than $100 mil ion).
b. Chamber notation refers to Agriculture appropriations jurisdiction. Bracketed amounts [ ] are noted for comparison
and are not in the official total. CFTC appropriations rotate annually between the House Agriculture appropriations
subcommittee and Senate Financial Services subcommittee.
c. S. 2309, Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2024.
Figure 1. Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations, FY2023
Budget authority in billions of dollars
Source: CRS, Table 2.
Related Products About Agricultural Spending
• CRS Report R47560, Agricultural Conservation: FY2023 and FY2024 Appropriations
• CRS In Focus IF12193, Farm and Food Support Under USDA’s Section 32 Account
• CRS In Focus IF12233, Farm Bill Primer: Budget Dynamics
Congressional Research Service
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Author Information
Jim Monke
Specialist in Agricultural Policy
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