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INSIGHTi
FY2024 Agriculture Appropriations:
Status and Scope
Updated March 8, 2024
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, excluding the U.S. Forest Service. It also funds the Food and Drug Administration in the
Department of Health and Human Services and, in even-numbered fiscal years, the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission.
Table 1 shows the status for FY2024 and the previous two years. For FY2024, the House passed a six-bill
minibus appropriation with Agriculture as Division B on March 6, 2024, following four continuing
resolutions.
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Table 1. Status of FY2022-FY2024 Agriculture Appropriations
FY2022
FY2023
FY2024
House
Senate
Final
Admin
House
Senate
House-
Enacteda
Enactedb
Request
Cmte
Floor
Cmte
Floor
CR
passed
3/15/2022
12/29/2022
3/13/2023
6/14/2023
9/28/2023
6/22/2023
11/1/2023
P.L. 118-15 3/6/2024
P.L. 117-103, P.L. 117-328,
OMB
H.R. 4368
H.R. 4368
S. 2131
H.R. 4366,
9/30/2023 H.R. 4366,
Division A
Division A
Appendix
Division B
to Nov. 17 Division B
USDA
H.Rept. 118-
Failed by
S.Rept. 118-
Cong. Rec.
Cong. Rec.
P.L. 118-22
FDA
124
vote of
44
Vote of
Joint
3/9/2022,
12/20/2022
11/16/2023
CFTC
Vote of
191-237
Vote of
82-15
Explan.
Book III
S7819
to Jan. 19
FCA
34-27
28-0
Statement
P.L. 118-35
1/19/2024
to Mar. 1
P.L. 118-40
3/1/2024 to
Mar. 8.
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; CR = continuing
resolution.
a. For FY2022, see House-reported H.R. 4356, H.Rept. 117-82, House-passed H.R. 4502 (Division B), Senate-reported
S. 2599, and S.Rept. 117-34.
b. For FY2023, see House-reported H.R. 8239, 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 treats discretionary and mandatory spending differently. Congress organizes
committees around these types of spending and their responsibilities for authorizing and appropriating.
Agricultural programs rely on both types of spending.
• Discretionary spending is the focus of the appropriations process. Budget enforcement
is through resolutions and laws that set spending limits. Discretionary spending typically
provides agency operations and grant programs. In FY2023, discretionary Agriculture
appropriations were $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 was $216 billion.
Appropriations Amounts
For agency operations, the initial House-reported bill proposed $25.9 billion, a $615 million reduction
from FY2023 (-2%, Table 2) with $8.4 billion of rescissions and scorekeeping adjustments, including
$5.8 billion from farm loan debt relief and rural energy programs in the Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-
169) and $1.7 billion from limiting the Commodity Credit Corporation and Section 32 accounts. This
made the official total of the House-reported bill $17.8 billion (-31% from FY2023).
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The Senate-passed proposal was $26.8 billion for agency operations, a $292 million increase over
FY2023 (+1%). The official total after rescissions and adjustments would have been $26.0 billion, $517
million above FY2023 (+2%).
A compromise six-bill minibus appropriation passed the House on March 6, 2024, with a $26.2 billion
discretionary total, $392 million (1.5%) greater than FY2023. The compromise includes a $1 billion
increase for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and
reductions to most other program areas (Table 2).
Table 2. Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations, FY2022-FY2024
Budget authority in millions of dollars
Proposed Change
from FY2023 to
FY2022
FY2023
FY2024
FY2024:
House-
Senate-
House-
reported
passed
passed
P.L. 117- P.L. 117-
Admin.
H.R.
H.R.
H.R.
Agencies and Programs
103
328
request
4368
4366
4366
$
%
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
3,802
-21
-0.6%
Marketing and Regulatory Programs
(Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service,
Agricultural Marketing Service)
1,341
1,413
1,448
1,355
1,420
1,387
-26
-1.9%
Food Safety and Inspection Service
1,109
1,158
1,290
1,197
1,205
1,190
+32
+2.7%
Farm Service Agency, Risk Management
Agency, Business Center
1,868
1,923
2,020
1,904
1,946
1,916
-7
-0.4%
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
951
-83
-8.0%
Rural Development (Rural Housing Service,
Rural Business Cooperative Service, Rural
Utilities Service)
3,970
4,079
4,861
4,038
3,941
3,570
-509
-12.5%
Food and Nutrition Service (WIC;
Commodity Assistance Programs; Nutrition
Programs Administration)a
6,709
6,741
7,066
6,638
7,027
7,716
+975
+14.5%
Foreign Agricultural Service (Food for
Peace, McGovern-Dole)
2,217
2,242
2,311
2,223
2,297
2,097
-144
-6.4%
USDA Departmental Administration and
other appropriations in General Provisions
666
578
733
416
545
515
-63
-11.0%
Food and Drug Administration
3,317
3,543
3,915
3,504
3,563
3,527
-16
-0.4%
Subtotal: Agency Operations
25,878
26,534
29,059
25,919
26,825
26,671
+138
+0.5%
Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (CFTC)b
382
[365]
295
345
[365]c
365
+0
+0.0%
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Proposed Change
from FY2023 to
FY2022
FY2023
FY2024
FY2024:
Rescissions, Changes in Mandatory
Spending, Scorekeeping Adjustments
-1,139
-1,061
-462
-8,430
-836
-807
+254
-23.9%
Total, Discretionary Budget Authority
Senate Jurisdictionb
[24,738]
25,471
28,595
[17,488]
25,988
[25,863]
+392
+1.5%
House Jurisdictionb
25,120
[25,836]
28,890
17,833
[26,353]
26,228
+392
+1.5%
Mandatory Spending
Federal Crop Insurance Corporation
12,281
15,395
14,695
14,695
14,695
15,484
+89
+0.6%
Commodity Credit Corporation
14,402
16,832
10,612
10,612
10,612
12,438
-4,394
-26.1%
Section 32 (Funds for Strengthening
Markets, Income, and Supply)
1,391
1,483
1,574
574
1,574
1,574
+91
+6.1%
Child Nutrition Programsa
26,789
28,456
32,009
31,973
32,001
33,243
+4,787
+16.8%
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP), and Food & Nutrition
Act Programsa
140,438
153,861
149,641
121,992
122,133
122,378
-31,483
-20.5%
Total, Mandatory Spending
195,301
216,027
208,531
179,846
181,015
185,118
-30,910
-14.3%
Loan Authority
Rural Development Programs
46,208
46,870
44,874
45,979
45,884
40,465
-6,405
-13.7%
Farm Loan Program
10,386
10,652
10,686
10,686
10,686
10,686
+33
+0.3%
Source: CRS using appropriations text, reports, and unpublished Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tables.
Notes: Amounts are nominal budget authority. Numbers may not sum to totals shown because of 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.
Enacted CFTC appropriations rotate annually between Agriculture and Financial Services subcommittees.
c. S. 2309, Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2024.
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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 IF12233, Farm Bill Primer: Budget Dynamics
• CRS Report R47659, Expiration of the 2018 Farm Bill and Extension in 2024
Author Information
Jim Monke
Specialist in Agricultural Policy
Disclaimer
Congressional Research Service
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IN12158 · VERSION 10 · UPDATED