Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2025 Appropriations

Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2025 Appropriations

Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2025 Appropriations

February 25, 2025

Congressional Research Service

https://crsreports.congress.gov

R48431

Congressional Research Service

SUMMARY

Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2025 Appropriations

The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (Agriculture appropriations) funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), except for the U.S. Forest Service, as well as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, in the Department of Health and Human Services). It also funds the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in even-numbered fiscal years, and House Agriculture appropriations bills mark up CFTC funding each year.

Agriculture appropriations acts include both discretionary and mandatory funding, which differentiates Agriculture appropriations from some other appropriations acts. Congressional debate on appropriations is primarily about discretionary spending. Appropriations for mandatory spending programs, although not usually debated, are necessary to technically make funds available for those programs (e.g., entitlement programs, such as farm safety net and nutrition assistance programs, that were previously enacted under separate budget enforcement procedures).

This report focuses mostly on discretionary appropriations. The primary discretionary spending accounts are for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); agricultural research; rural development loans and grants; the FDA; foreign food assistance and trade promotion; farm agency salaries and loans; food safety inspection; animal and plant health programs; and conservation program technical assistance.

FY2025 began under two continuing resolutions (P.L. 118-83 and P.L. 118-158); the latter provides funding until March 14, 2025. For the FY2025 appropriations process, the Biden Administration released its budget request on March 11, 2024. The House Committee on Appropriations reported its bill (H.R. 9027, H.Rept. 118-583) on July 10, 2024, following subcommittee markup on June 11. The Senate Committee on Appropriations reported its bill (S. 4690, S.Rept. 118-193) on July 11, 2024. Neither chamber considered these bills on the floor.

The House-reported Agriculture appropriations bill would have provided $25.9 billion in discretionary appropriations, a decrease of $357 million from the annual FY2024 appropriations (-1.4%). The House-reported bill was $3.2 billion less than the Administration’s request (-11%). The Senate-reported bill would have provided $27.0 billion in discretionary appropriations, an increase of $1.2 billion over the annual FY2024 appropriations (+4.6%) on a comparable basis that excludes the CFTC. The Senate-reported bill is $1.5 billion more than the House-reported bill (+6.0%) on a comparable basis and $1.6 billion less than the Administration’s request (- 5.7%).

The nominal total of Agriculture appropriations has been generally increasing since FY2017. On an inflation- adjusted basis, Agriculture appropriations have ranged between $26 billion and $28 billion since FY2015 and have been steadily decreasing since FY2018.

R48431

February 25, 2025

Jim Monke Specialist in Agricultural Policy

Congressional Research Service

Discretionary Agriculture Appropriations, FY2015-FY2025

Source: Figure created by CRS using annual appropriations text and reports and unpublished Congressional Budget Office tables. Notes: Excludes the CFTC on the basis of Senate Appropriations Committee Agriculture Subcommittee jurisdiction and supplemental appropriations acts. Adjusted for inflation using the Gross Domestic Product price index.

Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2025 Appropriations

Congressional Research Service

Contents

Description of Agriculture Appropriations ...................................................................................... 1 Status of FY2025 Action ................................................................................................................. 1 Discretionary Totals in the FY2025 Bills ........................................................................................ 3 Scope of Agriculture Appropriations ............................................................................................... 4

Decisions Leading to Subcommittee Allocations ............................................................................ 5

Amounts for Agencies and Programs in FY2025 ............................................................................ 6

House-Reported H.R. 9027 (118th Congress) ............................................................................ 6

Senate-Reported S. 4690 (118th Congress) ................................................................................ 7

Other Appropriations Issues .......................................................................................................... 12

Policy-Related Provisions ....................................................................................................... 12 Congressionally Directed Spending (Earmarks) ..................................................................... 13

Figures

Figure 1. Timeline of Legislative Actions on Agriculture Appropriations, FY2023-

FY2025 ......................................................................................................................................... 2

Figure 2. Discretionary Agriculture Appropriations, FY2015-FY2025 .......................................... 3 Figure 3. Scope of Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations, FY2024 ............................. 4

Figure 4. Changes Proposed for FY2025 Discretionary Agriculture Appropriations

Compared with FY2024 ............................................................................................................... 8

Tables

Table 1. Status of Agriculture Appropriations ................................................................................. 2 Table 2. Discretionary Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations Totals ........................... 3 Table 3. Discretionary Agriculture Appropriations by Agency, FY2023-FY2025 .......................... 9 Table 4. Mandatory Agriculture Appropriations, FY2023-FY2025 .............................................. 12

Table A-1. USDA Departmental Administration Appropriations .................................................. 14 Table A-2. USDA Research, Education, and Economics (REE) ................................................... 15 Table A-3. USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) ............................................................................ 16 Table A-4. USDA Rural Housing Service ..................................................................................... 18 Table A-5. USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Service ................................................................ 19

Table A-6. USDA Rural Utilities Service ...................................................................................... 20

Table A-7. Domestic Food Programs ............................................................................................ 21 Table A-8. Appropriations in General Provisions .......................................................................... 22

Table A-9. Rescissions in General Provisions ............................................................................... 23 Table A-10. Changes in Mandatory Program Spending (CHIMPS), General Provisions ............. 24 Table A-11. Scorekeeping Adjustments ......................................................................................... 24

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Appendixes

Appendix. Additional Detail on USDA Appropriations ................................................................ 14

Contacts

Author Information ........................................................................................................................ 25

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Description of Agriculture Appropriations

The Agriculture appropriations act—formally known as the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (referred to as Agriculture appropriations)—funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), except for the U.S. Forest Service.¹ It also funds the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the Department of Health and Human Services and, in certain cases, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC, an independent agency).²

Congressional actions on appropriations bills primarily concern discretionary spending. Agriculture appropriations acts include both discretionary and mandatory funding, which differentiates them from some other appropriations acts. For example, the level of mandatory spending for farm commodity and nutrition assistance programs is set in the farm bill authorization process, but the funding technically needs to be appropriated in appropriations acts. Specifically, the Commodity Credit Corporation—a line of credit with the U.S. Treasury—needs a reimbursement in appropriations to continue operating, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) needs an annual appropriation to fulfil its authorization. These mandatory amounts are funded, although not often debated, in annual Agriculture appropriations. This report focuses mostly on discretionary appropriations but includes tables for the mandatory appropriations included in Agriculture appropriations.

Mandatory and Discretionary Spending

Federal spending is divided into two main categories: discretionary and mandatory. Congressional jurisdiction for discretionary spending rests primarily with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, including the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. Congressional jurisdiction for mandatory spending rests primarily with the authorizing committees, including the House and Senate Agriculture Committees that write the farm bill. Congressional actions on specific programs may overlap these jurisdictions. Authorizing committees set parameters in law for how discretionary programs are to operate (e.g., eligibility criteria for rural development loan and grant programs) and authorize them for funding that is subsequently determined in the appropriations process. Appropriations committees may decide whether to appropriate funding for discretionary programs and may include changes to some program terms, typically for one year at a time, in reported bills. Appropriations committees provide appropriations for some mandatory programs, which technically makes the funds available for those programs (e.g., entitlement programs, such as farm safety net and nutrition assistance programs, that authorizing committees enacted under separate budget enforcement procedures). (See CRS In Focus IF12233, Farm Bill Primer: Budget Dynamics.)

Status of FY2025 Action

The Biden Administration released its FY2025 budget request on March 11, 2024. The House Committee on Appropriations reported its agriculture bill (H.R. 9027, H.Rept. 118-583) on July 10, 2024, following subcommittee markup on June 11. The Senate Committee on Appropriations reported its agriculture bill (S. 4690, S.Rept. 118-193) on July 11, 2024. A continuing resolution (P.L. 118-83) was enacted on September 26, 2024, and lasted until December 20, 2024.³ A second continuing resolution (P.L. 118-158, Division A) was enacted on December 21, 2024, and lasts

1 The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act funds the U.S. Forest Service.

2 Appropriations jurisdiction for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) began differing between the chambers after FY2008. The CFTC is always carried in House Agriculture Subcommittee markup, never in Senate Agriculture Subcommittee markup, and always in Senate Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee markup. The CFTC is carried in the Agriculture Appropriations Act in even-numbered fiscal years.

3 CRS Report R48214, Overview of Continuing Appropriations for FY2025 (Division A of P.L. 118-83).

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until March 14, 2025. See Table 1 for links to recent actions and Figure 1 for a timeline of actions on Agriculture appropriations over the past three years.

Table 1. Status of Agriculture Appropriations

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025

House Senate

Enacteda Enactedb

Admin

Request

House

Cmte.c Floor

Senate

Cmte. Floor CR Enacted

12/29/2022

P.L. 117-328,

Division A

Cong. Rec.

12/20/2022

S7819

3/9/2024

P.L. 118-42,

Division B

H.Prt. 55007

(118th

Congress)

3/11/2024

OMB

Appendix

USDA

FDA

CFTC

FCA

7/10/2024 H.R. 9027

H.Rept. 118-

583

Vote of

29-26

— 7/11/2024

S. 4690

S.Rept. 118-

193

Vote of

27-0

— 9/26/2024

P.L. 118-83,

Division A

(expired

12/20/2024)

12/21/2024

P.L. 118-158

Division A,

(expires

3/14/2025)

—

Source: Prepared by CRS. Notes: USDA = U.S. Department of Agriculture; FDA = Food and Drug Administration; FCA = Farm Credit Administration; CFTC = Commodity Futures Trading Commission; CR = continuing resolution; Cong. Rec. = Congressional Record. The table excludes supplemental appropriations acts. a. 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).

b. For FY2024, see House-reported H.R. 4368 (H.Rept. 118-124), which failed on the House floor; Senate- reported S. 2131 (S.Rept. 118-44); and Senate-passed H.R. 4366 (Division B).

c. For FY2025, the House subcommittee marked up a bill on June 11, 2024.

Figure 1. Timeline of Legislative Actions on Agriculture Appropriations, FY2023-

FY2025

Source: Figure created by CRS. Notes: The figure excludes supplemental appropriations acts and continuing resolutions and excludes drafts or bills introduced for which no committee action was taken. Gray shading shows the beginning of each fiscal year. Yellow shading highlights the current appropriations cycle.

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Discretionary Totals in the FY2025 Bills

The House-reported Agriculture appropriations bill would have provided $25.9 billion in discretionary appropriations, a decrease of $357 million from the annual FY2024 appropriations (-1.4%). The Senate-reported bill would have provided $27.0 billion in discretionary appropriations, an increase of $1.2 billion over the annual FY2024 appropriations (+4.6%) on a comparable basis that excludes the CFTC. The Senate-reported bill was $1.5 billion more than the House-reported bill (+6.0%) if the latter is made comparable by subtracting the CFTC funding amount. Both bills were less than the Biden Administration’s request (Table 2, Figure 2).

Table 2. Discretionary Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations T otals

Budget authority in millions of dollars

FY2024 FY2025

Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Discretionary Total

P.L. 118-

42

Admin.

Request

House-

Reported

H.R. 9027

Senate-

Reported

S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Senate basis, without CFTC 25,857.5a 28,678.2 25,520.6a 27,044.0 — -336.9 +1,186.4

House basis, with CFTC 26,222.5 29,052.2 25,865.6 27,415.0a,b — -356.9 +1,192.4

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. Notes: The table excludes supplemental appropriations acts. CFTC = Commodity Futures Trading Commission. a. This amount is not recorded with the act or bill due to differing House-Senate jurisdiction for the CFTC in Agriculture appropriations but is shown for comparisons with other amounts in that row.

b. The amount for the CFTC in the FY2025 Senate column is from S. 4928 (118th Congress), the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act.

The nominal total of Agriculture appropriations has been generally increasing since FY2017. On an inflation-adjusted basis in 2024 dollars, Agriculture appropriations have ranged between $26- $28 billion since FY2015 and have been decreasing since FY2018 (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Discretionary Agriculture Appropriations, FY2015-FY2025

Source: Figure created by CRS using annual appropriations text and reports and unpublished CBO tables. Notes: The figure excludes supplemental appropriations acts and excludes the CFTC on the basis of jurisdiction of the Senate Appropriations Committee Agriculture Subcommittee. Adjusted for inflation using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) price index (OMB, FY2025 Budget, Historical Tables, Table 10.1).

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Scope of Agriculture Appropriations

As discussed above (see “Description of Agriculture Appropriations”), agricultural programs rely on both discretionary and mandatory spending. This section describes specific mandatory and discretionary spending in Agriculture appropriations and the relative sizes of major agencies and functions. It also illustrates the nexus of committee jurisdictions for agricultural programs between appropriations and authorizing committees.

Using the last enacted appropriations to indicate levels and proportions, appropriations for discretionary spending programs in the FY2024 Agriculture Appropriations Act were $26.2 billion ($25.9 billion without the CFTC), distributed among the programs or agencies in the green stacked bar in Figure 3. Appropriations for mandatory spending programs were $185 billion, as shown by the gray shading in the pie graph (Figure 3), relative to the discretionary total.

Figure 3. Scope of Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations, FY2024

Budget authority in billions of dollars

Source: Figure created by CRS using P.L. 118-42 (Division B); H.Prt. 55007, 118th Cong., 2nd sess.; and unpublished CBO tables. Note: The figure excludes supplemental appropriations acts and excludes the CFTC on the basis of jurisdiction of the Senate Appropriations Committee Agriculture Subcommittee. The amount shown for Section 32 is USDA’s reserved spending authority for payments and procurement (see CRS In Focus IF12193, Farm and Food Support Under USDA’s Section 32 Account). The amount for the Commodity Credit Corporation is the reimbursement for net realized losses (see CRS Report R44606, The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC)). The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children accounts for most of the area labeled Food and Nutrition Service.

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Most programs in Agriculture appropriations are in the jurisdiction of the House and Senate Agriculture authorizing committees. A few of the appropriated programs are not controlled by Agriculture authorizing committees, as shown by the hatching in Figure 3. The FDA is in the jurisdiction of the House by the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate by the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The child nutrition programs and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are in the jurisdiction of the House by the Education and Workforce Committee. WIC accounts for most of the area labeled Food and Nutrition Service in Figure 3 (see Title IV in Table 3).

Key Budget T erms

Budget authority is provided by an act of Congress for an agency to enter into financial obligations on behalf of the United States that will result in immediate or future outlays. It is the amount allocated by Congress for program grants, loan subsidies, and salaries and expenses. Most funding amounts in this report are budget authority. Obligations are commitments using budget authority that create a legal liability of the government to pay for goods and services ordered or received. Obligations occur when a federal agency awards a grant or agrees to make a loan. The Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. §§1341 et seq.) prohibits agencies from obligating more budget authority than is provided in law, such as during a government shutdown. Outlays are when a federal agency distributes funds for grants, loans, or services to recipients to satisfy a valid obligation. The timing of outlays in fiscal years may differ from budget authority or obligations because payments from an agency may not occur until services are fulfilled, goods are delivered, or construction is completed. Loan subsidy is part of the discretionary budget authority and reflects the cost of making loans, including interest rate subsidies and anticipated losses from delinquencies. The relationship between loan authority and loan subsidy is explained for each loan program in the annual budget request (Office of Management and Budget, Federal Credit Supplement). Loan authority is the amount of loans that can be made or guaranteed with a loan subsidy. Loan authority is not added in totals of budget authority. A loan authority is several times the amount of its corresponding loan subsidy. Program level represents the sum of the activities undertaken by an agency. A program level may be higher than a budget authority if the program (1) receives user fees, (2) includes loans that are leveraged by an expectation of repayment (loan authority may exceed budget authority), or (3) receives transfers from other agencies. Rescissions are permanent reductions in budget authority after enactment that score as budgetary savings. CHIMPS (changes in mandatory program spending) are adjustments via an appropriations act that can change available funding for mandatory programs. CHIMPS usually change spending for one year and may score as an increase or decrease to outlays. They do not change the underlying authority of the program in law. For background, see CRS Report 98-721, Introduction to the Federal Budget Process; and CRS Report R46417, Congress’s Power Over Appropriations: Constitutional and Statutory Provisions.

Decisions Leading to Subcommittee Allocations

The total amount allowed for discretionary appropriations is controlled by congressional budget enforcement rules.⁴ Typically, each chamber’s appropriations committee would receive a top-line limit on discretionary budget authority from the chamber’s budget committee via an annual budget resolution, referred to as a “302(a)” allocation. The appropriations committees subdivide the allocation among the 12 appropriations subcommittees, referred to as the “302(b)” allocations.⁵ Since 1986, the House and Senate have not adopted a joint budget resolution when the chambers are controlled by different parties, as they were in 2024 when the FY2025 bills were developed.⁶

4 CRS Report R42388, The Congressional Appropriations Process: An Introduction.

5 References to 302(a) and 302(b) are to sections of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

6 CRS Insight IN12353, Discretionary Spending: Setting a Topline Amount for FY2025 Appropriations.

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For FY2025, the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA; P.L. 118-5) established statutory spending limits, divided into separate amounts for defense and nondefense spending. The limits are $895 billion for defense and $711 billion for nondefense, for a total of $1.606 trillion. The FRA directs the Senate Budget Committee chair to file a 302(a) allocation for the Senate Appropriations Committee. The House may take similar action through a “deeming resolution,” which substitutes for a budget resolution.⁷

On May 23, 2024, the House Appropriations Committee voted to approve draft subcommittee allocations (“interim 302(b)s”) totaling $1.606 trillion, the same as in the FRA, including $25.873 billion for the House Agriculture Subcommittee.⁸ This was a decrease of $349 million (-1.3%) from FY2024 enacted levels.⁹

On July 11, 2024, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported its full set of 302(b) allocations totaling $1.606 trillion (S.Rept. 118-190), including $27.049 billion for the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee. This was an increase of $1.2 billion (+4.6%) from FY2024 enacted levels on a comparable basis, excluding funding for the CFTC.¹⁰

The 119th Congress may consider new top line and subcommittee allocations for the rest of FY2025 as the House and Senate approach the end of the latest continuing resolution.

Amounts for Agencies and Programs in FY2025

Table 3 provides detail at the agency level for FY2025 discretionary amounts proposed by the Administration, House-reported H.R. 9027, and Senate-reported S. 4690. Figure 4 shows the dollar changes from FY2024 appropriated levels for the House- and Senate-reported bills. Table 4 shows the mandatory program appropriations carried in each bill.

House-Reported H.R. 9027 (118th Congress)

The House-reported bill would have provided $25.866 billion in discretionary appropriations, a decrease of $357 million from the enacted FY2024 appropriations (-1.4%, Table 3).

The largest decrease in the House bill would have been for Food for Peace Title II international food aid grants (-$619 million, -38%, Figure 4). The House subcommittee noted that the Biden Administration separately provided more than $1 billion of supplemental assistance from the Commodity Credit Corporation for the Food for Peace Title II grants. The next-largest decrease would have been to the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) (-$108 million, -14%), mostly for the Rural Water and Waste Disposal Program and for the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program (Table A-6). The largest increase in the House-reported bill would be to the Rural Housing Service (RHS) (+$549 million, +24%), mostly for the Community Facilities program (Table A- 4). In FY2024, the Community Facilities appropriation was unusually low because Congress

7 CRS Insight IN12353.

8 House Committee on Appropriations, “Committee Approves FY25 Subcommittee Allocations, Prioritizing Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs,” press release, May 23, 2024, https://appropriations.house.gov/news/press- releases/committee-approves-fy25-subcommittee-allocations-prioritizing-defense-homeland.

9 The House Appropriations Committee released revised suballocations on July 10 for the same total and same amount for Agriculture. House Committee on Appropriations, Revised Suballocation of Budget Allocations for FY2025, July 10, 2024, https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP00/20240710/117503/HMKP-118-AP00-20240710-SD005.pdf.

10 The Senate Appropriations Committee subsequently revised its 302(b) suballocations on July 24 (S.Rept. 118-197) and July 31 (S.Rept. 118-203); the amount for Agriculture remained the same.

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directed USDA to use $505 million from the Nonrecurring Expenses Fund at no cost to the FY2024 appropriations.¹¹

Senate-Reported S. 4690 (118th Congress)

The Senate-reported bill would have provided $27.044 billion in discretionary appropriations, an increase of $1.186 billion more than the enacted FY2024 appropriations (+4.6%, Table 3) and $1.523 billion more than the House-reported bill (on a comparable basis, without the CFTC).

The largest increases in the Senate bill would have been for WIC (+$667 million, +9%) and RHS (+$371 million, +20%), mostly for the Community Facilities program as discussed above (see Figure 4). In contrast to the House bill, the Senate bill would have increased the amount for Food for Peace Title II grants by $102 million. The Senate bill would have decreased RUS by slightly more than the House bill (-$133 million), with a $25 million decrease for the ReConnect Program (Table A-6).

11 The FY2024 Appropriations Act (P.L. 118-42, Div. B, §778) provided $505 million to the Community Facilities account and $68 million to Food for Peace Title II grants from the USDA Nonrecurring Expenses Fund (NEF; 7 U.S.C. 2250b). The NEF, created in the FY2015 Agriculture appropriations act, accumulates transfers of expired, unobligated discretionary funds from across USDA from prior appropriations and thus does not score in current-year appropriations. In statute, USDA is encouraged to use amounts in the NEF, which remain available until expended, for facilities infrastructure and information technology services. In FY2023, Agriculture appropriations rescinded $150 million from the NEF (P.L. 117-328, Div. A, §779).

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Figure 4. Changes Proposed for FY2025 Discretionary Agriculture Appropriations

Compared with FY2024

Change in budget authority in millions of dollars

Source: Figure created by CRS using appropriations text and reports and unpublished CBO tables. Notes: The figure excludes supplemental appropriations acts. The amounts are presented on the basis of Senate jurisdiction, excluding the CFTC. Agencies and programs in this graph are ordered as shown in Table 3 by department, with USDA Dept. Admin. in this figure shown last for USDA and including the Under Secretaries in the various mission areas. WIC = Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants and Children; CHIMPS = changes in mandatory spending programs.

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Table 3. Discretionary Agriculture Appropriations by Agency, FY2023-FY2025

Budget authority in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Agency or Program

P.L. 117-

328,

Division

A

P.L. 118-

42,

Division

B

Admin.

Requesta

House-

Reported

H.R.

9027

Senate-

Reported

S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Title I. Agricultural Programs

Departmental Admin. (Table A-1) 511.2 479.8 585.2 352.4 487.8 — -127.4 +8.0

Research, Education, and Economics (Table A-2)

Agricultural Research Service 1,818.6 1,845.2 1,783.9 1,820.7 1,874.4 — -24.5 +29.1

National Institute of Food and Agriculture 1,701.0 1,678.8 1,731.7 1,674.2 1,681.8 — -4.6 +3.0

National Agricultural Statistics Service 211.1 187.5 196.0 187.5 193.5 — +0.0 +6.0

Economic Research Service 92.6 90.6 98.1 85.6 90.6 — -5.0 +0.0

Under Secretary 2.4 1.9 4.2 1.8 2.4 — -0.1 +0.5

Marketing and Regulatory Programs

Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service 1,174.2 1,163.0 1,178.0 1,147.3 1,181.6 — -15.8 +18.6

Agricultural Marketing Service 238.9 223.9 236.4 193.2 232.4 — -30.7 +8.5

Under Secretary 1.6 1.6 1.9 0.8 1.6 — -0.8 +0.0

Food Safety

Food Safety and Inspection Service 1,158.3 1,190.0 1,244.2 1,223.8 1,232.8 — +33.8 +42.8

Under Secretary 1.1 1.1 1.2 0.8 1.1 — -0.3 +0.0

Subtotal, Title I 6,911.1 6,863.4 7,060.7 6,688.1 6,980.0 — -175.3 +116.6

Title II. Farm Production & Conservation

Business Center 248.7 244.2 246.3 213.7 244.2 — -30.5 +0.0

Farm Service Agency (FSA, Table A-3)b 1,607.6 1,606.7 1,637.5 1,589.5 1,611.7 — -17.2 +5.1

FSA Farm Loans: Loan Authorityc 10,652.3 10,685.6 9,055.2 9,055.2 9,088.2 — -1,630.4 -1,597.4

Risk Management Agency 66.9 65.6 66.0 61.9 65.6 — -3.8 +0.0

Natural Resources Conservation Serviced 1,033.6 950.9 1,074.3 933.0 1,019.0 -17.9 +68.1

Under Secretary 1.7 1.5 2.0 0.9 1.5 — -0.6 +0.0

Subtotal, Title II 2,958.0 2,868.4 3,025.5 2,798.4 2,941.6 — -70.0 +73.2

Title III. Rural Development (RD)

Salaries and Expensese 351.1 351.1 428.2 346.1 351.1 — -5.0 +0.0

Rural Housing Service (RHS, Table A-4) 2,484.8 2,306.2 2,602.9 2,855.3 2,676.7 — +549.2 +370.5

RHS Loan Authorityc 35,245.5 29,855.0 33,700.5 28,103.5 28,442.5 — -1,751.5 -1,412.5

Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBCS, Table A-5) 131.6 104.2 103.2 55.5 69.2 — -48.7 -35.0

RBCS Loan Authorityc 1,938.9 1,730.0 3,352.4 2,404.0 2,218.5 — +674.0 +488.5

Rural Utilities Service (RUS, Table A-6) 1,111.4 808.5 1,049.9 700.2 675.0 — -108.3 -133.5

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FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Agency or Program

P.L. 117-

328,

Division

A

P.L. 118-

42,

Division

B

Admin.

Requesta

House-

Reported

H.R.

9027

Senate-

Reported

S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

RUS Loan Authorityc 9,685.6 8,880.0 8,019.4 9,005.0 8,880.0 — +125.0 +0.0

Under Secretary 1.6 1.6 1.7 0.8 1.6 — -0.8 +0.0

Subtotal, Title III 4,080.5 3,571.6 4,186.0 3,957.9 3,773.6 — +386.3 +202.0

Subtotal, RD Loan Authorityc 46,870.0 40,465.0 45,072.3 39,512.5 39,541.0 — -952.5 -924.0

Title IV. Domestic Food Programs (Table A-7)

Child Nutrition Programs 89.4 16.2 34.2 13.5 18.2 — -2.8 +2.0

SNAP, Food & Nutrition Act Programs 2.7 5.5 7.5 7.2 8.8 — +1.6 +3.3

WIC Program 6,000.0 7,030.0 8,197.0 7,235.0 7,697.0 — +205.0 +667.0

Commodity Assistance Programs 457.7 480.1 536.1 502.0 516.1 — +22.0 +36.0

Nutrition Programs Administration 189.3 177.3 205.0 140.3 177.3 — -37.0 +0.0

Under Secretary 1.4 1.1 1.4 0.8 1.1 — -0.3 +0.0

Subtotal, Title IV 6,740.6 7,710.3 8,981.2 7,898.8 8,418.5 — +188.5 +708.2

Title V. Foreign Assistance

Foreign Agricultural Service and relatedf 248.3 238.3 255.6 233.3 238.3 -5.0 +0.0

Food for Peace Title II and admin. 1,750.0 1,619.1g 1,800.0 1,000.0 1,720.6 — -619.1 +101.5

McGovern-Dole Food for Education 243.3 240.0 243.3 240.0 250.0 — +0.0 +10.0

Under Secretary 0.9 0.9 1.2 0.9 0.9 — -0.1 +0.0

Subtotal, Title V 2,242.6 2,098.4 2,300.1 1,474.2 2,209.9 — -624.2 +111.5

Title VI. Related Agencies

Food and Drug Administration 3,542.9 3,527.2 3,695.0 3,500.2 3,553.2 — -27.0 +26.0

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)h 365.0i 365.0 374.0 345.0 371.0i,j — -20.0 +6.0

Subtotal, Title VI 3,907.9i 3,892.2 4,069.0 3,845.2 3,924.2i — -47.0 +32.0

Title VII. General Provisions

Appropriations (Table A-8) 56.2 25.2 0.0 0.0 21.2 — -25.2 -4.0

Rescissions (Table A-9)k -618.0 -351.9 -55.2 -90.0 -343.0 — +261.9 +8.9

CHIMPS (Table A-10)l +25.0 0.0 0.0 -195.0 0.0 — -195.0 +0.0

Subtotal, Title VII -536.8 -326.7 -55.2 -285.0 -321.8 — +41.7 +4.9

Scorekeeping Adjustments (Table A-11)m -468.0 -455.0 -515.0 -512.0 -511.0 — -57.0 -56.0

Totals

Senate basis (without CFTC)h 25,471.0 25,857.5i 28,678.2 25,520.6i 27,044.0 — -336.9 +1,186.4

House basis (with CFTC)h 25,836.0i 26,222.5 29,052.2 25,865.6 27,415.0i — -356.9 1,192.4

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress.

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Notes: The table excludes supplemental appropriations acts. Amounts and totals are nominal discretionary budget authority except for amounts in italics, which are loan authority. a. Amounts for the Administration’s request do not reflect legislative proposals that would require legislative activity (authorizations) beyond appropriations.

b. The amount includes FSA salaries and expenses plus transfers for farm loan program salaries and administrative expenses, farm loan program loan subsidy, state mediation grants, the Grassroots Source Water Protection Program, and Dairy Indemnity Payment Program. It does not include appropriations to the Foreign Agricultural Service for export loans and administration of P.L. 480 that are transferred to FSA.

c. Loan authority is the amount of loans that can be made or guaranteed with a loan subsidy. Loan authority is not added in the budget authority totals. Loan subsidy is part of the discretionary budget authority and reflects interest subsidies and anticipated losses. The relationship between loan authority and loan subsidy is explained for each loan program in the Federal Credit Supplement of the Administration’s annual budget request.

d. The amount includes Conservation Operations, Watershed and Flood Prevention Program, and Watershed Rehabilitation Program accounts; and includes the Healthy Forests Reserve, Urban Agriculture Program, and Water Bank Program accounts when listed with Farm Production and Conservation appropriations instead of in General Provisions.

e. The RD Salaries and Expenses account is a base amount for the mission area and excludes transfers from the three agencies.

f. Includes Foreign Agricultural Service salaries and expenses, Commodity Credit Corporation Export Loan salaries, and the Office of Codex Alimentarius.

g. In addition to appropriations shown in the table, the FY2024 Appropriations Act (P.L. 118-42, Div. B, §778) provided $505 million to the Community Facilities account and $68 million to Food for Peace Title II grants from the USDA Nonrecurring Expenses Fund (NEF; 7 U.S.C. §2250b). The NEF accumulates transfers of expired, unobligated discretionary funds from across USDA from prior appropriations and thus does not score in current-year appropriations.

h. Appropriations jurisdiction for the CFTC differs between the chambers. After FY2008, the CFTC is always carried in House Agriculture Subcommittee markup, never in Senate Agriculture Subcommittee markup, and always in Senate Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee markup. In enacted appropriations acts, the CFTC is carried in the Agriculture Appropriations Act in even-numbered fiscal years.

i. This amount is not recorded with the act or bill due to differing House-Senate jurisdiction for the CFTC in Agriculture appropriations but is shown for comparisons with other amounts in that row.

j. The amount for the CFTC in the FY2025 Senate column is from S. 4928 (118th Congress), the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act.

k. Rescissions are actions that permanently reduce an enacted budget authority, thereby scoring a budgetary savings. Reductions from mandatory programs are included separately with CHIMPS (changes in mandatory program spending).

l. CHIMPS in appropriations acts include temporary increases or limitations to mandatory program spending or permanent rescissions of mandatory programs that are focused on the current fiscal year. See CRS Report R47705, Congressional Rules Pertaining to Changes in Mandatory Program Spending in Appropriations Bills (CHIMPs).

m. Scorekeeping adjustments are not directly appropriated provisions and may not be shown in the committee

tables accompanying a bill but are part of the official CBO accounting of an appropriations act. In Agriculture appropriations, scorekeeping adjustments primarily include “negative subsidies” for some loan programs, mostly from receipt of fees charged to borrowers.

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Table 4. Mandatory Agriculture Appropriations, FY2023-FY2025

Budget authority in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Agency or Program

P.L. 117-

328,

Division

A

P.L. 118-

42,

Division

B

Admin.

Requesta

House-

Reported

H.R.

9027

Senate-

Reported

S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Title I. Agricultural Programs

Section 32a 1,483.3 1,574.0 1,622.9 1,427.9 1,622.9 — -146.1 +48.9

Title II. Farm Production & Conservation

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation 15,395.0 15,484.0 14,710.0 14,710.0 14,710.0 — -774.0 -774.0

Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC)b 16,832.2 12,438.0 12,650.5 12,650.5 12,650.5 — +212.5 +212.5

Dairy Indemnity Payment Program 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 — +0.0 +0.0

Title IV. Domestic Food Programs

Child Nutrition Programs 28,456.0 33,250.0 31,765.7 31,736.0 31,757.0 — -1,514.0 -1,493.0

SNAP, Food & Nutrition Act Programs 153,861.0 122,377.0 123,317.5 123,153.0 123,219.0 — +776.0 +842.0

Total 216,028.0 185,123.5 184,067.0 183,677.9 183,959.9 — -1,445.6 -1,163.6

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. Notes: The table excludes supplemental appropriations acts. Amounts are nominal budget authority. a. Section 32, formally known as Funds for Strengthening Markets, Income, and Supply, in this table shows only USDA’s reserved spending authority. Amounts transferred to the child nutrition programs are included within the amounts shown for the child nutrition programs. See CRS In Focus IF12193, Farm and Food Support Under USDA’s Section 32 Account.

b. The amount for the CCC is the reimbursement to Treasury for net realized losses to replenish the CCC borrowing authority. See CRS Report R44606, The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).

Other Appropriations Issues

Policy-Related Provisions

Appropriations acts set spending authority and may serve as vehicles for policy-related limitations and so-called “riders” (language extraneous to the subject of the bill) that direct executive branch actions.¹² These provisions may have the force of law if they are included in an act’s text, but their effect is generally limited to the current fiscal year unless they amend the U.S. Code, which is not typical in appropriations acts. Report language may also provide policy directions for agencies but does not carry the force of law.

Congress has directed that committee reports and the joint explanatory statement need to be read together to capture congressional intent. For example, the explanatory statement for the Agriculture division of the FY2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act instructs that the House committee report and Senate committee report are to be read together and with the conference agreement.

12 See CRS Report RL30240, Congressional Oversight Manual.

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The joint explanatory statement accompanying this division is approved and indicates congressional intent. Unless otherwise noted, the language set forth in H.Rept. 118-124 and S.Rept. 118-44 carries the same weight as language included in this joint explanatory statement and should be complied with unless specifically addressed to the contrary in this joint explanatory statement. While some language is repeated for emphasis, it is not intended to negate the language referred to above unless expressly provided herein.

In cases in which the House or the Senate or this explanatory statement has directed the submission of a report, such report is to be submitted to both the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations no later than 60 days after enactment of this Act, unless otherwise directed.¹³

Congressionally Directed Spending (Earmarks)

Since FY2022, the House and Senate have allowed earmarks in annual appropriations acts, including in Agriculture appropriations. Congressional earmarks are defined in the 119th Congress as a type of congressional spending action that noncompetitively benefits a specific entity or locality.¹⁴ The House Committee on Appropriations refers to these as Community Project Funding requests, and the Senate Committee on Appropriations refers to these as Congressionally Directed Spending items. For FY2025, the Senate and House Appropriations Committees allowed earmarks in the Agriculture appropriations bills.

The FY2025 House-reported bill included 472 earmarks totaling $626 million across six accounts: Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Buildings and Facilities, National Resource Conservation Service Conservation (NRCS) Operations, RHS Community Facilities grants, RUS Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program grants, RUS ReConnect broadband grants, and RUS Water and Waste Disposal Program grants.

The FY2025 Senate-reported bill included 230 earmarks totaling $305 million across five accounts, three of which overlap with the House bill: ARS Buildings and Facilities, RHS Community Facilities grants, and RUS Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program grants. The Senate bill also included earmarks in the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and NRCS Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations.

13 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, committee print, 118th Cong., 2nd sess., Division B (Agriculture), H.R. 4366/P.L. 118-42, H.Prt. 55007, p. 195, https://www.congress.gov/118/ cprt/HPRT55007/CPRT-118HPRT55007.pdf.

14 “For the purpose of this clause, the term ‘congressional earmark’ means a provision or report language included primarily at the request of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator providing, authorizing or recommending a specific amount of discretionary budget authority, credit authority, or other spending authority for a contract, loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other expenditure with or to an entity, or targeted to a specific State, locality or congressional district, other than through a statutory or administrative formula driven or competitive award process.” See Rules of the House of Representatives, 119th Congress, Rule XXI, Clause 9(e), at https://rules. house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/rules.house.gov/files/documents/houserules119thupdated.pdf.

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Appendix. Additional Detail on USDA Appropriations

Table A-1. USDA Departmental Administration Appropriations

Budget authority in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Office or Program

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Office of the Secretary 7.4 7.0 20.7 5.1 9.7 — -1.9 +2.7

Office of Tribal Relations 5.2 5.2 6.6 5.2 6.6 — +0.0 +1.4

Office of Homeland Security 1.4 1.9 3.2 2.1 2.6 — +0.3 +0.7

Public Partnership and Engagement 9.3 7.5 9.3 4.7 7.5 — -2.8 +0.0

Assistant Secretary for Admin. 1.7 1.7 1.7 0.9 1.7 — -0.8 +0.0

Departmental Administration 26.7 23.5 45.2 16.0 23.5 — -7.5 +0.0

Asst. Sec. Congressional Relations 4.6 4.5 4.7 3.0 4.5 — -1.5 +0.0

Office of Communications 8.7 7.0 11.6 3.5 7.0 — -3.5 +0.0

Office of the Chief Economist 28.2 30.5 31.5 31.0 31.2 — +0.5 +0.6

Office of Hearings and Appeals 16.7 16.7 17.1 12.2 16.7 — -4.5 +0.0

Office of Budget and Program Analysis 15.0 15.0 17.3 9.3 15.5 — -5.6 +0.5

Chief Information Officer 92.3 91.0 95.9 66.8 91.4 — -24.2 +0.4

Chief Financial Officer 7.4 6.9 8.2 6.0 6.9 — -0.8 +0.0

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 1.5 1.5 1.5 0.9 1.5 — -0.6 +0.0

Office of Civil Rights 37.6 37.0 38.4 22.8 37.0 — -14.2 +0.0

Office of Safety, Security, and Protection 21.8 20.8 22.0 5.0 20.8 — -15.8 +0.0

Buildings and Facilities 40.6 22.6 54.9 0.0 22.9 — -22.6 +0.3

Hazardous Materials Management 7.6 3.0 7.6 2.0 3.0 — -1.0 +0.0

Office of Inspector General 111.6 111.6 114.0 106.6 111.6 — -5.0 +0.0

General Counsel 60.5 60.5 66.6 45.1 62.0 — -15.4 +1.4

Office of Ethics 5.6 4.5 7.2 4.1 4.5 — -0.4 +0.0

Total 511.2 479.8 585.2 352.4 487.8 — -127.4 +8.0

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress.

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Table A-2. USDA Research, Education, and Economics (REE)

Budget authority in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Office or Program

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Under Secretary 1.4 1.4 1.4 0.8 1.4 — -0.6 +0.0

Office of the Chief Scientist 1.0 0.5 2.8 1.0 1.0 — +0.5 +0.5

Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

Salaries and Expenses 1,744.3 1,788.1 1,755.5 1,793.8 1,826.7 — +5.8 +38.6

Buildings and Facilities 74.3 57.2 28.4 26.9 47.7 — -30.3 -9.5

Subtotal, ARS 1,818.6 1,845.2 1,783.9 1,820.7 1,874.4 — -24.5 +29.1

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

Research and Education

AFRI (competitive grants) 455.0 445.2 475.0 443.2 445.2 — -2.0 +0.0

Hatch Act (1862 institutions) 265.0 265.0 265.0 265.0 265.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Evans-Allen (1890s institutions) 89.0 89.0 98.0 89.0 89.0 — +0.0 +0.0

McIntire-Stennis (forestry) 38.0 38.0 36.0 38.0 38.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Other 247.1 238.8 232.1 236.7 241.8 — -2.0 +3.0

Subtotal 1,094.1 1,076.0 1,106.1 1,071.9 1,079.0 — -4.0 +3.0

Extension

Smith-Lever (b) & (c) 325.0 325.0 325.0 325.0 325.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Smith-Lever (d) 91.3 88.6 114.6 87.4 88.6 — -1.2 +0.0

Other 149.2 148.1 171.0 148.8 148.1 — +0.7 +0.0

Subtotal 565.4 561.7 610.6 561.2 561.7 — -0.5 +0.0

Integrated Activities 41.5 41.1 15.0 41.1 41.1 — +0.0 +0.0

Subtotal, NIFA 1,701.0 1,678.8 1,731.7 1,674.2 1,681.8 — -4.6 +3.0

National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)

Agricultural Census 66.4 46.9 48.2 46.9 48.2 — +0.0 +1.4

Agricultural estimates 144.7 140.7 147.7 140.7 145.3 — +0.0 +4.6

Subtotal, NASS 211.1 187.5 196.0 187.5 193.5 — +0.0 +6.0

Economic Research Service 92.6 90.6 98.1 85.6 90.6 — -5.0 +0.0

Total 3,825.7 3,804.0 3,813.8 3,769.8 3,842.6 — -34.2 +38.6

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. Note: AFRI = Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.

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Table A-3. USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA)

Budget authority (or loan authority, as noted) in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Office or Program

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

FSA Salaries and Expenses 1,215.3 1,209.3 1,240.7 1,204.3 1,215.3 — -5.0 +6.0

Farm loan programs loan subsidy 46.9 53.8 45.6 45.6 46.2 — -8.2 -7.6

Loan authority 10,652.3 10,685.6 9,055.2 9,055.2 9,088.2 — -1,630.4 -1,597.4

Farm loan programs administration 326.5 326.1 332.2 326.1 332.2 — +0.0 +6.2

State mediation grants 7.0 6.5 7.0 6.0 6.5 — -0.5 +0.0

Grassroots source water protection 7.5 7.0 7.5 7.0 7.5 — +0.0 +0.5

Geographically disadvantaged farmers 4.0 3.5 4.0 — 3.5 — -3.5 +0.0

Dairy Indemnity Payment Program (M) 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 — +0.0 +0.0

Total discretionary appropriations 1,607.6 1,606.7 1,637.5 1,589.5 1,611.7 — -17.2 +5.1

Farm Loan Program Details

Loan subsidy (budget authority)

Loan authority

Farm Ownership Loans – Direct — 27.6 35.6 35.6 36.2 — +8.0 +8.6

Loan authority 3,100.0 3,100.0 1,967.0 1,967.0 2,000.0 — -1,133.0 -1,100.0

Farm Ownership Loans – Guaranteed — — — — — — — —

Loan authority 3,500.0 3,500.0 3,500.0 3,500.0 3,500.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Farm Operating Loans – Direct 23.5 — 2.9 2.9 2.9 — +2.9 +2.9

Loan authority 1,633.3 1,633.0 1,100.0 1,100.0 1,100.0 — -533.0 -533.0

Farm Operating Loans - Guaranteed 11.2 1.5 — — — — -1.5 -1.5

Loan authority 2,118.5 2,118.5 2,118.5 2,118.5 2,118.5 — +0.0 +0.0

Emergency Loans 0.2 3.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 — +1.0 +1.0

Loan authority 4.1 37.7 37.0 37.0 37.0 — -0.7 -0.7

Conservation Loans — — — — — — — —

Loan authority – Direct — — 300.0 300.0 300.0 — +300.0 +300.0

Loan authority – Guaranteed 150.0 150.0 — — — — -150.0 -150.0

Indian Highly Fractionated Land Loans 0.9 1.6 — — — — -1.6 -1.6

Loan authority 5.0 5.0 — — — — -5.0 -5.0

Indian Tribe Land Acquisition Loans — — — — — — — —

Loan authority 20.0 20.0 20.0 20.0 20.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Boll Weevil Eradication Loans — 0.3 0.02 0.02 0.02 — -0.2 -0.2

Loan authority 60.0 60.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 — -55.0 -55.0

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FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Office or Program

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Heirs Property Relending 11.0 19.4 2.7 2.7 2.7 — -16.7 -16.7

Loan authority 61.4 61.4 7.7 7.7 7.7 — -53.7 -53.7

Subtotal, loan subsidy 46.9 53.8 45.6 45.6 46.2 — -8.2 -7.6

Subtotal, loan authority 10,652.3 10,685.6 9,055.2 9,055.2 9,088.2 — -1,630.4 -1,597.4

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. Notes: Loan authority is the amount of loans that can be made or guaranteed with a loan subsidy. Loan authority is not added in the budget authority totals. Loan subsidy is part of the discretionary budget authority and reflects interest subsidies and anticipated losses. Some loan programs do not require a loan subsidy because of sufficient fees charged on the loans that make them self-funding and that may result in a negative subsidy in the scorekeeping adjustments section. The relationship between loan authority and loan subsidy is explained for each loan program in the Federal Credit Supplement of the Administration’s annual budget request.

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Table A-4. USDA Rural Housing Service

Budget authority (or loan authority, as noted) in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Office or Program

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Administrative expenses (transfer) 412.3 412.3 412.3 412.3 412.3 — +0.0 +0.0

Single family direct loans (§502) 46.4 84.5 174.0 112.1 118.0 — +27.6 +33.5

Direct loan authority 1,250.0 880.0 1,250.0 950.0 1,000.0 — +70.0 +120.0

Guaranteed loan authority 30,000.0 25,000.0 30,000.0 25,000.0 25,000.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Relending for Native American Tribes 2.5 2.3 3.7 2.5 3.7 — +0.2 +1.4

Loan authority 7.5 5.0 7.5 5.0 7.5 — +0.0 +2.5

Other Rural Housing Insurance Fund programs 66.3 73.2 144.6 56.9 81.6 — -16.2 +8.5

Loan authority 538.0 520.0 543.0 498.5 535.0 — -21.5 +15.0

Rental assistance (§521) 1,487.9 1,608.0 1,728.4 1,684.4 1,691.4 — +76.4 +83.4

Rural housing assistance grants 48.0 35.0 46.0 20.0 40.0 — -15.0 +5.0

Mutual and self-help housing grants 32.0 25.0 32.0 20.0 25.0 — -5.0 +0.0

Rural housing vouchers 48.0 48.0 — 54.0 50.4 — +6.0 +2.4

Community Facilities: Grants 325.5 5.0a 32.0 472.0 227.3 — +467.0 +222.3

Community Facilities: Direct loan subsidy — — 14.0 11.2 14.0 — +11.2 +14.0

Direct loan authority 2,800.0 2,800.0 1,250.0 1,000.0 1,250.0 — -1,800.0 -1,550.0

Guaranteed loan authority 650.0 650.0 650.0 650.0 650.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Rural community development initiative 6.0 5.0 6.0 4.0 5.0 — -1.0 +0.0

Tribal college grants 10.0 8.0 10.0 6.0 8.0 — -2.0 +0.0

Total 2,484.8 2,306.2 2,602.9 2,855.3 2,676.7 — +549.2 +370.5

Loan authority 35,245.5 29,855.0 33,700.5 28,103.5 28,442.5 — -1,751.5 -1,412.5

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. Notes: Loan authority is the amount of loans that can be made or guaranteed with a loan subsidy. Loan authority is not added in the budget authority totals. Loan subsidy is part of the discretionary budget authority and reflects interest subsidies and anticipated losses. The relationship between loan authority and loan subsidy is explained for each loan program in the Federal Credit Supplement of the Administration’s annual budget request. a. In addition to appropriations shown in the table, the FY2024 Appropriations Act (P.L. 118-42, Div. B, §778) provided $505 million to the Community Facilities account from the USDA Nonrecurring Expenses Fund (7 U.S.C. 2250b).

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Table A-5. USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Service

Budget authority (or loan authority, as noted) in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Office or Program

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Rural Business Program Account

Guaranteed Business and Industry (B&I) Loans – Loan subsidy 38.5 38.1 4.5 4.4 3.8 — -33.7 -34.3

Loan authority 1,800.0 1,600.0 2,250.0 2,200.0 1,900.0 — +600.0 +300.0

Rural Business Development Grants 37.0 20.5 37.0 18.0 20.0 — -2.5 -0.5

Delta Regional Authority Grants 9.0 8.0 9.0 4.0 8.0 — -4.0 +0.0

Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grants 2.0 — 4.0 — — — — —

Rural Development Loan Fund

Administrative expenses (transfer) 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 — +0.0 +0.0

Intermediary Relending Program - Loan subsidy 3.3 3.0 6.4 3.1 3.4 — +0.03 +0.4

Loan authority 18.9 10.0 18.9 9.0 10.0 — -1.0 +0.0

Rural Economic Development Loans

Loan authority 75.0 50.0 75.0 75.0 50.0 — +25.0 +0.0

Rural Cooperative Development Grants 28.3 24.6 28.3 16.6 25.3 — -8.0 +0.7

Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program 6.0 5.0 6.5 5.0 3.7 — +0.0 -1.3

Loan authority 25.0 20.0 8.5 20.0 8.5 — +0.0 -11.5

Rural Energy for America Program

Loan subsidy and grants 0.018 — — — — — — —

Loan authority 20.0 50.0 1,000.0 100.0 250.0 — +50.0 +200.0

Healthy Food Financing Initiative 3.0 0.5 3.0 — 0.5 — -0.5 +0.0

Total 131.6 104.2 103.2 55.5 69.2 — -48.7 -35.0

Loan authority 1,938.9 1,730.0 3,352.4 2,404.0 2,218.5 — +674.0 +488.5

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. Notes: Loan authority is the amount of loans that can be made or guaranteed with a loan subsidy. Loan authority is not added in the budget authority totals. Loan subsidy is part of the discretionary budget authority and reflects interest subsidies and anticipated losses. The relationship between loan authority and loan subsidy is explained for each loan program in the Federal Credit Supplement of the Administration’s annual budget request.

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Table A-6. USDA Rural Utilities Service

Budget authority (or loan authority, as noted) in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Office or Program

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Rural Water and Waste Disposal

Loan subsidy and grants 596.4 596.0 794.9 496.7 496.5 — -99.3 -99.5

Direct loan authority 1,420.0 860.0 1,370.0 860.0 860.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Guaranteed loan authority 50.0 50.0 50.0 50.0 50.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Rural Electricity and Telecommunication

Admin. expenses (transfer) 33.3 33.3 33.3 33.3 33.3 — +0.0 +0.0

Rural Energy Savings Program 11.5 3.6 10.7 5.0 4.0 — +1.5 +0.5

Telecommunication loan subsidy 3.7 5.7 3.7 3.8 6.1 — -1.9 +0.4

Telecommunication loan authority 690.0 550.0 — 690.0 550.0 — +140.0 +0.0

Electricity loan authority 7,510.9 7,420.0 6,599.4 7,405.0 7,420.0 — -15.0 +0.0

Distance Learning, Telemedicine, Broadband

Distance learning & telemedicine 65.0 49.6 60.0 35.5 40.1 — -14.1 -9.5

Community Connect grants 35.0 20.0 35.0 20.0 20.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Broadband Re-Connect 363.5 100.4 112.4 105.8 75.0 — +5.5 -25.4

Total 1,111.4 808.5 1,049.9 700.2 675.0 — -108.3 -133.5

Loan authority 9,685.6 8,880.0 8,019.4 9,005.0 8,880.0 — +125.0 +0.0

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. Notes: Loan authority is the amount of loans that can be made or guaranteed with a loan subsidy. Loan authority is not added in the budget authority totals. Loan subsidy is part of the discretionary budget authority and reflects interest subsidies and anticipated losses. The relationship between loan authority and loan subsidy is explained for each loan program in the Federal Credit Supplement of the Administration’s annual budget request.

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Table A-7. Domestic Food Programs

Budget authority in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Office or Program

P.L. 117-

328,

Division

A

P.L. 118-

42,

Division

B

Admin.

Request

House-

Reported

H.R. 9027

Senate-

Reported

S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Child Nutrition Programs 28,545.4 33,266.2 31,799.9 31,749.5 31,775.2 — -1,516.8 -1,491.0

Mandatory 28,456.0 33,250.0 31,765.7 31,736.0 31,757.0 — -1,514.0 -1,493.0

Discretionary 89.4 16.2 34.2 13.5 18.2 — -2.8 +2.0

SNAP, Food & Nutrition Act Program 153,863.7 122,382.5 123,325.0 123,160.2 123,227.8 — +777.6 +845.3

Mandatory 153,861.0 122,377.0 123,317.5 123,153.0 123,219.0 — +776.0 +842.0

Discretionary 2.7 5.5 7.5 7.2 8.8 — +1.6 +3.3

WIC 6,000.0 7,030.0 8,197.0 7,235.0 7,697.0 — +205.0 +667.0

Commodity Assistance Programs 457.7 480.1 536.1 502.0 516.1 — +22.0 +36.0

Nutrition Programs Administration 189.3 177.3 205.0 140.3 177.3 — -37.0 +0.0

Under Secretary 1.4 1.1 1.4 0.8 1.1 — -0.3 +0.0

Total 189,057.6 163,337.3 164,064.3 162,787.8 163,394.5 — -549.5 +57.2

Discretionary 6,740.6 7,710.3 8,981.2 7,898.8 8,418.5 — +188.5 +708.2

Mandatory (M) 182,317.0 155,627.0 155,083.1 154,889.0 154,976.0 — -738.0 -651.0

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. Notes: SNAP = Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; WIC = Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. This table shows both discretionary and mandatory amounts as presented separately in Table 3 and Table 4, respectively. Totals for the Child Nutrition Programs and SNAP are the amounts expressed in the relevant appropriations acts and committee reports; subtotals for mandatory and discretionary amounts are derived from unpublished CBO scores of the appropriations bills.

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Table A-8. Appropriations in General Provisions

Budget authority in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Description

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Institute for Rural Partnership 15.0 6.0 — — 6.0 — -6.0 +0.0

Bison Inspection Waiver — 0.7 — — 0.7 — -0.7 +0.0

Bison Marketing Pilot — 2.0 — — 2.0 — -2.0 +0.0

Sugar inspection — — — — 1.0 — +0.0 +1.0

Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion — 3.0 — — — — -3.0 -3.0

Mitigation banking 5.0 2.0 — — 2.0 — -2.0 +0.0

Cotton Classing Office upgrades 4.0 — — — — — — —

Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) reporting — 2.0 — — — — -2.0 -2.0

Protecting Animals with Shelter Grants 3.0 3.0 — — 3.0 — -3.0 +0.0

Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach 4.0 — — — — — — —

Water Bank 4.0 2.0 —a — 2.0 — -2.0 +0.0

Maturing mortgage pilot 2.0 1.0 — — 2.0 — -1.0 +1.0

Waste water pilot — 1.0 — — — — -1.0 -1.0

Rural Hospital Technical Assistance 2.0 — — — — — — —

Tribal Demonstration Projects — 2.0 2.0 — -2.0 +0.0

Healthy Fluid Milk 4.0 — — — — — — —

National Academies of Sciences study on alcohol consumption 1.3 — — — — — — —

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) 5.0 — — — — — — —

NIFA military veterans grants 5.0 — — — — — — —

International Ag. Education Fellowship 1.0 — — — — — — —

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration working group 0.5 0.5 — — 0.5 — -0.5 +0.0

Pollinator Research Coordinator 0.4 — — — — — — —

Total 56.2 25.2 0.0 0.0 21.2 — -25.2 -4.0

Note: Non-scoreable provisions, from the Nonrecurring Expenses Fund

Community Facilities — 505.0 — — — — -505.0 -505.0

Food for Peace Title II — 68.5 — — — — -68.5 -68.5

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. a. Administration’s request included $2 million for Water Bank appropriations with the NRCS appropriation.

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Table A-9. Rescissions in General Provisions

Budget authority in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Description

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

WIC -315.0 — — — -300.0 — +0.0 -300.0

Nutrition Programs Administration — -8.0 -8.0 — — — +8.0 +8.0

Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer -80.0 — — -40.0 -30.0 — -40.0 -30.0

NRCS — -30.0 — -50.0 — — -20.0 +30.0

Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations — -28.0 — — — — +28.0 +28.0

Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service — -5.0 -16.5 — — — +5.0 +5.0

NIFA Research and Extension — -37.0 — — — — +37.0 +37.0

Farm loan balances -73.0 — — — — — — —

Rural Energy for America Program — -10.0 — — — — +10.0 +10.0

FDA American Rescue Plan Act §2304 — -30.0 — — — — +30.0 +30.0

FDA Tobacco — — — — -12.0 — +0.0 -12.0

Rural Cooperative Development Grants — -7.0 -8.0 — -1.0 — +7.0 +6.0

Distance Learning and Telemedicine — -18.9 -0.6 — — — +18.9 +18.9

Community Connect — -30.0 — — — — +30.0 +30.0

Broadband program — -7.0 -10.3 — — — +7.0 +7.0

Housing Repair Loans and Grants — -28.0 — — — — +28.0 +28.0

Rural Housing Voucher — -35.0 -11.8 — — — +35.0 +35.0

Working Capital Fund — -78.0 — — — — +78.0 +78.0

Nonrecurring Expenses Fund -150.0 — — — — — — —

Total -618.0 -351.9 -55.2 -90.0 -343.0 — +261.9 +8.9

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress.

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Table A-10. Changes in Mandatory Program Spending (CHIMPS), General Provisions

Budget authority in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Description

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Farm Security and Rural Investment Act conservation programs -60.2 -60.2 -70.7 -70.7 -70.7 — -10.5 -10.5

Farm Production and Conservation Business Center +60.2 +60.2 +70.7 +70.7 +70.7 — +10.5 +10.5

Crop Insurance Administrative & Operating +25.0 — — — — — — —

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program — — — -195.0 — — -195.0 +0.0

Total +25.0 +0.0 +0.0 -195.0 +0.0 — -195.0 +0.0

Source: Prepared by CRS using appropriations acts and bill text, committee reports, and unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. Notes: CHIMPS in appropriations acts include temporary increases or limitations to mandatory program spending or permanent rescissions of mandatory programs that are focused on the current fiscal year. See CRS Report R47705, Congressional Rules Pertaining to Changes in Mandatory Program Spending in Appropriations Bills (CHIMPs).

Table A-11. Scorekeeping Adjustments

Budget authority in millions of dollars

FY2023 FY2024 FY2025 Change from FY2024

Act to FY2025 Bills

Office or Program

P.L. 117- 328, Division A

P.L. 118- 42, Division B

Admin.

Request

House- Reported H.R. 9027

Senate- Reported S. 4690 Enacted House Senate

Farm loans negative subsidy -50.0 -50.0 -142.0 -142.0 -142.0 — -92.0 -92.0

Rural electricity & telecommunication loans negative subsidy -182.0 -200.0 -210.0 -210.0 -210.0 — -10.0 -10.0

Rural housing loans negative subsidy -153.0 -145.0 -100.0 -100.0 -100.0 — +45.0 +45.0

Community facilities loans negative subsidy -79.0 -58.0 -57.0 -57.0 -57.0 — +1.0 +1.0

Rural water & waste disposal loans negative subsidy -1.0 -2.0 -2.0 -2.0 -2.0 — +0.0 +0.0

Rounding adjustments -3.0 0.0 -4.0 -1.0 0.0 — -1.0 +0.0

Total -468.0 -455.0 -515.0 -512.0 -511.0 — -57.0 -56.0

Source: Prepared by CRS using unpublished CBO tables. H.R. 9027 and S. 4690 were introduced in the 118th Congress. Notes: Scorekeeping adjustments are not directly appropriated provisions and may not be shown in the committee tables accompanying a bill but are part of the official CBO accounting of an appropriations act. Negative subsidies generally represent receipt of fees charged to borrowers for some loan programs. Rounding adjustments are noted to reconcile the official total.

Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2025 Appropriations

Congressional Research Service R48431 · VERSION 1 · NEW 25

Author Information

Jim Monke Specialist in Agricultural Policy

Disclaimer

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