Democrats Fought to Lower Costs, Republicans Fought for Billionaires and Big Corporations

WASHINGTON — During today’s House Appropriations Committee markup of the 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding bill, House Democrats fought against House Republicans’ bill that increases costs for rural communities and cuts funding for programs that support farmers and help hardworking people feed their families.

House Republicans’ Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration bill:

• Increases costs for farmers and rural communities by cutting critical investments including direct loans to help hardworking Americans buy homes in rural areas and water and waste grants to help the poorest communities get safer water services. Republicans are also cutting funding that helps low- and very low-income rural homeowners repair their homes.
• Hurts farmers by cutting the support system that helps them access government resources they are promised.
• Threatens access to food for hardworking and vulnerable Americans by not providing the full fruit and vegetable benefit to USDA's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) recipients.
• Slashes Food for Peace to the lowest level since 2002 while the administration continues to illegally withhold international food assistance, taking food from the mouths of children and hungry people around the world. 

“Congress should be making strong investments in housing, facilities, and utilities programs that support rural communities,” Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sanford Bishop, Jr.’s (D-GA-02) said. “It should be leaning into, not walking away from, food programs that help prevent hunger and which engage our country's small farmers, ranchers, and ag producers. It should be bolstering the FDA, not breaking down an institution on which Americans rely for the safety and quality of the food they eat and the medicine they take. This bill fails to meet our country's needs. It erodes markets for our ag producers, leaves women and children more vulnerable to hunger, and slashes resources that rural communities need to affordably provide all the essential, public services for our rural families and businesses.”

Congressman Sanford Bishop, Jr.’s full remarks are here.

“We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis today that is directly hurting farmers. But the president is not laser focused on the cost-of-living crisis. He is making it worse. He promised to fight for working families but instead put billionaires in charge of the government,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “At a time when families around the country are struggling with the high cost of living – they live paycheck to paycheck, they have trouble buying food, they have trouble providing health care for their families, finding housing and so many other essentials – House Republicans are paying for a billionaire tax cut by cutting the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) fruit and vegetable benefit. With this bill, House Republicans pull the rug out from under the farmers who provide the food for hunger programs. They are using this bill to eliminate protections for small meat and poultry producers against large corporations that have forced small producers out of business and price gouged consumers. This bill jeopardizes the food security of children and vulnerable families across America and around the world, and underfunds the services and programs that farmers, workers, and rural communities depend on.”

Congresswoman DeLauro’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are here.

Democrats offered a number of amendments that were all rejected by Republicans, including amendments to:

• Restore the WIC Cash Value Benefit and adjust for inflation.
• Prohibit President Trump’s trade war tariffs that increase food costs.
• Increase funding for rural housing and community facilities to combat House Republicans’ attempt to raise costs for farmers and rural communities.

A summary of the bill is here. A fact sheet of the bill is here. 

The text of the bill, before the adoption of amendments in full committee, is here. The bill report, before the adoption of amendments in full Committee, is here.Information on Community Project Funding in the bill is here.

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