House Democrats Highlight How Republican Funding Bill Increases Costs, Jeopardizes the Health of Children and Families

WASHINGTON — During today’s House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the 2025 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding bill, House Democrats highlighted how the bill increases costs for rural America 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 provides $25.9 billion in discretionary funding, a four percent cut below 2024. The legislation:

• Increases costs for Rural America by cutting critical investments in rural communities including direct loans to help hardworking Americans buy homes in rural areas, water and waste grants to help the poorest communities get safer water services, and energy savings programs that support rural small businesses. Republicans are also cutting funding that helps low- and very low-income rural homeowners repair or rehabilitate their homes.
• Threatens access to food for hardworking and vulnerable Americans by cutting, underfunding, or altering critical food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, the Farmers Market Nutrition Program, and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). The bill also hurts vulnerable Americans by including the extreme “SNAP Choice” pilot program that limits food choices for people on SNAP. 
• Slashes Food for Peace to the lowest level since 2002 at a time when the Russian attack on Ukraine, conflicts on nearly every continent, and climate change are drastically endangering global food security.
• Prevents FDA from stopping the use of an inhumane electric shock device on young people with developmental disabilities.
• Jeopardizes the health of children and communities across the United States by effectively blocking FDA from finalizing rules prohibiting menthol in cigarettes, characterizing flavors in cigars, or mandating maximum nicotine levels in cigarettes. This bill stands in the way of reducing the use and addictiveness of cigarettes.

“As we debate this bill and work to improve it, we must make the necessary investments in ag research and rural development so that the United States remains on the cutting edge, so that our crops and livestock become more resilient to disease, pests, and natural disasters, and so that our farmers and ranchers can be more efficient and productive and profitable,” Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sanford Bishop, Jr. (D-GA-02) said. “We cannot rob Peter to pay Paul and we most definitely cannot fund 21st century agriculture needs with 20th century funding levels. This bill undermines our country’s ability to continue to produce the highest quality, safest, most abundant, and affordable food, fiber, and medicine in the world.”

Congressman Bishop’s full remarks are here.

“After the majority’s failure last year to pass their Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA bill on the Floor of the House of Representatives, I hoped that we would markup a bipartisan bill in this subcommittee for Fiscal Year 2025 that responsibly and adequately funds the bill’s programs, and which discards divisive and harmful riders out of the gate,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “Unfortunately, that did not happen. The majority is dragging us down a path to chaos, with bills that do not adhere to the law, and cannot become law, leading us to squander another summer rather than completing our work and passing appropriations bills on time with bipartisan and bicameral support. This bill increases costs on workers and families in rural America for basic necessities like water, energy, and housing. This bill puts food assistance at risk for the most vulnerable Americans and people around the world, and this bill jeopardizes pediatric and community health across the country.”

Congresswoman DeLauro’s full remarks are here.

A summary of House Republicans’ 2025 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill is here. A fact sheet of the bill is here. The text of the bill is here.

###