House Democrats Highlight Republican Hypocrisy in Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA Funding Bill

WASHINGTON — During today’s House Appropriations Committee markup of the 2024 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding bill, House Democrats highlighted how Republicans are slashing rural investments and critical food programs.

For 2024, the bill provides funding of $17.8 billion – a level so low that it was last seen in 2007 – which is $8 billion below what was provided in 2023. The legislation:

• Slashes investments in rural America such as loans to financially distressed farmers and funds for rural electric co-ops.
• Reneges on critical nutrition assistance by slashing the cash value voucher in the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC). The voucher provides funding for fruit and vegetable purchases for the 5 million women and children enrolled.
• Underfunds critical direct loans for the purchase of homes in rural areas and water and waste grants, which help the poorest communities get safer water services.
• Reverses the FDA decision to allow mifepristone to be dispensed in certified pharmacies to patients with a prescription from a certified prescriber, instead of only in hospitals, clinics, and medical offices.

“This bill endangers our ability to produce the safest, most abundant, and affordable food, fiber, medicine, and medical devices upon which every American relies. It will risk our supply chain resilience, deprive hungry women and children, jeopardize access to clean water, strip financial assistance from financially distressed farmers, and raise the cost of energy for rural businesses and families,” Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sanford Bishop, Jr. (D-GA-02) said. “It is a retreat from the robust investment that America’s agriculture industry needs – from education and research to farm subsidies and protections against diseases and invasive species. It risks undermining U.S. agriculture which contributes well over a trillion dollars to our country’s economy as it touches the lives of every American.”

Congressman Sanford Bishop, Jr.,’s remarks as prepared for delivery are here.

“The ink is barely dry on the debt limit agreement, House Republicans are already reneging on the agreement,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “The 2024 Agriculture bill brings us back to 2007 and abandons rural America, slashing WIC by $800 million, cutting the Renewable Energy for America Program by $500 million, gutting rural electric investment in clear energy and energy efficiency by $1 billion, and eliminating loans that serve as a financial lifeline that has already helped more than 20,000 distressed farmers. This bill does nothing to address the shortages that have forced doctors around the country to choose which patients are more deserving of life-saving chemotherapy drugs than others. In short, this bill exemplifies Republican values: taking food out of the mouths of hungry people, creating hurdles for women to access medication, raising energy costs for rural Americans, and making it harder for small farmers to make ends meet – while at the same time tipping the scale in favor of big corporations and protecting big tobacco. This is a harmful bill that is completely detached from reality and has no chance of becoming law.”

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

Key provisions of the bill as passed by the full committee:

• Slashes the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC) by $800 million, on top of underfunding the cash value vouchers noted above.
• Reverses the FDA decision to allow mifepristone to be dispensed in certified pharmacies to patients with a prescription from a certified prescriber, instead of only in hospitals, clinics, and medical offices.
• Cuts funding for direct housing loans by 30 percent. These cuts mean nearly 2,800 rural families across the country would not be able to get a loan to afford a house.
• Slashes funding for water and waste disposal projects by 36 percent. This means that over 165 projects to ensure that rural Americans have clean drinking water and modern sewage systems would not happen.
• Blocks FDA from acting on important tobacco issues – banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars and limiting the nicotine in cigarettes.
• Blocks three Biden executive orders on diversity, equality, inclusion, and accessibility.
• Cuts funding for key rural broadband programs by over 23 percent. This includes a nearly $100 million cut to the ReConnect program, which has already funded connections for nearly 410,000 households in rural America to high-speed internet.

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.