Republican Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA Bill Increases Costs, Jeopardizes the Health of Children and Families

Funding Proposal Cuts Rural Investments and Critical Food Assistance Programs, Allows the Use of an Inhumane Electric Shock Device on Young People with Developmental Disabilities

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Republicans released the draft fiscal year 2025 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding bill, which will be considered in subcommittee tomorrow. This bill increases costs for rural America and cuts funding for programs that support farmers and help hardworking people feed their families.

For 2025, the 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.

“The funding level for this bill is inadequate and irresponsible. We must learn from the last fiscal year’s funding negotiations and acknowledge that the only path forward is a bipartisan one. Above all, we must not pit farmers against families,” Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sanford Bishop, Jr. (D-GA-02) said. “Among its many flaws, the proposed bill guts agriculture research programs, cuts funding needed to publish timely data on commodity markets, and decreases rural water programs. Altogether, these drive up the cost of agriculture domestically and at the same time reduces funding levels for nutrition programs. The U.S. will be unable to continue producing the highest quality, safest, most abundant, and affordable food, fiber, and medicine in the world for the 21st century with 20th century funding levels.”

“House Republicans’ 2025 Agriculture funding bill takes food out of the mouths of hungry people, raises energy costs for rural Americans, and makes 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,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “This bill makes it more difficult for hardworking people to buy homes in rural areas and cuts water and waste grants that help households and businesses access clean drinking water. At a time when families around the world are struggling to feed their children, this bill would cut Food for Peace to the lowest level since 2002 and implement the misguided ‘SNAP Choice’ pilot program. Republicans have proven time and again that they want to turn their back on people around the world facing famine. Instead of focusing on ways to help lower costs and help farmers and hardworking people, House Republicans are using this bill to allow a single institution to use electric shock on young people with developmental disabilities. This bill jeopardizes the health of children and communities across America and underfunds the services and programs that American families and rural communities depend on.”

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. The subcommittee markup will be webcast live and linked on the House Committee on Appropriations website.

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