Republican Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA Funding Bill Cuts Funding Back to 2007 Level

Cuts Rural Investments and Critical Food Programs

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Republicans today released the draft fiscal year 2024 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding bill, which will be considered in subcommittee tomorrow. This bill includes funding for agencies and programs within the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Farm Credit Administration.

For 2024, the bill provides funding of $17.2 billion – a level so low that it was last seen in 2007 – which is $9 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.

“I am extremely disappointed that this bill will shortchange America’s rural and underserved communities, restricting their ability to access water and waste systems, nutritious food, and affordable electricity,” Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sanford Bishop, Jr. (D-GA-02) said. “The federal government should be a steadfast partner for smaller communities whose budgets cannot meet the large, upfront costs of critical quality-of-life projects. Unfortunately, these cuts will hurt the most vulnerable and blunt the forward progress being made to grow our economy for everyone.”

“If you thought cutting to 2022 levels was bad, House Republicans just introduced a bill that brings us all the way back to 2006,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “This is a sham proposal built on an $8 billion foundation that is completely detached from reality because most of these rescissions may not be available by next year. It is also a non-starter within the Republican conference. 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.”

Key provisions included in the draft 2024 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill are below. The text of the draft bill is here. The subcommittee markup will be webcast live and linked on the House Committee on Appropriations website.

The 2024 funding bill:

• 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.

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