Ranking Member Bishop Statement at Subcommittee Markup of 2025 Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA Funding Bill

Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-GA-02), Ranking Member of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's markup of the 2025 funding bill:

Thank you very much, Chairman Harris, for yielding.

While I take note of the improved trending, and I appreciate the efforts and the trajectory of bill compared to last year’s bill, I am still extremely disappointed that for a second year in a row, I will not be able to support the bill before this subcommittee at this time.

This slate of funding bills being released by the majority steps away from the Fiscal Responsibility Act funding levels that were the foundation for the bills just passed a few short months ago and that will be the foundation of the Senate bills.

Even the programs in this bill that are maintained at a reasonable funding level are propped up by unrealistic cuts to accounts that are crucial to the functioning of USDA, including salaries and expenses for the farm service agency and rural development.

The bill would eliminate funding for maintaining the USDA headquarters.

I'm also disheartened to see that no funding is included for urban agriculture or geographically disadvantaged farmers.

There are some areas where the bill returns to the subcommittee’s tradition of bipartisanship. In particular, I was pleased to see the inclusion of Section 768 on food traceability.

Mr. Franklin and I have partnered on this issue to ensure that new food traceability standards are not enforced until we can be sure that it won't unduly burden the food industry.

However, the areas where we find bipartisan agreement in the bill are overshadowed by the funding cuts which would hit hardest those most disadvantaged at home and abroad, including a shocking cut of $688 million to the Food for Peace Program.

The Food for Peace funding level is lower than it has been in over 20 years.

Other funding shortfalls include domestic nutrition programs, such as TEFAP; single family direct loans; water and wastewater grants; the Rural Energy for America Program; some of our research programs; and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

I understand that the appropriate level of funding for WIC is being reviewed by the administration, but I think it is jumping the gun to be at the lower level in this bill.

Perplexingly, the bill underfunds SNAP by $165 million. There is a reason we fund this mandatory program at the full level every year, and the decision to shortchange it only jeopardizes efforts to provide food assistance to our fellow Americans who need it the most.

Cuts that leave the CFTC with a shoestring budget are penny-wise and pound-foolish. This undermines its ability to oversee a multi-trillion-dollar international derivatives market on which American producers rely.

The news has been rife with cybercriminals hijacking healthcare systems, utility providers, and U.S. municipalities. Yet this bill fails to invest in cybersecurity that protects the USDA and the farmers, ranchers, producers, and rural communities with which it works.

Other key agencies that play an outsized part in serving our agricultural producers include the Economic Research Service and the National Agricultural Statistics Service. ERS, which provides the data analysis that the rest of USDA relies on to make decisions on everything from nutrition assistance to market support, is underfunded for the second year in a row, this time by $12.5 million. And NASS, which provides key data and reports that American farmers rely on to run their businesses and compete in a challenging market, is underfunded for the second year in a row, this time by $7 million.

This year, NASS was unable to complete several important surveys, including the July Cattle, Cotton Objective Yield, and County-Level Estimates surveys, because of insufficient funding. I'm afraid that this bill will prevent the agency from reinstating these important surveys our producers rely on.

While I am proud of the investments we make in our 1890 and 1994 land grant universities, and Hispanic serving institutions – all of which are flat funded since fiscal year 2023 – I cannot overlook the steady decline for USDA’s research, education, and extension activities overall.

Supporting our rural communities should be the top priority for this Subcommittee. Americans need critical infrastructure, such as water and wastewater systems, but the bill makes yet another cut to rural water funding which is the lifeblood of the communities that support our farmers and ranchers.

Disappointingly, the bill also contains several poison pill policy riders once again this year. These riders only serve as a distraction from the real issues this subcommittee deals with and ultimately must be removed before this bill can be passed into law.

I am absolutely appalled at the inclusion of language that would effectively block FDA from banning an electric shock device used on disabled youth.

I am surprised to see the SNAP pilot language again, which was not agreed to last year. USDA already has the authority to approve pilots, and this doesn’t add anything to that authority. Why pick that fight again?

I am also not happy to see language on critical race theory, diversity, equity, and inclusion, flags, and marriage discrimination, all of which were dropped from the 2024 bill.

As we debate this bill and work to improve it, we must make the necessary investments in agriculture research and rural development so that the United States remains on the cutting edge, so that our crops and our livestock become more resilient to disease, pests, and natural disasters, and so that our farmers and ranchers can be more efficient, productive, and profitable.

We cannot rob Peter to pay Paul. And we 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.

So, I look forward to coming together with the members of this subcommittee, the members of the appropriations committee, and our colleagues in the House to find a better, bipartisan bill that will fully meet the needs of all Americans and that will reject partisan riders which will divide us.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to working with you, and I yield back.

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