The Agriculture bill’s insufficient allocation results in consequential reductions for food aid, and underfunding CFTC’s enforcement of consumer financial protections.
2017 enacted level: $21.13 billion
2018 budget request: $15.36 billion
2018 mark: $20.00 billion
The Chairman’s mark provides:
* $1.4 billion for Food for Peace, which is $200 million less than the FY2017 enacted level.
* $185 million for the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program, which is $16 million less than the FY2017 enacted level.
* $248 million for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), $2 million less than the FY2017 level and $33.5 million less than the level requested by the acting Republican chairman of CFTC.
* $2.77 billion for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), equal to the FY2017 enacted level.
* $23 million for the summer EBT program, which is equal to the FY2017 enacted level.
* $6.15 billion in discretionary funding for Special Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which is sufficient to meet expected need based on current estimates.
* Child nutrition and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) mandatory appropriations are consistent with current estimates.
The Chairman’s mark includes the following provisions:
* Exempting “premium cigars" from the Tobacco Control Act’s pre-market review requirement by exempting them from FDA’s “deeming" proposal
* Exempting unregulated tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to stay on the market without pre-market review by FDA.
* Allowing the chairman of CFTC to reduce the compensation of CFTC employees in order to avoid furloughs, irrespective of an existing collective bargaining agreement.
* Directing FDA and USDA to coordinate on consumer outreach “to promote understanding and acceptance of agricultural biotechnology and biotechnology-derived food products and animal feed," and providing $1.5 million for this purpose, half the amount provided in FY2017.
* Delaying a final rule on nutritional labeling on menus in restaurants by at least one year.
* Continuing to allow waivers for school districts to comply with sodium and whole grains standards in school lunches and continuing to prevent any adjustment of sodium.
* Prohibiting processed poultry from China from use in USDA meal programs.
* Setting out preconditions for import into the United States any poultry slaughtered in China.
* Prohibiting FDA from reviewing or approving a drug or biological “in which a human embryo is intentionally created or modified to include a heritable genetic modification."
The Chairman’s mark does not include:
* A prohibition of funding to inspect facilities for the slaughter of horses for human consumption.
* The “GIPSA rider" stopping implementation of a USDA rule protecting poultry farmers from strong-arm tactics of the processing industry.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
