The House Appropriations Committee today released its reports accompanying the fiscal year 2022 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bills.
The reports will be considered at tomorrow’s full Committee markup.
The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding bill, which was advanced by a voice vote in Subcommittee on Friday:
* Tackles hunger and nutrition insecurity by expanding access to fruits and vegetables to 6.4 million people through WIC and ensuring 45 million people in SNAP-eligible families get the benefits they need. The bill also invests in the health of America’s kids through Child Nutrition programs, like school meals - which are now the healthiest source of food consumed in the United States.
* Grows opportunity and lifts up rural communities by increasing funding for rural broadband, connecting more communities to the internet through a program that last year got more than 100,000 people connected to the 21st century economy.
* Rebuilds our public health and consumer safety infrastructure with increased funding to address maternal and infant nutrition, including resources for the ‘Closer to Zero’ initiative to reduce exposure to toxic elements in babies’ and young children’s food, emerging food-related chemical and toxicological issues, drug safety oversight, as well as providing additional resources for inspections, and drug and device supply chain monitoring and surveillance. The bill also invests in our public health infrastructure by modernizing FDA’s data infrastructure to better ensure the safety and security of the food and medical supply chain.
* Confronts the climate crisis with $347.4 million across USDA to address the impacts of climate change. These investments are aimed to tackle the climate crisis in farming and rural communities and include research to monitor, measure, and mitigate climate change, accelerate climate smart agriculture practices, reduce greenhouse gases, and advance clean energy technologies.
* Provides important investments to ensure equitable participation in USDA programs. In total, the bill provides more funding than the request to advance racial justice, including increases for extension, research, and capacity grants at our 1890 land grants, 1994 land grants, and Hispanic serving institutions to help strengthen the pipeline for the future of agriculture. It also provides funding to improve outreach and program access to historically underserved communities and provides a healthy increase for USDA’s Office of Civil Rights above the request.
The bill report is. The text of the draft bill is. In keeping with the Appropriations Committee’s commitment to transparency, information on Community Project Funding in the bill is. A summary of the bill is here.
The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies funding bill, which was advanced by a voice vote in Subcommittee on Friday:
* Supports our veterans with investments in health care, including targeted investments that advance women's health, mental health, and homelessness assistance
* Rebuilds our infrastructure with strong investments to construct critical facilities on military installations including family housing and child care centers, and build, repair, and retrofit Veterans Affairs facilities
* Protects our national security with investments to respond to the challenges posed by Russian and Chinese aggression
* Confronts the climate crisis with increased climate change and resiliency funding to help military installations adapt to rising sea levels and worsening natural disasters
The bill report is. The text of the draft bill is. In keeping with the Appropriations Committee’s commitment to transparency, information on Community Project Funding in the bill is. A summary of the bill is here.
Tomorrow’s full Committee markup begins at 1 PM. It will be webcast live and linked from https://appropriations.house.gov/events/markups.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
