FY2017 Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations: In Brief
Released: 2017-05-11T00:00:00

Action on FY2017 Agriculture Appropriations

The FY2017 appropriation for Agriculture and Related Agencies was enacted on May 5, 2017, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act ( P.L. 115-31 , Division A). The fiscal year started on October 1, 2016, under a continuing resolution (CR) that lasted until December 9, 2016 ( P.L. 114-223 , Division C). A second CR lasted until April 28, 2017 ( P.L. 114-254 , Division A). A third CR extended until May 5 ( P.L. 115-30 ). The CRs continued FY2016 funding with a few exceptions.

In regular action, the House and the Senate Appropriations Committees reported their FY2017 Agriculture appropriations bills ( H.R. 5054 , S. 2956 ) in April and May 2016, with some of the earliest subcommittee action in two decades ( Figure 1 ; Appendix ). But no further action on the individual bills occurred until they were incorporated into the omnibus appropriation.

The discretionary total of the enacted appropriation is $20.877 billion, which is $623 million less than enacted in FY2016 (-2.9%). The appropriation also carries mandatory spending—largely determined in separate authorizing laws—that totaled about $132.5 billion. The overall total therefore exceeded $153 billion ( Table 1 ). The discretionary caps were set so as not to trigger sequestration under limits established by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 ( P.L. 114-74 ).

The White House released its FY2017 budget request on February 9, 2016, along with the detailed justification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The new Administration released an outline for FY2018 appropriations on March 16, 2017.

Scope of Agriculture Appropriations

The Agriculture appropriations act funds all of USDA, except for the U.S. Forest Service. It also funds the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the Department of Health and Human Services. In even-numbered fiscal years, the enacted Agriculture bill carries CFTC funding under the usual practice for handling jurisdictional differences between the House and Senate .

Agriculture appropriations include both mandatory and discretionary spending, but discretionary amounts are the primary focus since mandatory amounts are generally set by authorizing laws. The scope of the appropriation is shown by the major allocations in Figure 2 . The largest discretionary spending items are domestic nutrition, agricultural research, rural development, FDA, foreign food aid, farm assistance programs, food safety inspection, conservation, and animal and plant health. The main mandatory spending items are the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, child nutrition, crop insurance, and the Commodity Credit Corporation (which pays for the farm commodity, conservation, and other mandatory USDA programs).

Amounts in the FY2017 Appropriation

The $20.877 billion enacted in the FY2017 Agriculture appropriation is officially $623 million smaller t han the FY2016 discretionary appropriation (in terms of its allocation that counts against the budget limit, the "302(b)" subcommittee allocation). It achieves this primarily by increasing budgetary offsets over the FY2016 level through greater rescissions of prior appropriations and greater scorekeeping adjustments primarily from "negative subsidies" from loan programs that charge fees ( Table 1 ). However, the budget authority provided to agencies in the major titles of the bill actually increase s by $462 million (the top of the shaded bars in Figure 3 ).

Discretionary budget changes that are over $10 million within agencies include the following, relative to FY2016 ( Table 2 ):

Conservation p rograms. + $ 163 million , mostly for $150 million of watershed and flood prevention programs that have not been funded since FY2010. Rural d evelopment . +$ 119 million , mostly for rural water and wastewater programs (+$49 million), rural broadband (+$24 million), and rural housing rental assistance (+$15 million). Food and Nutrition Service . +$ 65 million , mostly for commodity assistance (+$19 million) and nutrition programs administration (+$20 million) in the regular nutrition title and a $19 million supplemental in the general provisions for commodity assistance. Offset by an $850 million rescission in WIC because of lower prior-year participation than expected. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service . +$ 52 million , primarily for increases in emergency preparedness. Food and Drug Administration. +$42 million , including $36 million more for food safety activities. Farm Service Agency. +$29 million , including $23 million more to support a 25% increase in farm loan program authority. USDA administration . + $ 20 million to modernize headquarters facilities. Food Safety Inspection Service . +$1 7 million for inspection improvements. Food for Peace grants. -$116 million from less supplemental funding ($134 million) to augment constant base funding of $1.466 billion. Disaster assistance. -$114 million , comprised from $38 million less appropriated for programs than in FY2016 ($206 million in the second continuing resolution plus $28 million in the omnibus appropriation) and $76 million more in disaster designation offsets that do not count against budget caps. Agricultural research agencies. -$46 million , comprised primarily of $25 million more for Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) grants, and $26 million more for Agricultural Research Service (ARS) operations, offset by $112 million less for ARS buildings and facilities.

Mandatory spending carried in the bill—mostly determined in separate authorizing laws—increases $13.5 billion over FY2016. All of this increase is in farm programs, including a $14.4 billion increase in the reimbursement to the Commodity Credit Corporation for higher than expected payments for farm commodity revenue support programs ( Table 2 ). This increase is automatic based on farm bill formulas and does not affect discretionary spending limits.

Recent Trends in Agriculture Appropriations

Over time, changes by title of the Agriculture appropriations bill have generally been proportionate to changes in the bill's total discretionary limit, though some activities have sustained relative increases and decreases. Agriculture appropriations peaked in FY2010 and declined through FY2013. Since then, total Agriculture appropriations have increased ( Figure 3 ). However, whether that increase returns the appropriation to various historical benchmarks depends upon inflation adjustments and other factors.

The stacked bars in Figure 3 represent the discretionary spending authorized for each title in the 10 years since FY2007. The total of the positive stacked bars is the budget authority contained in Titles I-VI. It is higher than the official "302(b)" discretionary spending limit (the line) because of the budgetary offset from negative amounts in Title VII General Provisions and other scorekeeping adjustments. General Provisions are negative mostly because of limits placed on mandatory programs, which are scored as savings ( Table 2 ).

For example, in the FY2017 appropriation, budget authority for the primary agencies in the bill (Titles I-VI) increased $462 million (the top of the stacked bars in Figure 3 ) even though the official discretionary spending allocation decreased $623 million (the line in Figure 3 ).

Increases in the use of CHIMPS and other tools to offset discretionary appropriations ameliorated reductions in discretionary budget authority in FY2011 and succeeding years. For example, the official "302(b)" discretionary total for the bill was given credit for declining 13.6% in FY2011, while the total of Titles I-VI declined only 6.4% that year ( Figure 3 ). The effect is less pronounced in FY2016, since the offset was smaller, in part because of additional spending in General Provisions for foreign food aid and emergency programs.

Some areas have sustained real increases, while others have declined (apart from the peak in 2010). Agencies with sustained real increases (that is, inflation-adjusted; Figure 4 ) since FY2008 include FDA and CFTC (Related Agencies) and, to a lesser extent, foreign food assistance. Areas with real decreases in discretionary spending since 2008 include general agricultural programs and domestic nutrition programs. Rural development and conservation also had a real decrease over the same period, though FY2016 reversed that trend for rural development, and FY2017 reversed it for conservation.

Appendix. Action on Agriculture Appropriations