An FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act, P.L. 111-8 , was enacted on March 11, 2009, more than five months after the beginning of the fiscal year. A continuing resolution had funded operations from October 1, 2008, until the omnibus was enacted. In addition, two supplemental appropriations bills for FY2009 have been enacted during the 111 th Congress: P.L. 111-5 in February 2009 (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARRA) and P.L. 111-32 in June 2009 (the Supplemental Appropriations Act). The regular Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriation in the FY2009 omnibus totals $108.3 billion, up 19% from FY2008. This total is composed of $87.8 billion in mandatory appropriations (up 21%, mostly because of rising food stamp demand), and $20.4 billion of discretionary appropriations (up 14% from FY2008). The ARRA supplemental provided $26.5 billion (about 25% of the amount in a regular appropriation although outlays may occur over a multi-year period), mostly for domestic food assistance. The second supplemental provided $771 million for international food aid and domestic farm loans. The Agriculture appropriations bill—formally known as the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act—covers funding for the following agencies and departments: all of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (except the Forest Service, which is funded by the Interior appropriations bill), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the Department of Health and Human Services, and in the House, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC); in the Senate, CFTC appropriations are handled by the Financial Services appropriations subcommittee. Jurisdiction for the appropriations bill rests with the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, particularly in each committee's Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. These committees are separate from the agricultural authorizing committees—the House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) carries out widely varied responsibilities through about 30 separate internal agencies and offices staffed by some 100,000 employees. USDA spending is not synonymous with farm program spending. It also is responsible for many activities outside of the agriculture budget function. USDA reports that its regular budget authority for FY2009 is $114.6 billion, excluding supplemental appropriations. Food and nutrition programs constitute the largest mission area, with $76 billion, or 66% of the total, to support the food stamp program, the nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and child nutrition programs ( Figure 1 ). The second-largest mission area, with $21 billion (18%) in budget authority, is farm and foreign agricultural services. This mission area includes the farm commodity price and income support programs of the Commodity Credit Corporation, certain mandatory conservation and trade programs, crop insurance, farm loans, and foreign food aid programs. Other USDA activities include natural resource and environmental programs (8% of the total), rural development (3%), research and education programs (2%), marketing and regulatory programs (2%), and food safety (1%). About two-thirds of the budget for natural resources programs (the third-largest slice in Figure 1 ) goes to the Forest Service (about $7 billion), which is funded through the Interior appropriations bill. The Forest Service is the only USDA agency not funded through the Agriculture appropriations bill; it also accounts for about one-third of USDA's personnel, with nearly 34,000 staff years in FY2009. Comparing USDA's organization and budget data to the Agriculture appropriations bill in Congress is not always easy. USDA defines its programs using "mission areas" that do not always correspond to categories in the Agriculture appropriations bill. Spending may not match up between USDA summaries and the appropriations bill for other reasons. For example, foreign agricultural assistance programs are a separate title in the appropriations bill (Title V in Figure 2 ); foreign assistance programs are joined with domestic farm support in USDA's "farm and foreign agriculture" mission area (the second-largest slice in Figure 1 ). Conversely, USDA has separate mission areas for agricultural research and marketing and regulatory programs (two of the smaller slices in Figure 1 ), but both are joined with other domestic farm support programs in Title I of the appropriations bill (the second-largest slice in Figure 2 ). The type of funding (mandatory vs. discretionary) is also important. Conservation in the appropriations bill (Title II) includes only discretionary programs, whereas USDA's natural resources mission area includes both discretionary and mandatory conservation programs in addition to the Forest Service. In addition to the USDA agencies mentioned above, the Agriculture appropriations subcommittees have jurisdiction over appropriations for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and—in the House only—the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC, an independent financial markets regulatory agency) . The combined share of FDA and CFTC funding in the overall Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriations bill is about 2% (see Title VI in Figure 2 ). Jurisdiction over CFTC appropriations is assigned differently in the House and Senate. In the House, appropriations jurisdiction for CFTC remains with the Agriculture appropriations subcommittee. In the Senate, jurisdiction moved to the Financial Services appropriations subcommittee with the FY2008 appropriations cycle. Despite the differences in jurisdiction, the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2008 still put CFTC appropriations with the Agriculture appropriations bill. In FY2009, the CFTC appropriation was placed in the Financial Services appropriations act. These agencies are included in the Agriculture appropriations bill because of their historical connection to agricultural markets. However, the number and scope of non-agricultural issues has grown at these agencies in recent decades. Some may argue that these agencies no longer belong in the Agriculture appropriations bill. But despite the growing importance of non-agricultural issues, agriculture and food issues are still an important component of FDA's and CFTC's work. At FDA, medical and drug issues have grown in relative importance, but food safety responsibilities that are shared between USDA and FDA have been in the media during recent years and are the subject of legislation and hearings. At CFTC, the market for financial futures contracts has grown significantly compared with agricultural futures contracts, but volatility in agricultural commodity markets has been a subject of recent scrutiny at CFTC and in Congress. Mandatory and discretionary spending are treated differently in the budget process. Eligibility for mandatory programs (sometimes referred to as entitlement programs) is usually written into authorizing laws, and any individual or entity that meets the eligibility requirements is entitled to the benefits authorized by the law. Congress generally controls spending on mandatory programs by setting rules for eligibility, benefit formulas, and other parameters, not through appropriations. Approximately 80% of the total Agriculture and Related Agencies spending is classified as mandatory, which by definition occurs independently of annual appropriations. The 2008 farm bill (the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, P.L. 110-246 ) determines most of the parameters for mandatory spending in the Agriculture appropriations bill. The vast majority of USDA's mandatory spending is for the food and nutrition programs (e.g., food stamps), the farm commodity price and income support programs, the federal crop insurance program, and various agricultural conservation and trade programs (nearly all of Figure 1 's largest two pie pieces). Some mandatory spending, such as the farm commodity program, is highly variable and driven by program participation rates, economic and price conditions, and weather patterns. But in general, mandatory spending has tended to rise over time, particularly as food stamp participation and benefits have risen ( Table 1 ). Although these programs have mandatory status, many of these accounts receive funding in the annual Agriculture appropriations act. For example, the food stamp and child nutrition programs are funded by an annual appropriation based on projected spending needs. Supplemental appropriations generally are made if these estimates fall short of required spending. The Commodity Credit Corporation operates on a line of credit with the Treasury, but receives an annual appropriation to reimburse the Treasury and to maintain its line of credit. The other 20% of the Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriations bill is for discretionary programs. Spending for discretionary programs is controlled by annual appropriations acts. The subcommittees of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees originate bills each year that provide funding to continue current activities as well as any new discretionary programs. Major discretionary programs include certain conservation programs, most rural development programs, research and education programs, agricultural credit programs, the supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC), the Public Law (P.L.) 480 international food aid program, meat and poultry inspection, and food marketing and regulatory programs. The discretionary accounts also include FDA and CFTC appropriations. Both discretionary and total appropriations have increased since 2000, but in inflation-adjusted terms, the level is more nearly constant. ( Figure 3 and Figure 4 ). In addition to the difference between mandatory and discretionary spending, three other terms are important to understanding differences in discussions about the federal spending: budget authority, outlays, and program levels. 1. Budget authority is how much money Congress allows a federal agency to commit to spend. It represents a limit on funding and is generally what Congress focuses on in making most budgetary decisions. Most of the amounts mentioned in this report are budget authority. 2. Outlays are how much money actually flows out of an agency's account.