On January 22, 2004, the Senate adopted a cloture motion and approved theconference agreement on the FY2004 consolidated appropriations bill ( H. Rept.108-401 , H.R. 2673). The measure combined six annual appropriations measureswith the spending bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and RelatedAgencies. The President signed the measure into law ( P.L. 108-199 ) on January 23,2004. Division A of P.L. 108-199 contains $80.6 billion in FY2004 funding forUSDA and related agencies, of which $16.9 billion is for discretionary programs and$63.7 billion is for mandatory programs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) carries out its widely variedresponsibilities through approximately 30 separate internal agencies and officesstaffed by some 100,000 employees. USDA is responsible for many activitiesoutside of the agriculture budget function. Hence, spending for USDA is notsynonymous with spending for farm programs. USDA gross outlays for FY2003 were $81.53 billion, including regular and supplemental spending. The mission area with the largest gross outlays ($41.3billion or 50% of spending) was for food and nutrition programs -- primarily thefood stamp program (the costliest single USDA program), various child nutritionprograms, and the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children(WIC). The second largest mission area in terms of total spending is for farm andforeign agricultural services, which totaled $24.3 billion, or 30% of all USDAspending in FY2003. Within this area are the programs funded through theCommodity Credit Corporation (e.g., the farm commodity price and income supportprograms and certain mandatory conservation and trade programs), crop insurance,farm loans, and foreign food aid programs. Approximately three-fourths of total spending within the U.S. Department of Agriculture is classified as mandatory, which by definition occurs outside the controlof annual appropriations. Currently accounting for the vast majority of USDAmandatory spending are: the farm commodity price and income support programs(including ongoing programs authorized by the 2002 farm bill and emergencyprograms authorized by various appropriations acts); the food stamp program andchild nutrition programs; the federal crop insurance program; and various agriculturalconservation and trade programs. Although these programs have mandatory status, many of these accounts ultimately receive funds in the annual agriculture appropriations act. For example,the food stamp and child nutrition programs are funded by an annual appropriationbased on projected spending needs. Supplemental appropriations generally are madeif and when these estimates fall short of required spending. An annual appropriationalso is made to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation for losses it incurs infinancing the commodity support programs and the various other programs itfinances. The other 25% of the USDA budget is for discretionary programs, which are determined by funding in annual appropriations acts. Among the major discretionaryprograms within USDA are Forest Service programs; certain conservation programs;most of its rural development programs, and 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; meatand poultry inspection; and food marketing and regulatory programs. Funding for allUSDA discretionary programs (except for the Forest Service) is provided by theannual agriculture appropriations act. Funding for Forest Service programs isincluded in the annual Interior appropriations act. Table 1. USDA and Related Agencies Appropriations, FY1995 to FY2003 (budget authority in billions of dollars) Note: Includes regular annual appropriations for all of USDA (except the Forest Service), the Foodand Drug Administration, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Excludes all mandatoryemergency supplemental appropriations. The FY2003 level reflects the 0.65% across-the-boardrescission applied to all discretionary programs funded in the FY2003 Consolidated AppropriationsAct ( P.L. 108-7 ), except for the WIC program which was specifically exempted. Source: House Appropriations Committee. A key distinction between mandatory and discretionary spending involves how these two categories of spending are treated in the budget process. Congressgenerally controls spending on mandatory programs by setting rules for eligibility,benefit formulas, and other parameters rather than approving specific dollar amountsfor these programs each year. Eligibility for mandatory programs is usually writteninto authorizing law, and any individual or entity that meets the eligibilityrequirements is entitled to the benefits authorized by the law. Spending fordiscretionary programs is controlled by annual appropriations acts. The 13subcommittees of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees originate billseach year which decide how much funding to devote to continuing current activitiesas well as any new discretionary programs. The agriculture subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee and thefull House Appropriations Committee completed markup of the FY2004appropriations bill for USDA and related agencies on June 17, 2003 and June 25,2003, respectively. The FY2004 House measure ( H.R. 2673 , H.Rept.108-193 ) was officially reported on July 9, 2003, and approved by the full House onJuly 14, 2003. Following the House action, the agriculture subcommittee of theSenate Appropriations Committee completed markup of its version of the FY2004agricultural appropriations bill on July 15 and July 17, 2003, respectively, andreported the measure ( S. 1427 , S.Rept. 108-107 ) on July 17. Senatefloor action was completed on November 6, 2003, following the adoption ofapproximately 49 amendments. The Senate substituted the text of H.R.2673 with the text of S. 1427 as amended, and then passedH.R. 2673 as amended. On November 25, 2003, H.R. 2673 became a consolidated appropriations measure when the conference agreement ( H. Rept. 108-401 ) on H.R. 2673 was filed, incorporating six other FY2004 appropriations measures with USDAfunding. The full House approved the conference agreement on December 8, 2003. Senate action was completed on January 22, 2004, when a cloture motion wasadopted followed by Senate passage. The President signed the measure into law( P.L. 108-199 ) on January 23, 2004. Because final action on the FY2004 USDA spending bill (as well as several other annual appropriations measures) was not completed in time for the beginningof the fiscal year (October 1, 2003), spending for USDA and related agencies was governed by several continuing resolutions (most recently P.L. 108-135 , which wasin effect until enactment of the consolidated appropriations measure on January 23,2004.) P.L. 108-135 allowed all departments and agencies for which FY2004spending bills had not been completed to be funded at the FY2003 level until theearlier of: enactment of a final spending measure or January 31, 2004. The enacted consolidated appropriations measure contains $80.63 billion for USDA and related agencies for FY2004 (excluding the effects of a 0.59%across-the-board rescission in all discretionary, non-defense accounts, as required inthe final law). As originally reported by their respective committees, H.R. 2673 and S. 1427 contained nearly identicalappropriations of $77.49 billion. However, the Senate added $2.2 billion to themandatory food stamp account to reflect more recent projections of programparticipation, and conferees added $1 billion to the food stamp reserve account. Justover three-fourths ($63.7 billion) of the spending in the agriculture portion (DivisionA) of P.L. 108-199 is classified as mandatory spending, including food stamps, childnutrition programs, crop insurance, and the various farm support programs fundedthrough USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation. The balance of spending ($16.9 billion) in Division A is for discretionaryprograms, which is $198 million below the Administration's request and $61 millionbelow both the House- and Senate-passed levels. Discretionary spending in DivisionA of the measure is $963 million below the FY2003 enacted level includingsupplementals. Agriculture appropriators were allocated nearly $1 billion less forFY2004 discretionary accounts than the FY2003 level including supplementals. Tohelp achieve this goal, the conference agreement includes an FY2004 appropriationfor foreign food aid that is $572 million below the FY2003 level (which wasbolstered by supplemental spending). Also, the conference agreement containsprovisions that limit or prohibit spending on certain mandatory conservation, ruraldevelopment, and research programs, which in total reduced spending in theseaccounts by approximately $650 million from authorized levels. The measure did not include a Senate provision that would have relaxed the licensing requirement for travel to Cuba for the sale of agricultural and medicalproducts. Conferees also rejected a House provision that would have blocked FDAfrom preventing individuals from importing cheaper FDA-approved prescriptiondrugs from foreign suppliers. Table 2. Congressional Action on FY2004 Appropriations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and RelatedAgencies ** = Pending (1) Before Senate floor action on the FY2004 appropriations measure, the Senatesubstituted the text of S. 1427 for the text of the House-passed bill( H.R. 2673 ), and then after considering further amendments, adopted H.R. 2673 , as amended. (2) Six other appropriations bills were included in H.Rept. 108-401 as part of anFY2004 consolidated appropriations bill. The following sections compare the agriculture provisions of the FY2004consolidated appropriations act ( P.L. 108-199 , H.Rept.