After the FY2006 Agriculture Appropriations Act was signed into law (below), Congress enacted emergency supplemental appropriations for hurricane recovery and pandemic influenza (Division B of P.L. 109-148 , the FY2006 Defense Appropriations Act). Accounts in the agriculture appropriations bill receive $1.08 billion for hurricane recovery, and $111 million for avian influenza. The supplemental act also contains targeted rescissions totaling $66 million to agriculture accounts and a 1% across-the-board rescission to discretionary spending. The regular FY2006 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act ( P.L. 109-97 , H.R. 2744 ) was signed into law on November 10, 2005. The act includes all of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (except the Forest Service), plus the Food and Drug Administration and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The $100.1 billion law is $15.0 billion (+18%) above FY2005 levels overall, and contains $17.03 billion in discretionary spending (+1.2% above FY2005) and $83.07 billion for mandatory programs (+22% above FY2005). The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) carries out its widely varied responsibilities through approximately 30 separate internal agencies and offices staffed by some 100,000 employees. USDA is responsible for many activities outside of the agriculture budget function. Hence, spending for USDA is not synonymous with spending for farm programs. Similarly, agriculture appropriations bills are not limited to USDA and include related programs such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but exclude the Forest Service within USDA. USDA gross outlays for FY2005 were estimated to be $100.5 billion, including regular and supplemental spending. The mission area with the largest gross outlays ($52.2 billion, or 52% of spending) was for food and nutrition programs—primarily the food stamp program (the costliest single USDA program), various child nutrition programs, and the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The second-largest mission area in terms of total spending is for farm and foreign agricultural services, which totaled $31.1 billion, or 31% of all USDA spending in FY2003. Within this area are the programs funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation (e.g., the farm commodity price and income support programs and certain mandatory conservation and trade programs), crop insurance, farm loans, and foreign food aid programs (see Figure 1 ). Other USDA spending in FY2005 included $8.5 billion (9%) for an array of natural resource and environment programs, approximately 65% of which was for the activities of the Forest Service, and the balance for a number of discretionary conservation programs for farm producers. USDA's Forest Service is funded through the Interior appropriations bill; it is the only USDA agency not funded through the annual agriculture appropriations bill. The balance of USDA spending was for rural development ($2.6 billion, 2.6%); research and education ($2.5 billion, 2.5%); marketing and regulatory activities ($2.2 billion, 2.2%); meat and poultry inspection ($822 million, 0.8%); and departmental administration and miscellaneous activities ($543 million, 0.5%). A key distinction between mandatory and discretionary spending involves how these two categories of spending are treated in the budget process. Congress generally controls spending on mandatory programs by setting rules for eligibility, benefit formulas, and other parameters rather than approving specific dollar amounts for these programs each year. Eligibility for mandatory programs is usually written into authorizing law, and any individual or entity that meets the eligibility requirements is entitled to the benefits authorized by the law. Spending for discretionary programs is controlled by annual appropriations acts. The subcommittees of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees originate bills each year that decide how much funding to devote to continuing current activities as well as any new discretionary programs. Approximately 80% of total spending within the USDA is classified as mandatory, which by definition occurs outside of annual appropriations. The vast majority of USDA's mandatory spending is for the following programs: the food stamp program and most child nutrition programs; the farm commodity price and income support programs (including ongoing programs authorized by the 2002 farm bill and emergency programs authorized by various appropriations acts); the federal crop insurance program; and various agricultural conservation 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 appropriation based on projected spending needs. Supplemental appropriations generally are made if these estimates fall short of required spending. An annual appropriation also is made to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation for losses in financing the commodity support programs and the various other programs it finances. The other 20% of the USDA budget is for discretionary programs, which with the exception of the Forest Service are funded in the Agriculture appropriations act (Forest Service programs are funded in the Interior appropriations act). Major discretionary programs within USDA include Forest Service programs; 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 President signed the FY2006 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act ( P.L. 109-97 , H.R. 2744 ) into law on November 10, 2005. The act includes all of USDA (except the Forest Service), plus the Food and Drug Administration and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The conference agreement ( H.Rept. 109-255 ) was reported on October 26, 2005. The House passed the conference agreement on October 28, 2005, by a vote of 318-63, and the Senate passed it on November 3, 2005, by a vote of 81-18. The House approved its version ( H.R. 2744 , H.Rept. 109-102 ) on June 8, 2005, by a vote of 408-18, after adopting 10 amendments and deleting three provisions on points of order. The House Appropriations Committee reported the measure on June 2, 2005, following full committee approval on May 25, 2005, and subcommittee approval on May 16, 2005. The Senate approved its version ( H.R. 2744 , S.Rept. 109-92 ) on September 22, 2005, by a vote of 97-2, after adopting 38 amendments. Only one amendment reallocated funding; most other amendments restricted use of funds for certain activities, or were Sense of the Senate amendments. The Senate Appropriations committee reported the measure on June 27, 2005, following full committee approval on June 23, 2005, and subcommittee approval on June 21, 2005. P.L. 109-97 provides for a total of $100.099 billion ($15 billion, or 18%, above FY2005), and includes $17.031 billion in discretionary spending and $83.068 billion for mandatory programs. Increases in mandatory programs affected by economic or weather conditions account for nearly 99% of the increase over FY2005 levels. The discretionary amount, the category of spending over which appropriators have direct control, is 1.2% above FY2005 levels, and 1.2% above the House-passed bill, but 1.8% below the Senate-passed bill ( Table 3 ). The Senate agriculture appropriations subcommittee had a slightly higher 302(b) allocation for discretionary spending ($17.348 billion), compared with the House ($16.832 billion). The conference agreement split the difference and allowed a discretionary cap of $17.090 billion. See Table 8 at the end of this report for a tabular summary of each agency at various stages during the appropriations process. Mandatory programs administered by USDA (primarily food and nutrition programs, farm commodity support, and crop insurance) account for 83% of the total. Mandatory spending is highly variable and driven by program participation rates, economic conditions, and weather patterns. Greater farm commodity spending is anticipated due to lower commodity prices, which resulted in higher counter-cyclical and loan deficiency payments. USDA requested an increase of $9.2 billion (+56%) for the Commodity Credit Corporation to reimburse it for past spending, and an increase of $6.2 billion (+13%) for mandatory domestic food assistance programs. As in past years, appropriators placed limitations on authorized levels of spending in the 2002 farm bill ( P.L. 107-171 ) for various mandatory conservation, rural development, and research programs. In total, appropriators reduced authorized FY2006 spending levels for these programs by nearly $1.5 billion in P.L. 109-97 (compared with $1.4 billion in the House bill, $1.3 billion in the Senate bill, and $1.2 billion in FY2005), and applied those savings toward meeting the discretionary allocation. These amounts are counted as part of the "scorekeeping adjustments." For more details on the limits placed on mandatory programs, see Table 5 in the conservation section ($638 million), text near the end of the Cooperative State Research section ($300 million), and Table 6 in the rural development section ($544 million) of this report. Because scorekeeping adjustments are negative (or scored as savings), P.L. 109-97 includes budget authority for $101 billion in programs, nearly $900 million more than the $100.1 billion final cost of the law. In recent years, the agriculture appropriations bill has contained 600-700 earmarks totaling about $500 million, or 3% of the discretionary total.