Congressional Panels to Vote USDA Spending Today

May 4, 2000

Subcommittees on both sides of the Capitol will unveil their 2001 spending plans for the Department of Agriculture today. At 10 a.m., the House Appropriations Committee’s agriculture and rural development panel will consider its funding bill, while its Senate counterpart – which normally acts weeks afterward but is moving in parallel this year in hopes of expediting the drawn-out appropriations cycle – will meet at 2:30.

In spite of federal budget surpluses and extra billions in entitlement spending for farm income relief, Congressional leaders have kept the federal agency budgets that are under the appropriations committees’ controls comparatively tight. That has led some Congressional staff to speculate that funding might increase later, but no add-on to the available total is expected today.

The full appropriations committee in the House will meet to vote on the spending bill next week, with House floor action possible the week after.