House Passes $93.6 Billion 2007 Agriculture Spending Bill

[norml]

House Passes $93.6 Billion 2007 Agriculture Spending Bill
Discretionary portion approved at level above Bush's budget request


By Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Staff Writer


Washington -- The U.S. House of Representatives May 23 overwhelmingly passed a $93.6 billion 2007 agriculture spending bill for the fiscal year beginning October 1, including $17.8 billion in discretionary funds.

The measure, approved 378-46, would fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and related agencies for fiscal year 2007 (FY07). Most of the mandatory spending in the bill is directed to crop subsidies, food subsidies for the poor and nutrition programs.

The bill's discretionary total – those funds not set aside for a specific purpose -- is close to the 2006 appropriated level but $564 million more than Bush had requested for fiscal 2007.

For the bill to become law, the Senate must act on its version of an agriculture appropriations bill, the House and the Senate must agree on a compromise bill, and that compromise measure must be sent to President Bush for signature.

The House voted down an amendment offered by Representative Ron Paul of Texas to block funding for USDA's national animal identification system, a voluntary program of tagging and registering livestock.


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http://usinfo.state.gov/ei/Archive/2006/May/24-848672.html

[Charlie Brown]

1. The Party of fiscal responsibility and less gov't at it again

How do we pay for this, exactly?