On July 8th, the full House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year (FY) 2016 Agriculture Appropriations Bill by a voice vote. The bill provides a total of $20.65 billion in discretionary spending for FY 2016, $175 million (1%) less than FY 2015 enacted levels and $1.135 billion below the President’s request. Included in this total, the bill provides $1.194 billion for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), including $1.122 billion for the ARS Salaries and Expenses account and $45 million for Buildings and Facilities.

The ARS appropriation is $9 million less than FY 2015 enacted levels and $230 million less than the President’s request. For Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the bill provides $335 million; $10 million more than the FY 2015 enacted level and $115 million less than the President’s request. The bill increases FDA funding by $30 million over FY 2015 levels, totaling $2.6 billion in discretionary funding.

On July 16th, the full Senate Appropriations Subcommittee approved its version of the FY 2016 agriculture appropriations bill by a vote of 28-2. As stated in the accompanying press release, the Senate bill would hold funding for AFRI at the FY 2015 enacted level of $325 million.

For ARS, the Senate bill provides $1.136 billion for the Salaries and Expenses account, representing an increase of approximately $3.4 million above the FY 2015 enacted level and $56 million below the President’s request; a $45 million increase to implement major portions of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which is $60 million short of the budget request; a $3 million increase to combat antibiotic resistance, which is $12 million less than the budget request; and a $2 million increase for FDA’s Precision Medicine Initiative, which falls $8 million below the budget request level. Also, the bill appropriates no money for ARS Buildings and Facilities.