Despite Concerns From Oregon Senator, USDA Spending Bill Approved

Senate appropriators have joined their House colleagues to advance next fiscal year’s USDA spending bill.  The two USDA spending bills prioritize farming, nutrition, animal health, and food safety, while the Senate version spends almost $4 billion less than the House’s version.  But Senate Ag appropriations chair John Hoeven said his bill ups WIC nutrition by 7% and fully funds NIFA, FSIS, APHIS and the Ag Research Service.

“I grew up in western North Dakota and at that time, we could grow wheat and barley and oats, and we were scratching it out and that was about it," Hoeven noted.  "And now in my state, we grow about 40 different commodities, because of the research that’s been done, the better seed varieties and the pesticides.”

Merkley Expresses Concerns Over Cut Positions

Research funding grew contentious when Oregon’ Jeff Merkley tried unsuccessfully to move his ARS report language to restrict agency cuts into a more binding bill text.

"We had our scientists at several of our research stations fired overnight and basically, shut down the research," Oregon's junior senator noted.  "They were then rehired after the agriculture community and Senator Wyden and I pointed out how important these scientists were. Research stations are just not something to be messed with politically.”

Hoeven insisted the report language was hard fought, and the bill still faced House scrutiny.  Merkley conceded and appropriators advanced the bill by voice vote to the full senate.

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