Conference on First ‘Minibus’ Completes Work; Votes This Week

November 15, 2011

By: Jim Wiesemeyer, Pro Farmer Washington Consultant

via a special arrangement with Informa Economics, Inc.

Bill places restrictions on implementation of GIPSA proposed livestock marketing rule

NOTE: This column is copyrighted material, therefore reproduction or retransmission is prohibited under U.S. copyright laws.

House-Senate conferees completed work Monday on the first minibus spending measure (HR 2112), and the two chambers are widely expected to adopt it this week, sending President Obama the first full-year spending measures for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

The conference report (HRept 112-284), filed late Monday evening, covers three fiscal 2012 bills – Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation-HUD. The conferees met their targeted overall discretionary funding levels of $19.8 billion for Agriculture, $52.7 billion for C-J-S, and $55.6 billion for Transportation-HUD.

The agreement also includes a continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government funded through Dec. 16. The current stopgap is set to expire Friday, Nov. 18.

The following is a House GOP summary of the Agriculture spending measure:

Agriculture – The Agriculture agencies and programs in this bill will receive a total of $136.6 billion in both discretionary and mandatory funding, a reduction of $4.6 billion from the President’s request based on the Administration’s Mid-Session Review. Discretionary funding in the legislation totals $19.8 billion – a reduction of $350 million below last year’s level and a cut of $2.5 billion from the President’s request.

• Agricultural Research – The conference agreement provides more than $2.5 billion for agricultural research programs, including the Agricultural Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. This is a reduction of $53 million from the fiscal year 2011 level. While trimming spending, this funding level will support research on critical agricultural issues, including emerging crop and livestock diseases, food safety and water quality, and maintains the nation’s investment in land-grant and other agricultural colleges and universities.