Agriculture/FDA Bill Pulled From House Schedule Until September
This week’s Analysis and Commentary is entitled: “Hurry Up then Wait = Focus Shifts to CR in September.”
Agriculture/FDA Bill Pulled From House Schedule Until September. This week, the House leadership pulled HR 9027, the FY 2025 Agriculture/FDA Appropriations bill, from consideration by the full House. The next time the bill can come to the House floor would be September.
The House Rules Committee had been set to recommend a rule for consideration of the bill and a slate of amendments, but did not take action following the decision to pull the bill from consideration. Brief summaries of the proposed amendments that would have been considered by the Rules Committee are here.
While a bit startling (it’s one reason the House adjourned a week early for August recess), there had been speculation for more than a week that the Agriculture/FDA funding bill might not have sufficient Republican support in a narrowly-divided House. The primary disagreement appears to have been conservative Members objecting to the lack of a provision to limit access to abortion pills previously approved by FDA.
The fate of the Agriculture/FDA funding bill was presaged on July 11 by the unexpected defeat of the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill. In addition to Agriculture/FDA, the Energy and Water Appropriations bill was also pulled from the House floor this week because of disagreements among Republicans that threatened final passage.
Biden Administration Opposes the House Agriculture/FDA Appropriations Bill. In its Statement of Administration Policy, the Office of Management and Budget writes “The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 9027, making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year (FY) ending September 30, 2025 and for other purposes.” It goes on to say “If the President were presented with H.R. 9027, he would veto it.”
With respect to FDA this statement concludes “The Administration is concerned that funding reductions contained in the bill compared to the FY 2025 Budget request, including for essential staff, buildings and facilities, and other critical infrastructure investments to ensure food safety, personal care product safety, and a robust supply chain, would leave the FDA underprepared to address ongoing and emerging public health challenges in FY 2025.”
House Begins August Recess Early, Leaving Five Appropriation Bills Unfinished. While the House had been scheduled to be in session next week, House leadership opted to start the August recess with the close of business yesterday. Even though Speaker Johnson had planned to complete action on all twelve appropriation bills before the start of the August recess, the 1/ Agriculture/FDA, 2/ Financial Services/General Government, 3/ Commerce-Justice-Science, 4/ Labor-HHS-Education and 5/ Transportation-HUD are still awaiting initial floor action. The House on Thursday approved the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill by a vote of 210 to 205.
Upcoming Recesses, September’s Focus, and Election Year Impacts. The House does not resume session until September 9, and has only thirteen days of session scheduled in September. The Senate also returns on September 9, with fifteen days of session scheduled.
As explored in greater depth in this week’s Analysis and Commentary, a Continuing Resolution (CR) will be needed so that the federal government has funding for the first part of the new fiscal year, which starts on October 1.
We anticipate a battle about the duration of the CR. Some Members favor a mid-December timeframe, while others prefer mid-March. Which prevails may depend on September perceptions of whether there will be changes in the majorities in the House and/or Senate and who will be President in January 2025.
Senate Appropriations Committee Reports Four More Bills - No Floor Schedule Announced. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Murray (D-WA) still has not announced a floor schedule for consideration of the Agriculture/FDA funding bill. While the Senate is scheduled to be in session next week, no action is likely on the Agriculture/FDA bill until September following the Senate’s upcoming recess.
The Senate Committee yesterday favorably reported four bills - 1/ Commerce, Justice, Science; 2/ Interior, Environment; 3/ State, Foreign Operations; and 4/Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. They were all described as bipartisan bills, and were approved in Committee by votes of 26-3, 28-1, 24-5, and 28-1 respectively. Senator Murray also announced that the full committee will mark up the remaining five appropriation bills next Thursday, August 1.
As we previously reported, it is possible additional funding may be made available at a later date as a result of the funding agreement reached between Senators Murray and Collins. Senator Murray in full committee this week said “Here in the Senate, we are moving ahead with strong bipartisan bills that can actually be passed and signed into law, and which actually address the issues we all hear about back home, and the many challenges we are seeing abroad.”