House Appropriations Committee Approves Ag Appropriations Spending

Clint Thompson Alabama, Florida, Georgia

The House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2021 appropriations bill covering the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Farm Credit Administration and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Kay Granger

The committee’s ranking Republican, Kay Granger of Texas, says some of the provisions designed to stop the Trump administration from making reforms could be “poison pills.” Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska also says he is unhappy with some provisions and the bill’s financing.

An amendment from Georgia Democrat Sanford Bishop calls for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to complete an analysis of the latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The analysis is due within a year and would focus on the methodology used, and then would be compared to what the National Academies recommended in 2017. The Hagstrom Report points out that the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s methodologies have been controversial for years.

Sanford Bishop

The only other amendment to the appropriations bill gives the FDA legal authority to recall unsafe prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The agriculture bill and other appropriations bills are expected to be brought to the House floor during the final two weeks of July.

(From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters)