The House rejected the USDA-FDA funding bill for this fiscal year by a 46-vote margin driven partly by the bill’s proposed ban on mail-order and over-the-counter sale of an abortion drug to people holding a prescription. USDA-FDA funding could become part of a long-term government funding bill in coming weeks; the stand-alone Senate version of the bill, with no ban on the drug, mifepristone, also was available.
Some 27 Republicans joined Democrats in defeating the USDA-FDA bill, 191-237, late on Thursday. A number of GOP moderates announced in advance that they opposed the bill, HR 4368, because it would override an FDA decision on availability of mifepristone. Others wanted deeper cuts in USDA spending and some thought the cuts were excessive. The House passed three other appropriations bills going into the weekend and Republican leaders said the House would resume debate on appropriations this week. Republicans have said they wanted to pass each of the annual appropriations bills before the start of fiscal 2024 on Sunday.
During debate on the USDA-FDA bill, representatives voted to blocking funding the the Climate Corps, a Biden initiative; to bar USDA from buying electric vehicles; and to reduce funding for the Foreign Agricultural Service, whose job includes promotion of U.S. food and ag exports.
By large margins, the House defeated a proposal to shut off USDA funding to administer commodity check-off programs and language to block USDA from requiring electronic ID tags on older livestock, mostly cattle and bison, that are transported across state lines. An amendment was filed, but not offered, to effectively shut down the price-support program for U.S.-grown sugar.
When the House Appropriations Committee cleared the $195.6 billion USDA-FDA bill in June for a floor vote, it added a provision to bar Russia, China, North Korea and Iran from purchasing U.S. agricultural land. Spending under the bill would be $39 billion lower than in just-ended fiscal 2023 because of the expiration of pandemic relief programs.
There were numerous disagreements between the White House and House Republicans over USDA-FDA funding. The White House issued a veto threat against the House version of the bill more than two months ago. It listed 12 areas of disagreement, including the restrictions on mifepristone, cuts in funding for the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, elimination of a $2.2 billion fund to help producers who suffered discrimination in USDA farm loan programs, $1.5 billion in cuts to USDA renewable and clean energy programs, and a cut-off of work on USDA regulations that would give producers more leverage in dealing with meat and poultry processors.
Congress passed a so-called continuing resolution on Saturday to fund the government through Nov. 17. The legislation sets spending at fiscal 2023 levels.
President Biden blamed “MAGA extremists” for nearly causing a government shutdown over the weekend. “It’s time to end governing by crisis,” he said on Sunday at the White House. Conservative House Republicans insisted on drafting appropriations bills at levels below the totals that were agreed in June as part of raising the federal debt limit.