BAC Call to Action

112th Congress, No. 9 —October 5, 2011

House and Senate Contacts Needed – Final Push on FY 2012 NIFA Budget

Even though Fiscal Year 2012 began on October 1, Congress has yet to enact any of the regular appropriations bills. Instead, federal departments and agencies are operating under a “Continuing Resolution” (CR) that expires on November 18. The CR gives staff and members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee time to reconcile the 12 appropriations bills including the Agriculture bill, which provides funding for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and other USDA agencies.

From previous communications (see: www.land-grant.org/reports/2011/09-07.htm) you are aware that the Senate version of the FY 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill keeps most NIFA programs funded at their FY 2011 levels (preserving many of the gains that the system fought hard to obtain in recent years). The House bill on the other hand cuts more than $203 million from the NIFA budget by cutting or completely eliminating many meritorious programs. (see: www.land-grant.org/bac_action/2011-08-09.htm.

Following your institution’s procedures for congressional interactions, we need you to call your senators and representatives and ask them to visit with the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chair and Ranking Member in their respective chamber: Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) or Representatives Jack Kingston (R-GA) and Sam Farr (D-CA).

Your communication should be short and to the point:

1.      The House and Senate subcommittees are beginning to reconcile the differences between the two versions of the FY 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill.

2.      The House version of the Agriculture spending bill would cut funding for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) by $203 million (16.7%) compared to FY 2011.

3.      Dozens of meritorious NIFA programs which support research, extension, and teaching at land-grant universities would either be eliminated or drastically reduced under the House version of the bill.

4.      The Senate version of the bill, developed after the budget/debt ceiling agreement was reached in early August, would maintain nearly all NIFA programs at their FY 2011 enacted levels.

5.      We support the Senate version of this legislation and urge you to contact the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee and urge them to accept the NIFA funding levels contained in the Senate bill.

6.      Thank you for your continued support of the land-grant system and its integrated mission of discovery, public outreach, and higher education.

To emphasize the impact upon your institution you may also wish to share with your senators and representatives the impact statement that you prepared in August. (These impact statements and your prior communications with Senate offices led directly to the positive Senate results.)

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Should you have any questions, please contact Hunt Shipman (hshipman@cgagroup.com) or Jim Richards (jrichards@cgagroup.com) at Cornerstone Government Affairs.

Beverly Durgan, BAC Chair                           Frank Galey, BAC Advocacy Chair