To Members of the NASULGC System:

Congress reached final agreement last night on a $388 billion spending bill funding most government departments (including USDA) and dozens of domestic agencies in 2005. House passage came on a vote of 344 to 51. Later in the evening, the Senate gave its approval, 65 to 30.

The bill, consisting of more than 1,000 pages and weighing 14 pounds, codifies the stingiest budget for domestic departments since the late 1990s. A few agencies, such as Amtrak, NASA, and (thanks to the NASULGC system's strong advocacy efforts) CSREES were spared cuts. However, as stated in today's Washington Post, "the measure bears evidence of a new austerity in domestic spending, brought about by soaring budget deficits and the rising costs of war and counterterrorism programs."

To bring the omnibus bill in under a spending ceiling agreed to by congressional and White House negotiators, all discretionary federal spending programs (except defense and homeland security) are subject to a 0.8 percent across-the-board reduction.

The BRT will prepare a full report to the NASULGC system as soon as possible. In the meantime, we have uploaded several documents that provide details on the final House-Senate decisions.

Final CSREES report language (Warning: 800k .pdf file):
http://www.nasulgc-bac.com/documents/FY2005/CSREES_Conference_Excerpts.pdf

Final spreadsheet showing CSREES line items:
http://www.nasulgc-bac.com/documents/FY2005/2005_CSREES_Conference.xls

NASULGC request vs. conference action:
http://www.nasulgc-bac.com/documents/FY2005/NASULGC_vs_Conference.doc

How we fared in restoring the 33 CSREES lines cut in F.Y. 2004:
http://www.nasulgc-bac.com/documents/FY2005/Final_33_Cuts.doc

Fred H. Hutchison
Fleishman-Hillard Government Relations