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To Members of the NASULGC System:
The
House of Representatives and Senate have acted upon two key
bills in a mad-dash rush to adjourn for the year:
Final Appropriations Bill
The bill funding the Department of Defense has become a
"catch-all" vehicle for a number of appropriations/spending
items. Two that are of interest to the NASULGC system are: (1)
an across-the-board cut of one percent (1%) to all discretionary
federal departments, agencies, programs, and projects (except
Veterans); and (2) a $1.5 million supplemental appropriation to
CSREES as part of the Avian flu spending package.
Because of the 1% reduction, the CSREES spreadsheet previously
posted has been adjusted, line-by-line:
http://www.nasulgc-bac.com/documents/FY2006/Final_CSREES.xls
Budget Reconciliation
The final compromise on the F.Y. 2006 Budget Reconciliation
bill included elimination of the Initiative for Future
Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS) mandatory spending program
during Fiscal Years 2007 to 2009 with a restoration of the IFAFS
"baseline" in F.Y. 2010. The House Agriculture Committee
explained this move as follows:
[IFAFS] was established in the Agricultural
Research, Extension and Education Reauthorization
Act of 1997 and was originally authorized through
2003. The 2002 Farm Bill provided a permanent
authorization for the IFAFS. It incrementally
increased Agriculture Committee funding from $120
million for F.Y.04 to $200 million annually for
F.Y.07. After 2007, the IFAFS has a permanent
funding stream of $200 million per year. The 2002
Farm Bill authorized $620 million in mandatory
funding for F.Y.04-F.Y.07. None of this Ag Committee
funding has been available for the IFAFS because his
program has seen limited to zero funding since
F.Y.99. Since F.Y.03, the Ag Appropriations Acts
have said the Secretary may use up to 20% of
Competitive Research Grants for an IFAFS-type
program (22% for F.Y. 2006). This translates into
$33 to $40 million per year—not the $200 million
that the Ag Committee has provided for each year. It
is unclear to what extent this unauthorized
appropriations authority has been used.
The Conference Report cancels available Ag Committee
funds for F.Y.07 through F.Y.09 for outlay savings
of $620 million during our F.Y. 06-10 reconciliation
period. Full funding of $200 million per year will
be restored beginning in F.Y. 2010. |
The BRT and the BAC fought hard to preserve the
IFAFS "baseline" recognizing that although IFAFS funding has (as
described above) generally been limited by the appropriators, it
could prove to be an extremely beneficial mechanism to increase
funding for research, teaching, and extension programs in the
years ahead.
Fred H. Hutchison
Fleishman-Hillard Government Relations
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