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To Members of the NASULGC System:
The House Committee on Appropriations met today and approved the
F.Y. 2006 spending bill for the Department of Agriculture,
including the Cooperative State Research, Education, and
Extension Service (CSREES). This report provides an analysis of
the CSREES portion of the bill.
Another Tight-Money Year
As reported previously, the House Appropriations Committee
gave the Ag Subcommittee the same 302(b) allocation as in F.Y.
2005: $16.832 billion. Without even an increase to account for
inflation, the Ag bill was -- once again -- under extreme
budgetary pressure. A wide range of programs outside CSREES
received substantial reductions, including: P.L. 480 Food for
Peace, down $60 million; Rural Development down $50 million;
Natural Resources Conservation Service, down $37 million; and
Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention, down $15 million.
CSREES -- The Big Picture
Against the backdrop of the static 302(b) allocation to the
subcommittee, CSREES held its own. The agency's total
budget was down just $36.839 million to $1.119 billion, a 3.2%
decline from the F.Y. 2005 enacted level. However, as shown in
the table below, the NASULGC
system's priority items received a net increase of
$2.135 million.
The Good News
1. Formula Funds. The NASULGC system successfully turned
back the proposal put forward in the President's Budget Request
to eliminate the Hatch, McIntire-Stennis, and Animal Health and
Disease formula fund programs. In fact two of these three
programs received nominal increases compared to F.Y.
2005. ( Note: The House committee also increased the Evans-Allen
formula fund by $1,000,000 and the Smith Lever 3(b)-3(c) line
item by $420,000.)
2. EFNEP and eXtension. For the second year in a row, the
House committee approved a major increase in the EFNEP program (
6.8% on top of a 12.3% increase in F.Y. 2005 ). The committee
also agreed to start a new funding line for the eXtension
initiative and to provide $1,000,000 for that new line. The
NASULGC system successfully argued that eXtension should not be
considered a "new start" inasmuch as CSREES provided $500,000 in
funding in F.Y. 2005.
3. Graduate Fellowships and Food & Agriculture Defense
Initiative. The House committee agreed to provide a 51.2%
increase for Graduate Fellowships and a 34.4% increase for the
Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative ( the EDEN and the animal
and plant diagnostic labs programs ).
4. 1890 Institutions. The 1890s facilities and
capacity-building programs were funded at their F.Y. 2005 levels
(where moderate increases were achieved as compared to F.Y.
2004). However, we are pleased to report that the Evans-Allen
formula fund program received a $1,000,000 increase.
5. Restoration of Last Year's 0.8% Across-the-Board Cuts.
As you will recall, at the end of the F.Y. 2005 appropriations
season, Congress instituted a 0.8% reduction in all programs and
projects except those relating to the Departments of Defense and
Homeland Security. The committee's mark would restore
most of the 0.8% reductions in the CSREES line items.
The Bad News ( There's Some More Good News Here, Too! )
1. 1994 Institutions Research. The House mark proposes a
7.2% cut in research funding to the 1994 land-grant
institutions. The BAC opposes this cut and continues to argue
for an increase in this vitally important program. We
will work to restore this in the Senate and in the joint
House-Senate conference committee.
2. NRI and Sec. 406. As outlined in a recent memo from
the leadership of the Budget and Advocacy Committee (
www.nasulgc-bac.com/documents/FY2006/Deans_Memo.doc ) the
House Appropriations Committee agreed to the request in the
President's Budget Request to move funding for seven programs
funded under the authority of Sec. 406 of the Agricultural
Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 to the
National Research Initiative. However, the committee's mark falls $7.631
million short of providing full funding for the combined NRI +
Sec. 406 programs.
The good news is that thanks to a quick and effective effort
by the NASULGC system $14,634,000 was added to the combined NRI
+ Sec. 406 line item between the House subcommittee markup on
May 16 and today's markup in the full committee!
Request: Those of you who contacted members of the
House of Representatives, please contact those offices again and
let them know that through our collective effort we achieved a
tremendous victory between the subcommittee and full committee
markups! Thank them, please.
The BAC continues to oppose the proposal to move the Sec.
406 programs to the NRI and will continue to lobby for a $250
million funding level for the NRI (and all of the priorities
established by the BAC earlier this year).
How NASULGC's Priority Requests Fared in the House Committee:
| Line Item |
F.Y. 2005 |
House Mark |
Change |
| Hatch |
178,707,000 |
178,807,000 |
0.001% |
| McIntire-Stennis |
22,205,000 |
22,255,000 |
0.002% |
| Animal Health and Disease |
5,057,000 |
5,057,000 |
n.c. |
| Evans-Allen |
36,704,000 |
37,704,000 |
2.7% |
| 1890 Institution Capacity Building Grants |
12,312,000 |
12,312,000 |
n.c. |
| 1890 Facilities (Sec. 1447) |
16,777,000 |
16,777,000 |
n.c. |
| 1994 Institutions Research |
1,078,000 |
1,000,000 |
-7.2% |
| 1994 Institutions Extension |
3,247,000 |
3,273,000 |
0.8% |
| Hispanic Education Partnership |
5,600,000 |
5,645,000 |
0.8% |
| Resident Instruction and Distance Ed. Grants |
496,000 |
500,000 |
0.8% |
| Expanded Food & Nutrition Ed. Program |
58,438,000 |
62,409,000 |
6.8% |
| National Research Initiative ( + Sec. 406
lines) |
222,265,000 |
214,634,000 |
-3.4% |
| Institution Challenge Grants |
5,456,000 |
5,500,000 |
0.8% |
| International Science & Education Grants |
992,000 |
1,000,000 |
0.8% |
| Graduate Fellowships |
2,976,000 |
4,500,000 |
51.2% |
| New Technologies for Ag Extension (eXtension) |
0 |
1,000,000 |
n.a. |
| Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative |
8,928,000 |
12,000,000 |
34.4% |
| Agrosecurity Education |
0 |
0 |
n.c. |
| Total |
$544,534,000 |
$546,669,000 |
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Green = Increase over FY
'05; Red =
Decrease from FY '05; Blue
= No Change |
We have uploaded a revised spreadsheet to the nasulgc-bac.com Web
site that provides a full run-down of the CSREES funding lines.
www.nasulgc-bac.com/documents/FY2006/House.xls
The F.Y. 2006 Ag Appropriations bill will be considered by the
House of Representatives sometime after the Memorial Day recess.
Senate markup is uncertain at present, but may occur as early as
mid-June. We will continue to keep you informed as events
unfold.
Fred H. Hutchison
Fleishman Hillard
Government Relations
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