To Members of the NASULGC System:

By a recorded vote of 97-2, the Senate today approved its version of the F.Y. 2006 Agriculture Appropriations bill and cleared the way for a joint House-Senate conference to iron out the differences in the two versions of this legislation. The Senate floor debate was not as contentious as had been predicted and no amendments were approved that would alter the line item amounts reported in our last communication with you on this subject. At the request of Senator Max Baucus, a "Sense of the Senate" amendment was added to the bill dealing with agriculture research. This non-binding amendment reads as follows:

  (a) The Senate finds the following:
     (1) Research and development have been critical components of the prosperity of the United States.
     (2) The United States is entering an increasingly competitive world in the 21st century.
     (3) The National Academy of Sciences has found that public agricultural research and development expenditures in the United States were the lowest of any developed country in the world.
     (4) The Nation needs to ensure that public spending for agricultural research is commensurate with the importance of agriculture to the long-term economic health of the Nation.
     (5) Research and development is critical to ensuring that American agriculture remains strong and vital in the coming decades.
  (b) It is the sense of the Senate that, in order for the United States to remain competitive, the President and the Department of Agriculture should increase public sector funding of agricultural research and development.

Staff from the House and Senate are expected to meet shortly to begin the conference process on the bill. We will keep you posted as further developments occur.

Fred H. Hutchison
Fleishman Hillard Government Relations