Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agency Appropriations Act, 2027
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agency Appropriations Act, 2027 This bill provides FY2027 appropriations for the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies. The bill provides appropriations to USDA for agricultural programs, including the Office of the Secretary, Executive Operations, the Economic Research Service, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Agricultural Research Service, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Agricultural Marketing Service, and the Food Safety and Inspection Service. The bill also provides appropriations to USDA for farm production and conservation programs, including the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center, the Farm Service Agency, the Risk Management Agency, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The bill provides appropriations to the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Fund and the Commodity Credit Corporation Fund. For USDA rural development programs, the bill includes appropriations for Salaries and Expenses, the Rural Housing Service, the Rural Business-Cooperative Service, and the Rural Utilities Service. The bill provides appropriations to the Food and Nutrition Service for Child Nutrition Programs; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); the Commodity Assistance Program; and Nutrition Programs Administration. The bill provides appropriations to the Foreign Agricultural Service for (1) Food for Peace Title II Grants, and (2) McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program Grants. The bill also provides appropriations for the Food and Drug Administration, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Farm Credit Administration. Additionally, the bill sets forth requirements and restrictions for using funds provided by this and other appropriations acts. It also includes provisions that address the regulation of animal food, liability for donations of pet-related products, and payments for the construction of the Arkansas Valley Conduit.
The provisions, in plain language.
Funds Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and related agency programs for the budget year ending September 30, 2027.
Lets the Agriculture Department buy new vehicles only up to the size of its 2018 fleet, and bars growing the fleet beyond that without first notifying and getting approval from the Appropriations Committees.
Allows the Agriculture Department to move unspent discretionary money into its internal Working Capital Fund for IT, equipment, and cloud migration, but only with committee approval, and protects the National Finance Center's payroll and HR systems from being moved or cut without committee sign-off.
Caps the indirect-cost rate the Department pays on cooperative agreements with nonprofits at 10 percent of direct costs when the work is a shared-interest program.
Requires Agriculture Department IT projects and major upgrades to be approved by the Chief Information Officer, with extra committee approval and dollar thresholds for larger purchases.
Bars spending on first-class travel for employees of the funded agencies except as already allowed under federal travel rules.
Caps spending on the Department's advisory committees, panels, and task forces at $2,900,000, excluding negotiated-rulemaking and grant-review panels.
Bars Department funds from running a computer network unless that network blocks viewing, downloading, or sharing pornography, with an exception for law-enforcement activity.
Caps spending to run the Section 32 commodity-purchase program at $1,717,000,000, splits that across child nutrition commodities and related accounts, and blocks funds for the surplus-removal (clause 3) function of Section 32.
Requires the Department, FDA, CFTC, and Farm Credit Administration to notify and get approval from the Appropriations Committees before reprogramming, transferring, starting new programs, reorganizing offices, contracting out federal jobs, or making other significant funding shifts.
Lets the Department charge a one-time fee of up to 3 percent of the guaranteed principal on Business and Industry guaranteed loans.
Lets the Department raise the program level of certain no-budget-authority loans and loan guarantees by up to 25 percent (50 percent for certain rural electrification loans) after notifying the committees.
Excludes incarcerated prison populations when determining eligibility or assistance levels for Rural Housing Service programs.
Allocates at least 10 percent of listed Rural Development loan and grant funds to persistent-poverty counties (counties with 20 percent or more in poverty over 30 years).
Bars FDA from acknowledging or letting take effect any investigational-use application for research that intentionally creates or modifies a human embryo with a heritable genetic change.
Blocks FDA from enforcing the 2015 produce-safety rule and a related agricultural-water rule against growers of wine grapes, hops, pulse crops, and almonds.
Bars enforcement of the SNAP retailer variety/stocking standards from the 2016 'Enhancing Retailer Standards' rule until the Department widens the list of acceptable foods, reverting to the pre-2014-Act stocking standards in the meantime.
Protects the transport, processing, sale, and use of hemp grown under the 2014 and 2018 farm-bill hemp authorities, barring funds from being used to prohibit such activity within or across state lines.
Adds the Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) case-by-case for transactions involving U.S. agricultural land, biotech, or industry, with attention to foreign governments of concern including China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran.
Lets the Department charge meat, poultry, and egg establishments for FSIS inspection services performed outside approved shifts and on federal holidays, with those receipts funding inspection costs.
Requires that federally funded rural water and wastewater construction projects use only U.S.-produced iron and steel products, with public waiver process where domestic supply is unavailable, of poor quality, or would raise project cost by more than 25 percent.
Bars Department funds from being used to import raw or processed poultry or seafood from China for use in the school lunch, breakfast, summer, and child/adult care food programs.
Permanently cancels $95,000,000 of unspent Inflation Reduction Act (section 22006) agricultural funds, excluding any designated emergency amounts.
Directs at least $200,000,000 of FDA tobacco user-fee funds to enforcement against e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), including at least $20,000,000 for a multi-agency enforcement task force, and expands prioritized enforcement to flavored disposable vapes.
Blocks FDA from issuing new sodium-reduction guidelines for food makers until the 2025-26 national nutrition survey reflects the impact of the first sodium-reduction phase.
Blocks FDA from issuing new Listeria guidance for makers of low-risk ready-to-eat foods until FDA considers newer science.
Delays administration and enforcement of the 2022 FDA food-traceability rule until July 20, 2028, while directing FDA to develop flexibilities, run industry exercises, and convene an expert panel on traceback investigations.
Bars federal funds from being used to take any discriminatory action (tax, grant, contract, benefit, license, or facility access) against a person who speaks or acts on a sincerely held religious or moral belief that marriage is a union of one man and one woman, and requires the government to treat such persons as accredited or licensed despite such a determination.
Bars funds from preparing or advancing rules implementing or enforcing several USDA Packers and Stockyards Act competition rules (poultry-grower contracting/tournaments, market integrity, payment systems, livestock/poultry market fairness) and directs the Secretary to withdraw or rescind those rules and close related investigations.
Bars funds from inspecting horses for slaughter under the meat-inspection laws, which effectively prevents USDA-inspected commercial horse slaughter.
Bars FDA centers from issuing guidance recommending or requiring drug testing in dogs, and bars USDA's research institute from funding research on dogs or cats in the highest pain categories (D or E).
Shields people, nonprofits, and governments from civil or criminal liability for donating apparently fit pet food and supplies in good faith, except for gross negligence or intentional misconduct.
Requires the Department, within 180 days, to amend WIC food packages to include peanut-containing foods for early allergen introduction to infants, consistent with the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines.
Appropriates $2,500,000 for the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program and $1,500,000 for an emergency and transitional pet-shelter housing-assistance grant program.
Bars funds from imposing any cost-sharing or matching requirement on Specialty Crop Block Grant Program awards for fiscal year 2027.
Bars USDA from closing or relocating Agricultural Research Service labs, or Natural Resources Conservation Service and Rural Development field offices, without prior notification and committee approval.
Bars the Department from proposing, finalizing, or implementing any new user-fee regulation after enactment.
Requires that food aid under the Food for Peace Act go only to recipient nations where adequate monitoring ensures emergency food reaches intended beneficiaries and is not diverted.
Directs the Department, CCC, and related agencies to make various unspent balances and program funds (loan funds, Rural Development accounts, crop insurance, watershed programs) available longer or for stated additional purposes.
Rescinds $40,000,000 of prior-year broadband pilot funds under the Distance Learning, Telemedicine, and Broadband Program, excluding emergency-designated amounts.
Who it helps · who it burdens.
Who it helps
- hemp growers and businessesTheir ability to transport, process, sell, and use lawfully grown hemp across state lines is protected from being blocked with this Act's funds.
- growers of wine grapes, hops, pulse crops, and almondsFDA is barred from enforcing the produce-safety and agricultural-water rules against them, easing their compliance duties.
- rural residents in persistent-poverty countiesAt least 10 percent of listed Rural Development loan and grant funds must be directed to their counties.
- domestic iron and steel producersFederally funded rural water and wastewater projects must use U.S.-made iron and steel products, steering that demand to them.
- U.S. poultry and seafood suppliersSchool and child-nutrition meal programs are barred from using poultry or seafood imported from China, favoring domestic supply.
- people acting on a one-man-one-woman marriage beliefFederal funds may not be used to deny them tax status, grants, contracts, benefits, licenses, or facility access on the basis of that belief.
Who it burdens
- meat, poultry, and egg processing establishmentsThey can be charged for FSIS inspection services performed outside approved shifts and on federal holidays.
- Business and Industry guaranteed-loan borrowersThey may be charged a new one-time fee of up to 3 percent of the guaranteed loan principal.
Who backs it
- federal taxpayers (Treasury)The programs are paid for out of money in the Treasury appropriated for fiscal year 2027.
- tobacco-product manufacturers (user fees)At least $200,000,000 of FDA tobacco user-fee money funds enforcement against e-cigarettes and other ENDS products.
Who opposes it
- poultry growers and livestock sellers seeking the Packers and Stockyards competition rulesFunds may not be used to implement those market-fairness rules, and the Secretary is directed to withdraw or rescind them.
- horse-slaughter establishmentsFunds may not be used to inspect horses for slaughter, effectively preventing USDA-inspected commercial horse slaughter.