This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 31-0 to approve the Fiscal 2019 Senate Agriculture appropriations bill. The bill would provide $23.24 billion in discretionary funding and $121.8 billion in mandatory funding, the same as the House version. The totals are $6.2 billion above President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget request, and $710 million below the fiscal 2018 enacted level.
The bill includes $425 million in new funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) rural broadband pilot program, and $825 million in funding for other rural infrastructure projects. In addition, the bill appropriates $150 million in federal funds for the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations program. The Fiscal 2019 Senate Agriculture appropriations bill allocates a total of $3.8 billion for the USDA’s Rural Development office.
The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a $43.8 billion Energy-Water spending bill for Fiscal 2019 appropriations. The Committee reported the bill favorably in a 30-1 vote. The spending measure will increase funding for the Army Corps of Engineers and related programs and is $7.2 billion more than the amount requested by the Trump Administration.
Congress will be on recess next week, but the House will consider a “minibus” appropriations package when the session resumes on June 5th. The minibus will include three uncontroversial spending bills, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA, and Legislative Branch. Republican Leadership is bundling smaller appropriations proposals in an effort to pass a complete spending package for Fiscal 2019 before government funding expires on September 30, 2018.