NTU urges all Representatives to vote "YES" on H.R. 4368, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024.
The Ag./FDA bill is an excellent step in the right direction for restoring fiscal sanity during a time of soaring federal deficits and national debt. NTU applauds the House Appropriations Committee for many of the commonsense cuts included within this bill. Of note is the topline reduction of $532 million from enacted fiscal year (FY)23 levels, which brings the allocation down to $25.3 billion while also using $7.5 billion in offsets from pandemic programs. Additionally, a further reduction of nearly $2.8 billion will be enacted upon passage of the rule. This is certainly a notable cut on what is historically a challenging area for cuts of any size.
While there is certainly more that can and should be done to right-size federal spending, particularly with regard to NTU's long-standing fight against the waste, fraud, and abuse associated with earmarks, the bottom line is that this bill would put the nation's finances on a better path. Clearly, the House appropriations process has been much improved by more transparency and the avoidance of a last minute omnibus and therefore, NTU urges support from all Members on this bill.
Roll call votes on H.R. 4368 will be significantly weighted in NTU’s annual Rating of Congress and a “YES” vote will be considered the pro-taxpayer position.
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During consideration of amendments to H.R. 4368, NTU urges all Representatives to vote as indicated below.
NTU urges all Representatives to vote "NO" on Amendment #21, which would revise the USDA's ReConnect program to increase rural broadband speed requirements to 100//20 downstream and upstream transmission capacity.
This amendment by Rep. Nunn (R-IA) and seven others, while well intentioned, would further exacerbate issues with duplicative programs across the federal government. This amendment seeks to significantly modify upwards the requirements for this program to qualify as a rural area "without sufficient access to broadband." This could lead to further duplication and overbuilding given the history of broadband expansion using federal dollars, and given there is another program with high requirements authorized under the recent infrastructure law (IIJA), the billions of dollars appropriated under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
Roll call votes on the above amendment will be included in NTU’s annual Rating of Congress and a “NO” vote will be considered the pro-taxpayer position.
NTU urges all Representatives to vote "YES" on the following amendments: #69 (Cammack), #70 (Biggs), #73 (Biggs), #77 (Brecheen), #82 (Good), #83 (Good), #84 (Good), #89 (Ogles), #91 (Ogles), #101 (Good), #102 (Donalds), #113 (Spartz/Massie), #123 (Donalds), #125 (Biggs), #136 (Brecheen), #164 (Roy/Cammack), and #202 (Rosendale).
NTU broadly supports amendments that reduce spending and federal deficits. While we have attempted to include all such amendments here, Members should be reminded that all roll call amendment votes that have a net impact on deficits will be included in our scorecard.
With that said, NTU believes the following amendments are particularly substantial or impactful.
NTU urges all Representatives to vote "YES" on Amendment #69, which would prohibit funds from being used to finalize any rule or regulation that has resulted in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more.
This amendment by Rep. Cammack (R-FL) would have similar effects as the House-passed REINS Act, which NTU has long supported. This would prevent executive branch bureaucrats from reshaping the economy using the rulemaking process - which has generated numerous controversial decisions under the Biden administration such as the tailpipe rule, the Clean Power Plan 2.0 rule, the non-compete rule, and many others, which collectively cost the economy hundreds of billions of dollars in lost growth.
NTU urges all Representatives to vote "YES" on Amendment #77, which would zero out funding for the USDA's rental assistance program.
This amendment by Rep. Brecheen (R-OK), would cut $1.6 billion in spending from the budget. While this would move toward an admirable goal, ultimately, funding for rental programs should be consolidated and administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This would also save taxpayers a substantial sum of funds in a dire time for the federal deficit.
NTU urges all Representatives to vote "YES" on Amendment #89 and/or Amendment #101, which would cut funding for the Food for Peace program.
Amendment #89, by Rep. Ogles (R-TN) and Amendment #101 by Rep. Good (R-VA) would significantly reduce funding for the Food for Peace program by $870 million and $1 billion, respectively.
NTU urges all Representatives to vote "YES" on Amendment #164, which would limit the use of funds to carry out President Biden's executive orders on climate change.
Amendment #164, by Reps. Roy (R-TX) and Cammack (R-FL) would prevent the further spread of the harmful Biden administration climate change agenda that will result in higher energy prices through the Clean Power Plan 2.0, the tailpipe rule which will eliminate gas cars, and a plethora of other exorbitantly expensive executive actions.
NTU urges all Representatives to vote "YES" on Amendment #202 which would further cut topline funding for the entire bill by a substantial amount.
Amendment #202, by Rep. Rosendale (R-MT) would further reduce spending across the board for this entire bill by $717 million, relieving pressure on the federal debt.
Roll call votes on the above amendments will be significantly weighted in NTU’s annual Rating of Congress and a “YES” vote will be considered the pro-taxpayer position.
If you have any questions, please contact NTU Senior Manager of Government Affairs and Policy Nick Johns at njohns@ntu.org.