House Appropriations Subcommittee Approves FY25 Agriculture and Rural Housing Funding Bill

Corrected July 12, 2024

On Tuesday evening, the House Appropriations Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee marked up and approved the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. The full House Appropriations Committee plans to consider the bill July 10.

The subcommittee-passed bill would provide $25.9 billion to agencies and programs it covers, $355 million below the FY24 enacted level and $2.69 billion below the President’s Budget Request. It provides $22 billion to USDA, $308 million less than FY24 and $2.5 billion below the President’s Budget Request.

• The Section 502 Single-Family Guaranteed Loan program would receive $25 billion, the same amount as the FY24 enacted level and $5 billion less than the President’s Budget Request.
• The Section 502 Single-Family Direct Loan program would receive $950 million, $70 million more than enacted in FY24 but $300 million less than the President’s Budget Request.
• The Section 521 Rental Assistance program would receive $1.684 billion, $76 million more than in FY24 and $44 million less than the President’s Budget Request.
• The Section 538 Multifamily Guaranteed Loan program would receive $400 million, the same level of funding as in FY24 and the President’s Budget Request.
• The Section 542 Rural Development Voucher program would receive $54 million, $6 million more than in FY24 and $54 million more than the President’s Budget Request.
• The Section 515 Multifamily Direct Loan program would receive $48 million, $12 million less than in FY24 and $22 million less than the President’s Budget Request.
• The Multifamily Housing Revitalization Demonstration program would receive $28 million, $6 million less than FY24 and $62 million less than the President’s Budget Request.

The bill also includes language allowing the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to decouple rental assistance for up to 1,000 units in properties with maturing USDA multifamily loans, in addition to the authority for the Secretary to decouple up to 1,000 units enacted in last year’s Agriculture appropriations bill.

Subcommittee Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD) opened the markup acknowledging the bill’s total spending is less than last year’s bill but said, “The bill takes the same approach American families take every day — they have to do more with less under the Biden economy…. Sometimes tough decisions have to be made.”

Ranking Member Sanford Bishop (D-GA) expressed concern with the bill, highlighting lower funding levels for USDA’s Rural Development staffing and salaries as well as its Single-Family Direct Loan program. Bishop complained the bill is not consistent with funding levels enacted in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which were the basis for FY24 appropriations bills and should be, in his opinion, the starting point for FY25 appropriations bills.