Sponsor
Andy Harris
Representative · R-MD
Representative · R-MD
Official title: Making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 25, 2025 by Andy Harris
The bill pursues tighter fiscal controls, oversight, and select program changes (school-meal cost protections, biotech research, procurement limits) while cutting or restricting funding and agency authority in ways that may weaken food‑safety protections, nutrition and conservation capacity, and USDA operational flexibility.
Students and families: school food authorities with solvent nonprofit meal accounts can avoid a paid-lunch price increase in 2026–2027, keeping school meal costs lower for millions of children and households.
Parents and infants: WIC food package updated to include certain peanut‑containing foods, supporting early allergen introduction recommendations and potentially reducing future allergy risk.
Researchers, farmers, and regulators: new funding for biotechnology risk‑assessment research strengthens scientific understanding of agricultural biotech safety and can inform better regulation and farming practices over time.
Low-income families, children, and conservation stakeholders: the bill rescinds or cancels multiple funding lines (including $100M from WIC, rescissions to Working Capital Fund balances, and cuts to NRCS accounts), reducing resources for nutrition assistance, conservation work, and USDA operations.
Consumers, public health systems, and program integrity: the bill delays or prohibits use of funds for several rulemakings and guidance (SNAP retailer standards, produce safety, FDA traceability rules, Listeria and sodium guidance), which could slow adoption of food‑safety protections and hamper outbreak prevention and investigation.
Federal workforce and public-health communications: broad bans on DEI programs and restrictions on classifying misinformation limit agencies' ability to run diversity initiatives and to identify/respond to harmful online content, potentially weakening workforce training and public-health messaging.
Based on analysis of 16 sections of legislative text.
Sets USDA administrative spending and approval rules, allows limited vehicle purchases, restricts Chinese poultry/seafood in child nutrition programs, delays a school paid-lunch pricing requirement, and funds biotech risk-assessment grants.
Provides appropriations-related authorities and administrative rules for agricultural programs, rural development, USDA operations, child nutrition procurement, and certain foreign-assistance conditions. It allows limited vehicle purchases and transfers into USDA’s Working Capital Fund under conditions; places procurement restrictions on poultry/seafood from the People’s Republic of China for federal child nutrition programs; delays a school paid-lunch pricing requirement for 2026–2027 for most districts; and sets various USDA administrative limits and grant directions. Also includes a temporary federal preemption for state "healthy" nutrient-content claims during an FDA compliance period, conditions on Food for Peace Title II use to prevent diversion, and directs funding for biotechnology risk-assessment research while restricting certain internal USDA organizational moves. Many sections are organizational headings without substantive provisions.