Sponsors (3)
Automatically appropriates inflation‑adjusted annual funding to four USDA research agencies starting FY2027 and exempts the Act from certain sequestration and PAYGO entries.
The bill secures predictable, inflation‑adjusted funding for USDA research and clarifies protections from sequestration—helping researchers and farmers—but does so at the cost of higher federal spending exposure, reduced PAYGO transparency/enforcement, and shifting sequestration pressure onto non‑exempt programs.
Scientists and USDA researchers receive steadily increasing, inflation‑adjusted funding through FY2036, giving long‑term research projects greater stability and planning certainty.
Farmers and agricultural producers benefit from sustained investment in agricultural research and statistics, which can improve productivity, innovation, and market information over time.
Certain federal accounts are explicitly clarified as exempt from sequestration, preserving funding for those programs and reducing uncertainty for agencies, recipients, and state partners when future sequestration orders are issued.
Taxpayers face increased fiscal risk because the bill locks in higher mandatory spending for research while excluding the Act from PAYGO scorekeeping, reducing transparency and weakening automatic deficit‑control enforcement.
Expanding or clarifying sequestration exemptions and locking in growth formulas can force larger proportional cuts onto non‑exempt programs or divert funds from other USDA priorities, harming farmers, state governments, and agency operations if overall resources are constrained.
Applying the sequestration amendment to any order issued on or after enactment could change deficit‑reduction mechanics immediately without a transition period, creating budgeting uncertainty for agencies and state partners.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Official title: Prioritize funding for an expanded and sustained national investment in agricultural research.
Introduced April 20, 2026 by Richard Joseph Durbin · Last progress April 20, 2026
Provides automatic, inflation‑adjusted annual appropriations for four USDA research agencies beginning in FY2027 and establishes temporary above‑baseline growth through FY2036. It also amends sequestration exemption language and directs that the Act’s budgetary effects not be recorded on certain statutory PAYGO scorecards.