Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 13, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 710 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 4766.

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Mr. NUSSLE. Mr. Chairman, I rise to speak on H.R. 4766, the Agricultural Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2005.

H.R. 4766 provides $16.8 billion in budget authority and $18.0 annually in outlays-a decrease of $875 million in BA and $181 million in outlays from fiscal year 2004.

As chairman of the House Budget Committee, I am pleased to report that the bill is consistent with the conference report on the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for fiscal year 2005--H. Con. Res. 95--which recently passed the full House but has yet to pass the Senate. The bill comes in at its 302(b) allocation for fiscal year 2005 and therefore complies with section 302(f) of the budget resolution, which limits appropriations measures to the allocation of the reporting subcommittee.

H.R. 4766 continues the practice on Agriculture Appropriations bills of changing mandatory programs to generate savings to offset discretionary spending. This year's bill contains nearly $1.3 billion in such changes to mandatory programs under the subcommittee's jurisdiction.

Let me conclude by commending Chairman Bonilla and Ranking Member Kaptur for a job well done in prioritizing the programs within their jurisdiction and coming to the floor with a bill that complies with this year's budget resolution.