Senate Appropriations Leaders Issue Plans to Proceed with FY24 Funding Bills, Including Ag Approps

With Congress returning to D.C., U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) – the Chair and Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee respectively – issued a statement laying out plans to proceed with consideration of the first set of appropriations bills on the Senate floor.

The FY24 Agriculture Appropriations bill is one of the first three bills set to be considered by the full Senate. The other funding bills are the Fiscal Year 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies; and the FY24 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

“We are pleased to announce we are working to move ahead with the first package of appropriations bills on the Senate floor as early as next week. This summer, we worked with our colleagues in a bipartisan way to draft and pass out of Committee all twelve appropriations bills for the first time in years—and did so with overwhelming bipartisan votes. This is a critical next step as we continue working collaboratively in the Senate to keep our government funded, find common ground, and deliver for the people back home that we represent.”

“We appreciate Senators Murray and Collins for recognizing the importance of passing the agriculture funding bill before the end of the fiscal year,” said NPC President RJ Andrus. “The committee-passed bill includes historic levels of investment in research for the potato industry. It also ensures that potatoes are available as an option for schools across the country in feeding kids healthy breakfasts. We urge the House to quickly move forward their funding bill so potato growers can have the certainty that these vital research programs will continue to receive funding.”

Earlier this summer, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported all twelve individual appropriations bills out of the committee for the first time in five years. On the other side of Capitol Hill, the FY24 Ag Approps bill is currently before the House Rules Committee, which did not take up the bill before the August Recess. Amendments offered to the House bill before it stalled would shut down the operations of Potatoes USA and also restrict the ability for potatoes to be served to school children at breakfast.