Posted December 15, 2014
The U.S.
Senate passed a $1.1 trillion spending package to fund the federal government
for the remaining fiscal period, according to a Food Safety News article
available here.
Feedstuffs also published an article available here.
On
Thursday, President Barack Obama stated that he would sign the bill “despite
the administration’s objections to certain riders and disappointment that the
bill will only fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 27, 2015.”
More than
$1 billion is allocated to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) in
the Cromnibus, almost $2.6 billion in discretionary funding for the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA), including almost $1 million for the Center for Food
Safety and Applied Nutrition and $147 million for the Center for Veterinary
Medicine.
Food
safety increased by $8 million for “advancing diagnostic capabilities using DNA
technology and enhancing surveillance, detection and prevention efforts at the
state and local level.”
The House
passed the bill by a 219-206 margin, according to Feedstuffs.
The bill
provides a total of $20.6 billion for agriculture in discretionary funding,
$305 million below the fiscal year 2014 enacted level.
For a summary
of the riders impacting agriculture, please visit Feedstuffs’ site here.
For more information on food safety, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
