Five months late, USDA gets full-year funding

President Biden signed into law a $460 billion appropriations bill with funding through Sept. 30 for the USDA and five other federal departments on Saturday, providing full-year funding after four stopgap bills. House and Senate leaders have a March 22 deadline to agree on and pass a funding bill for the rest of the federal government.

Under the bill, the USDA will become a member, on a case by case basis, of the Committee on Financial Investment in the United States, which determines if transactions pose a national security risk; and the Women, Infants and Children program was allotted $7.03 billion, a $1-billion increase from fiscal 2023 because of high food prices and rising enrollment.

The White House is scheduled to release its proposed fiscal 2025 budget on Tuesday. Fiscal years begin each Oct 1.

Senators passed the full-year funding bill for the six federal departments, 75-22, on Friday, two days after the House passed the bill, 339-85. In both chambers, a sizable block of Republicans voted against the bill.