CONGRESSMAN BISHOP SUPPORTS BIPARTISAN BILL TO SET FISCAL YEAR 2024 SPENDING FOR MANY FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS, AGENCIES, AND PROGRAMS ESSENTIAL TO GEORGIA
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02), the Ranking Member of the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, the Food & Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, voted to support bipartisan legislation that will fund many federal departments, agencies, and programs for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2024. The bill was approved by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 339-85 and now heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
Congressman Bishop, as a senior leader of the committee who helped craft the bill, spoke during debate on the legislation.
“The ‘Ag’ bill affects the lives of every single American – rural, urban, and suburban – every single day and ensures that Americans have access to abundant, safe, and affordable food, fiber, medicine, and medical devices,” noted Congressman Bishop. “The bill takes care of our families, helps prevent hunger, fully funding SNAP as well as WIC... It protects the Ag Secretary’s authority to use the CCC, and it blocks cuts to distressed Farm Service Agency borrowers to help the farmers who feed our country... It rejects severe cuts to rural electric co-ops and the REAP program which help rural businesses save on energy costs and help make rural energy grids more sustainable and resilient.”
WATCH: Congressman Bishop Calls on U.S. House Colleagues to Support FY24 Funding Bill
The bill was negotiated by U.S. House and U.S. Senate leaders along with the White House. It will cover Agriculture, Rural Development, the Food & Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.
The bill provides funding for a wide range of essential federal programs that affect every American. Highlights of these include:
Caring for America’s Veterans and Military Families
- $336 million for Child Development Centers and $2 billion for Family Housing to help America’s military families;
- $121 billion for Veterans Medical Care as well as $112.6 billion in advance fiscal year 2025 funding for Veterans Medical Care;
Ensuring the Most Abundant, Safest, and Affordable Food Fiber and Medicine
- $7.03 billion to provide nutrition assistance to Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) as well as $119 billion for SNAP;
- $1.5 billion for the Farm Service Agency and $223 million to help market American agricultural products as well as $389 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and $10 million for the Farmers Market Nutrition Program and $80 million for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP);
- $3.8 billion for agriculture research that helps America’s farmers and producers through a national network of programs, partnerships, and research facilities including the National Peanut Laboratory in Dawson (Terrell County) and the Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory in Byron (Peach County);
- $3.5 billion to support the Food and Drug Administration’s mission to ensure Americans have abundant, affordable and safe medicine and medical devices;
Investing in Public Safety, Local Economies, and America’s Waterways
- $468 million to the Economic Development Administration to establish a foundation for sustainable job growth and the building of durable regional economies throughout the country as well as $175 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program to help small and medium sized American manufacturers create and preserve jobs;
- $4.5 billion in grants to state and local law enforcement through several Department of Justice programs;
- $8.7 billion to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which includes $2.8 billion for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund that supports America’s vital ports – including the Port of Savannah – and $440 million for Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation to care for the country’s dam and levee infrastructure – including projects in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin;
- $200 million to help ensure undisrupted energy services to Americans by protecting the country's energy infrastructure from cybersecurity threats and other hazards;
- $3.3 billion for the National Park Service which includes sites in Georgia’s Second Congressional District like the Jimmy Carter National Historic Park and Andersonville National Historic Site – allowing Americans to visit these important sites and supporting local jobs and the economies of the communities in which these sites are located;
- $2.8 billion for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds which supports state governments, like Georgia’s, grant funds to local communities to make repairs and improvements that ensure residents have access to clean water and communities can maintain sewer treatment systems;
- $20.1 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration as well as $60.8 billion for the Federal Highway Administration which provides funds to states to then direct to local and regional projects;
- $32.4 billion for Tenant-based Rental Assistance that serves 2.3 million very low-and extremely low-income households nationwide as well as $12.6 billion for Community Planning and Development which supports Community Development Block Grants and affordable homes through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program;
- $158 million for NeighborWorks to support unique solutions to expand affordable housing options, increase housing counseling assistance, and strengthen economic development.
A summary of the bill and its provisions can be viewed on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee website: https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/FY24%20Summary%20of%20Appropriations%20Provisions.pdf.
Congressman Bishop also secured over $15 million in funding for projects specifically in Georgia’s Second Congressional District. You can learn more about these projects by visiting the Congressman’s website at https://bishop.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-bishop-secures-over-15-million-in-fiscal-year-2024-federal-funding-bill-to-support-middle-southwest-georgia-community-projects.
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PHOTO CAPTION: Congressman Bishop urges his U.S. House colleagues to support H.R. 4366, a Fiscal Year 2024 bill which funds a wide range of federal departments, agencies, and programs