07.10.25

Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Ag-FDA and Legislative Branch Bills

 

Committee approves Agriculture-FDA bill in 27-0 vote — BILL SUMMARY HERE

Committee approves Legislative Branch bill in 26-1 vote—BILL SUMMARY HERE

***WATCH and READ: Senator Murray’s opening remarks***

 

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee met for a full committee markup and approved its draft fiscal year 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies and Legislative Branch appropriations bills.

 

The Committee also met to consider the draft fiscal year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill—but the markup was ultimately recessed, and no final vote was taken on the bill.

 

“We have an important job here to come together and work through our differences, so we can fund the government, help families, and make our country safer and stronger,” said Vice Chair Patty Murray in her opening remarks. “Over the past few years, we’ve established a strong track record on this Committee of coming together—despite serious disagreements—to do just that with strong bipartisan bills. Now, the challenges we face—and the threats to this very process—are greater than ever before with an out-of-control president and an administration intent on ignoring the laws we write and seizing more power for themselves. And of course, for the first time ever, we are operating on a partisan, full-year continuing resolution for all twelve of our funding bills, which turned over more say on how our constituents’ taxpayer dollars get spent to unelected bureaucrats than any of us should be comfortable with. In the face of these immense challenges and threats, I believe it’s more important than ever that we ensure our constituents’ voices are heard by passing bipartisan, full-year spending bills. We cannot afford another disastrous slush fund CR that lets political appointees and bureaucrats—who have never been to our states—call the shots.”

 

Speaking about the three bills the Committee met to consider, Vice Chair Murray said in her opening remarks: “These are not the bills I would write on my own. I’d like to do a lot more to help struggling families and rural communities, and develop cutting edge technologies and science here in America. And I’ll keep pushing to do as much as I can, at every opportunity I can. … But at the end of the day, I do believe these bills are a good, compromise starting point—delivering critical resources to continue key programs and make targeted new investments, rejecting the President’s truly harmful proposed cuts, and steering clear of the extreme partisan policies the president has requested and that we’ve seen in the House bills over the last few years.”

 

At the markup, Vice Chair Murray also made clear her hope that the Committee can continue advancing its bipartisan work while again warning about how Republicans passing President Trump’s rescission request could affect that prospect. “What we are doing here today is how the process should work: members coming together and writing bills with bipartisan input. And I hope we can continue this process for all of our bills. The challenges we face are truly immense, and it is so important that we do the job we were sent here to do. But for us to be able to work in a bipartisan way effectively, that requires us to work with each other to not just write bipartisan funding bills—but to also defend them from partisan cuts sought by one President and his OMB director,” Senator Murray said in opening remarks.

 

In a 27-0 vote, the Committee approved the draft fiscal year 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.

 

“As Ranking Member of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Subcommittee, I’m proud to deliver this bipartisan bill that will help address the high costs that so many Americans are facing and invest in rural communities across the nation,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies Subcommittee. “The resources we secured will help support our efforts to tackle housing, food and energy costs, ensure New Hampshire’s farmers have the support they need, invest in the outdoor recreation economy, protect public health and more. I’m proud to have shaped this legislation in a way that benefits the Granite State and all of America.”

 

“Thank you, Chair Hoeven and Ranking Member Shaheen, for putting together a good bill that rejects reckless proposals to slash and eliminate programs that support rural communities and families and that, instead, keeps our families fed and our farms flourishing,” said Vice Chair Murray in comments on the bill. “This bill fully funds WIC at projected participation levels—with no benefits cuts—and provides targeted increases for Ag Research, rural housing, and food safety. And it rejects damaging calls to eliminate international food aid programs, voluntary conservation support for farmers and ranchers, and food boxes that feed hundreds of thousands of seniors. It invests in America—from helping farmers grow to helping our economy grow to helping kids and families grow.”

 

The following amendments to the bill were considered during today’s mark up:

  • Manager’s package offered by Chair Hoeven
    • Adopted unanimously.
  • Merkley amendment to add bill language requiring the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to fund extramural research at no less than fiscal year 2024 levels unless otherwise specified in the report.
    • Debated; withdrawn.

 

A summary of the bill is available HERE.

Final bill text, report, and adopted amendments will be available HERE later today.

 

In a 26-1 vote, the Committee approved the draft fiscal year 2026 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill.

 

“Maintaining the constitutional balance of power between Congress and the Executive has never been more important than it is today. To be an effective check and balance on the Executive Branch, Congress and our support agencies need the resources to do our jobs. This bipartisan bill focuses on security, oversight, campus operations, and constituent services—our most critical needs. Neither side got everything they wanted, but we found common ground on what matters most,” said Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Ranking Member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee.

 

“This bill supports the hardworking Congressional staff each of us relies on to help serve our constituents. It supports CBO [Congressional Budget Office], CRS [Congressional Research Service], and GAO [Government Accountability Office], which provide priceless insights to help us write strong legislation and root out waste and fraud in government. This is so important—we cannot accept the proposals we’ve seen to gut GAO or these independent agencies,” said Vice Chair Murray in comments on the bill. “This bill also supports the incredible AOC [Architect of the Capitol] team that keeps this building in good working order. And, it not only supports the dedicated personnel who keep us, and every visitor to the Capitol, safe—but it includes an essential increase for our Capitol Police, and emergency funding to protect lawmakers in the face of increased threats—something I hope we can continue to build on.”

 

The following amendments to the bill were considered during today’s mark up:

  • Manager’s package offered by Chair Mullin
    • Adopted unanimously.
  • Murray amendment to modernize the appointment processes for the Library of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, and the Government Publishing Office, ensuring that each agency’s head is appointed by the legislative branch since they are legislative branch agencies. At present, there is executive branch input in these selection processes. In 2023, similar modernization efforts were signed into law on a bipartisan basis for the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), another legislative branch agency.
    • Debated; withdrawn.

 

A summary of the bill is available HERE.

Final bill text, report, and adopted amendments will be available HERE later today.

 

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