FY 2017 Budget and Appropriations: Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, chaired a hearing last Wednesday to review the FY 2017 budget request for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Witnesses at this hearing included The Honorable Thomas Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, as well as Robert Johansson, Chief Economist at USDA, and Michael Young, USDA Budget Officer. Secretary Vilsack stressed the importance of WIC in his testimony, and assured the Subcommittee that the administration’s desired funding for 2017 will be adequate to meet WIC caseload needs.
The House Budget Committee, chaired by Congressman Tom Price (R-GA), is planning a markup of its FY 2017 budget resolution this Wednesday, according to Republican aides. Once the House and Senate budget resolutions are adopted, the Appropriations Committees in both chambers can then allocate spending levels for their subcommittees (including the Subcommittees on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, which set funding for WIC).
Child Nutrition Reauthorization: There is no planned movement on Child Nutrition Reauthorization this week.