/>i- On June 10, the House Appropriations Committee released the full committee markup of Fiscal Year 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Bill. A summary of the bill can be found here.
- The bill puts forth the proposed 2026 budget for several federal agencies including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Currently, the bill provides roughly $6.7 billion for FDA and $22 billion for USDA.
- The act highlights restrictions on how the allocated money can be spent and what the money can be spent on. For example, FDA is prohibited from promoting any new guidelines or regulations applicable to food manufacturers for Listeria monocytogenes until FDA considers the available new science in updating Compliance Policy Guide (CGP), Sec. 555.320. FDA is also prohibited from developing new long-term guidelines on sodium reduction until it considers the impact of its short-term sodium reduction targets.
- The bill also clarifies that until the compliance date of the new healthy rule (February 25, 2028), industry may rely on either the previous or the new requirements, and that states are preempted from enacting any different requirements.
- Among the provisions related to animal feed, the bill provides that all ingredients listed in the AAFCO Official Publication Chapter 6 are GRAS unless FDA has made a contrary determination. Separately, FDA would be directed to develop standards for “natural” claims for animal food.
- The bill also places protections on the hemp industry by forbidding the use of any funds allocated by this act to prohibit the “transportation, processing, sale, or use of hemp … within or outside the State in which the hemp is grown or cultivated.” It would also narrow the definition of “hemp” to cover only products with a total tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of not more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis (as opposed to the current definition’s focus only on the delta-9 THC content).
- This bill is, of course, subject to change as the appropriations process moves ahead. Keller and Heckman will continue to monitor activities involving FDA’s funding for FY26.
House Appropriations Committee Releases FY26 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Bill
Thursday, June 19, 2025
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