Annapolis, MD - The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) praised the fiscal year 2022 Senate budget resolution introduced today for including an increase of $135 billion over ten years for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs.
The $3.5 trillion budget resolution directs the Senate Agriculture Committee to write legislation detailing how USDA should allocate the additional funds, which work out to $13.5 billion annually from fiscal 2022 through fiscal 2031. These directions are known as “reconciliation instructions.”
The budget resolution directs all Senate committees given reconciliation instructions to draft legislation carrying out those instructions by September 15. The Senate Budget Committee then combines the finished bills into a single piece of legislation for the chamber to consider. Senate budget rules only require a simple majority of 50 votes, or 51 in the case of a tie, to pass a reconciliation bill.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Federal Executive Director Denise Stranko released the following statement:
“CBF is pleased to see the Senate budget resolution includes an additional $135 billion over ten years for USDA programs. We urge Congress, starting with the Senate Agriculture Committee, to seize the opportunity to make game-changing investments in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that will both reduce pollution and implement farming practices that help combat climate change.
“The Chesapeake Bay region’s states have less than five years left to adopt practices necessary to restore the Bay and its waterways, and 80 percent of the remaining pollution reductions must come from agriculture.
“CBF thanks Bay delegation members of the Senate Budget Committee, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), along with Bay advocates Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Chris Coons (D-De.). We also thank Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), and Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) for ensuring the Senate budget resolution included more money for USDA.”
