House Passes FY 2006 Appropriations Bill for USDA, FDA, Etc.

(Although the House has passed H.R. 2744, it is not in effect. Generally, in order for a bill to be implemented, identical versions of that bill must be passed by both the House and Senate and then the bill must be approved (enacted) by the President.)

Bill would prohibit funding for implementation of country of origin labeling for meat and meat products.H.R. 2744 would prohibit funds appropriated or otherwise made available by the Act from being used for the implementation of Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat or meat products.

(The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, Public Law (P.L.) 107-171 required certain retailers of specified commodities to inform consumers at the final point of sale of the country of origin of those commodities, effective for retail sales of such commodities beginning September 30, 2004 (see below for details on effective date delay for certain commodities). The commodities subject to the new country of origin requirement include: (a) muscle cuts of beef, lamb, and pork; (b) ground beef, lamb, and pork; (c) certain perishable agricultural commodities (i.e., fresh fruits and vegetables, whether or not frozen or packed in ice, and certain cherries in brine); (d) farm-raised fish; (e) wild fish; and (f) peanuts.

The FY 2004 Omnibus Appropriations Act delayed the mandatory COOL for subject meat, produce and peanuts until September 30, 2006, but not for farm-raised and wild fish, which remained subject to the original September 30, 2004 effective date.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 01/26/04 news, 04012605, for BP summary on the passage by Congress of the FY 2004 Omnibus Appropriations conference report, which included the provision delaying the mandatory country of origin labeling for subject meat, produce, and peanuts (but not for fish).)

Of the above list of products, H.R. 2744 appears to only prohibit appropriated funds from being used to implement the country of origin labeling of meat or meat products.)

BSE detection and prevention activities. H.R. 2744 would fund Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) detection and prevention activities at about $90 million, the same as last year and the President's budget request.

Prohibition on use of funding to prevent certain individuals from importing prescription drugs. H.R. 2744 contains a prohibition on the use of funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act for the FDA under section 801 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prevent an individual not in the business of importing a prescription drug within the meaning of section 801(g) of such Act, wholesalers, or pharmacists from importing a prescription drug which complies with sections 501, 502, and 505.

Highlights of other trade-related funding provisions. Highlights of other trade-related provisions in H.R. 2744 include (partial list):

FSIS funding would be increased by $20 million for a total of $837 million, $127 million above the President's request. H.R. 2744 does not include $139 million in new user fees proposed by the Administration.

APHIS activities would be funded at $35 million above last year for a total of $849 million, a decrease of $13 million below the President's request. H.R. 2744 did not include $11 million in new user fees proposed by the Administration.

FDA would be funded at $1.5 billion, $36 million above last year and $14 million below the President's request.

a prohibition on the use of funds appropriated by this Act to carry out section 410 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 USC 679a) or section 30 of the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 USC 471), both of which are related to the Safe Meat and Poultry Inspection Panel; and

H.R. 2744 as passed by the House available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c109:./temp/c109zWGb57.

House Appropriations Committee press release on House passage of H.R. 2744 (dated 06/09/05) available at http://appropriations.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=490.

.HH.