Congressional appropriators have released the first final spending bills of the fiscal 2026 cycle, including legislation to fund the Department of Agriculture.
Lawmakers on Sunday unveiled their Agriculture-FDA, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Legislative Branch bills. The idea is to pass them along with a stopgap for other agencies to end the government shutdown.
The Agriculture-FDA bill includes $26.7 billion in discretionary spending and rejects many cuts proposed by the White House and House appropriators.
Senate Democrats said the bill would provide $903 million for conservation programs while rejecting the White House’s call to scrap discretionary funding for conservation technical assistance.
The Military Construction-VA bill includes more than $1 billion to help promote resilience. The Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment Program would get more than $700 million.
Appropriators finalizing and releasing the three-bill minibus doesn’t mean there’s an agreement to end the shutdown. Democrats and Republicans are still working out differences related to Obamacare subsidies.
Also, House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) objected to releasing the text absent a broader accord.
