PUBLIC AFFAIRS

House Approves $189 Million for NRI in Fiscal Year 2007

Spending recommendations for fiscal year 2007 for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including its research programs, were made by the House Appropriations Committee on May 9. The recommendations are in H.R. 5384 and House Report 109-463. The report can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgibin/cpquery/T?&report=hr463&dbname=109&.

The committee recommended $190 million for the National Research Initiative (NRI), an increase of $8,830,000 above the amount available for FY2006. The indirectcost cap on competitively awarded research, education, and extension grants would be increased to 22 percent in the FY2007 recommendation, compared to the current-year cap of 20 percent. When the House subsequently considered the bill, it approved an amendment reducing the increase for the NRI by $1 million.

The committee decided to keep Section 406 Integrated Programs in a separate account from the NRI. (The Department of Agriculture had sought to move Section 406 programs into the NRI.) These Section 406 integrated activities would receive $38,589,000 in FY2007 under the recommendation. Funding is at $42,286,000 in the current year for Section 406 programs. Section 406 Integrated programs are water quality, food safety, regional pest management centers, crops at risk from Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) implementation, FQPA risk mitigation program for major food crop systems, methyl bromide transition program, and organic transition program.

The recommendation provides a 3 percent increase for research funded under the Hatch Act, 3 percent increase for cooperative forestry research, and 3 percent increase for the Evans-Allen Program (payments to the 1890 land-grant colleges, Tuskegee University, and West Virginia State University). The recommendation maintains the current formula used to determine distribution of funds under the Hatch Act and McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry funds.

The committee recommendation for Agricultural Research Service (ARS) salaries and expenses in FY2007 is $1,057,603,000. This is a decrease of $66 million from the current-year level and an increase of $56 million above the department’s FY2007 budget request.