McCollum's $7 Million Request for New Plant Disease Research Lab in Saint Paul Advances

Congresswoman Betty McCollum (MN-04) and the House Appropriations Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2023 Agriculture-Rural Development-Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Bill and report today, including McCollum's Community Project Funding (CPF) request, which will benefit Minnesota's Fourth Congressional District and U.S. agriculture at large:

• Project: USDA Agricultural Research Service Cereal Disease Lab located on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota ($7,000,000)
  This initial funding will help lay the groundwork for the planning and development of a new next generation laboratory facility that will make gains in addressing new and emerging pathogenic strains in important agricultural crops in order to mitigate risks to U.S. agriculture and our global food supply.

"The Agricultural Research Service's Cereal Disease Lab will be critical for Minnesota agriculture and our global food supply," Rep. McCollum said. "I'm proud to secure funding to facilitate this important research to ensure sustainable and healthy crops. Additionally, this Appropriations bill makes important investments in the safety of the food on our tables, the development of rural communities, and support for Minnesota farmers. Overall, this funding bill prioritizes public health by investing in nutrition assistance, consumer safety, and more, and I'm glad to see the full House Appropriations Committee advance it to the House Floor."

Background:

For 2023, the bill provides funding of $27.2 billion – a critical increase of $2.075 billion, 8 percent– above 2022. In total, the bill includes $195 billion for both discretionary programs funded on an annual basis and mandatory programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The legislation:

• Includes McCollum-requested language addressing the dangers of harmful skin-lightening cosmetic products, which disproportionately impact women of color
• Addresses the dangers of Chronic Wasting Disease with funding to help states and tribes develop CWD surveillance, testing, management, and response activities.
• Rebuilds our public health infrastructure and strengthens the safety of our baby formula market with increased funding to address maternal and infant nutrition, including resources for the ‘Closer to Zero' initiative to reduce exposure to toxic elements in babies' and young children's food, emerging food-related chemical and toxicological issues, drug safety oversight, as well as providing additional resources for in-person inspections of one of the largest foreign drug manufacturing countries, and drug and device supply chain monitoring and surveillance. The bill also invests in our public health infrastructure by modernizing FDA's data infrastructure to better ensure the safety and security of the food and medical supply chain.
• Tackles hunger and nutrition insecurity by providing increased access to fruits and vegetables to 6.2 million people through WIC and ensuring 43.5 million people in SNAP-eligible families get the benefits they need. The bill also invests in the health of America's kids through Child Nutrition programs, like school meals, which are now the healthiest source of food consumed in the United States.
• Grows opportunity and lifts up rural communities with a critical increase for rural broadband, a new 1 percent loan program for water programs for rural areas, and a record investment of $1.5 billion in single family home loans.
• Provides important investments to ensure equitable participation in USDA programs. In total, the bill provides increases for extension, research, and capacity grants at our 1890 land grants, 1994 land grants, and Hispanic serving institutions to help strengthen the pipeline for the future of agriculture. It also provides increased funding to improve outreach and program access to historically underserved communities and more than doubles funding for Tribal relations activities.
• Provides full pay and FERS costs for both USDA and FDA. For FDA, this is the first time in years such costs have been provided. Including these costs ensures that these expenses do not come out of base program funding.

The bill next heads to the floor of the U.S. House Floor for debate and approval.

A summary of the bill is here. The text of the bill is here. In keeping with the Appropriations Committee's commitment to transparency, information on Rep. McCollum's Community Project Funding requests is available here.

###