President’s Budget Leaves Many Blanks in USDA Farm Energy Budget

Congress has yet to enact a new Farm Bill, and, in the temporary extension of the 2008 Farm Bill enacted at the beginning of the year, Congress did not provide any new mandatory funding for energy efficiency, bioenergy, or other renewable energy programs. The administration has repeatedly expressed strong support for these programs. However, as he did last year, in his FY14 budget request for farm programs, the President did not propose any discretionary or mandatory funding for most of the farm energy programs, leaving it to Congress to decide.

The 2008 Farm Bill expired September 30, 2012. In the final act of the 112th Congress in early January, Congress extended the 2008 Farm Bill through September 30, 2013, but did not provide any additional funding for Energy Title programs. Rarely in recent years has Congress provided any discretionary funding for rural energy programs. For the most part, only programs that received mandatory funding in the 2008 Farm Bill have received funds needed to carry out the programs. Overall funding for these programs has declined dramatically since FY10.

Agriculture committees in both the House and Senate are expected to begin marking up new versions of the Farm Bill this spring, and assuring reauthorization and mandatory funding for energy title programs will be a critical concern. For a relatively small public investment – matched by significantly larger private resources – these programs are a win-win for advancing many critical national environmental, energy, and economic priorities.

Here is the breakdown of the President’s budget request for fiscal year 2014 (FY14):

For more information, you can see a summary of the USDA budget request here .