Dale Bumpers: “I am pleased to join my very able colleague, Senator Cochran, in bringing to the Senate floor the fiscal year 1997…”

“I am pleased to join my very able colleague, Senator Cochran, in bringing to the Senate floor the fiscal year 1997 appropriations bill for Agriculture, rural development, the Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies. This bill, reported by the Senate Committee on Appropriations, provides $54.276 billion in total obligational authority for the coming year. That is $1.224 billion more than the House provided and $4 billion below the President's request. It is within the subcommittee's 602(b) allocation. This bill is nearly $10 billion below the amount under which we are operating this year, 1996. That will be $10 billion less than in 1997. The subcommittee's discretionary allocation has again been reduced this year from $13.31 billion in budget authority for 1996 to $12.102 billion for 1997. That is a reduction in discretionary spending of $529 million dollars. Unfortunately, we have received an increase of $300 million-plus in our allocation, which gets us a little closer to last year's level, but still the bottom line is that we have less to spend again this year. Mr. President, in all of my years on this subcommittee, the Agriculture Subcommittee, this year has been the most difficult.”