The USDA FY27 budget House proposal released April 22, 2026 sets total discretionary spending at $26.27 billion — $380 million, or 1.4 percent, below the Fiscal Year 2026 enacted level. The House Appropriations Committee’s Agriculture Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Andy Harris, will mark up the bill on April 23 at 9:00 a.m. Harris called it “fiscally responsible” legislation that builds on the Trump Administration’s efforts to reduce the federal bureaucracy and redirect USDA toward programs that directly benefit farmers. The bill will be livestreamed on the Committee’s website.
The largest single allocation in the bill goes to the Food and Drug Administration, which receives $7.1 billion under the proposal, aligned with the administration’s Make America Healthy Again priorities. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service receives $1.16 billion — a priority in the president’s budget to protect U.S. agriculture from foreign pests and diseases. USDA’s Office of Homeland Security would receive a $13.6 million funding increase under the bill.
USDA FY27 budget House bill adds Agriculture Secretary to CFIUS foreign land review
One of the most significant structural changes in the bill is adding the Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the federal body that reviews national security implications of foreign investment transactions. Under the bill, the Agriculture Secretary would specifically review agricultural land transactions involving China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. The bill also improves the tracking system for foreign-owned agricultural land. That provision connects directly to the ongoing political debate over Chinese farmland ownership, which is now a top issue in state-level governor’s races including Oklahoma’s 2026 Republican primary. For context on the current scale of foreign agricultural land ownership, Agroinformacion covered how China holds just 0.6% of all foreign-held U.S. farmland despite dominating the political debate.
The bill also directs USDA to provide transparency into research funding involving foreign governments including China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, and increases inspection of foreign drug manufacturing facilities in China and India. Funding for land-grant universities to conduct agricultural research to compete with China is also included.
What the USDA FY27 budget House bill eliminates and what it protects
The bill eliminates funding for the Biden-era Rural Partners Network and provides no funds for climate hubs or climate corps. It retains a gene editing provision that prohibits the editing of heritable genes. It maintains Buy American procurement requirements and prevents discrimination based on traditional marriage beliefs. On the regulatory side, the bill reins in Biden-era rules governing how poultry and livestock producers raise and market animals. It also increases resources for the Food Safety and Inspection Service to fund frontline meat and poultry inspectors and bolster state inspection programs.
Chairman Tom Cole said American agriculture plays a critical role in national strength and that the bill makes targeted investments to protect that foundation while maintaining fiscal discipline. The full bill text and summary are available on the House Appropriations Committee website, where the April 23 markup will also be livestreamed.