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The flagship U.S. program for international food assistance, Food for Peace, would be transferred to the Department of Agriculture and lose more than half its budget under the draft fiscal 2026 spending bill released by the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.
The bill that the panel will consider on Thursday would also require USDA to study the feasibility of adding a “Buy American” requirement to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, an idea floated recently by the subcommittee’s chairman, Andy Harris, R-Md. The study would also look at the impact of such a requirement on the domestic agricultural economy.
The future of Food for Peace has been up in the air since Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development after President Donald Trump took office.
The legislation says USDA can essentially take over running the program, an idea recently floated by Republican lawmakers from farm states. Aid experts told Agri-Pulse earlier this year that it would likely take USDA some time to transition into managing the program.
The spending bill would allocate just $900 million for Food for Peace, which would be the lowest funding level for the program since 2002, according to Appropriations Committee Democrats. The program received $2 billion for fiscal 2025 and has so far spent about $246 million, according to usaspending.gov. That leaves about $1.7 billion to be obligated.
The bill also would maintain funding for the McGovern-Dole international food and education grants program at about $220.3 million.
Harris brought up his Buy American proposal during a hearing last month with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. He said such a requirement would ensure federal dollars are used to buy nutritious food domestically, and argued anything with nutritional value could be grown in the United States.
The bill would delay funding for the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act traceability rule. The bill would require FDA to complete four pilots of the rule, which increases recordkeeping requirements to expedite foodborne illness outbreak investigations.
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This is not the first time lawmakers have tried to include this language in House appropriations, but it was not included in Senate versions.
Under the Trump administration, the FDA did delay the rule’s compliance date by 30 months, or until June 20, 2028. But the agency signaled it was not planning to change traceability requirements.
Another provision in the FY26 spending bill would add language to the Food and Nutrition Act expanding the scope of SNAP pilots USDA can approve. Currently, the law allows the agency to conduct SNAP pilots that may improve efficiency and delivery of benefits to eligible households. The appropriations provision would add that pilots can be conducted to “improve the health of members of participating households by restricting their purchase of non-nutritious food and beverage items.”
Statehouses and governors across the country are advancing legislation that seeks a waiver to restrict SNAP purchases of soda or candy. So far, USDA has approved three of these pilots. The language could protect against legal challenges to these tests.
The bill would maintain funding levels for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) at $7.597 billion. However, it rescinds $100 million from carryover funds and cuts the cash value voucher by 10% to “begin a reset” to pre-pandemic levels.
The bill also would maintain funding for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program at $425 million. The program helps provide food to low-income seniors.
Trump’s FY26 budget request suggested cutting the program and instead investing in “MAHA food boxes” that would resemble the Farmers to Families food boxes from the first Trump administration.
The appropriators also largely reject the White House proposal to slash funding for conservation staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The agency's conservation operations account would be funded at $850 million, a reduction of $46 million from FY25, but far more than the $112 million the White House requested.
In addition, the bill would preserve the Rural Energy for America Program and ReConnect broadband assistance program operated by USDA Rural Development. REAP, which funds renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, would get funding to provide $50 million worth of REAP loans, the same amount available for FY25.
ReConnect would be funded at $90 million for FY26, the same as FY25.
The legislation, which also includes funding for the Food and Drug Administration and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, would reduce total discretionary funding by 4.4%, or $1.2 billion, to $25.5 billion for FY26 for the covered departments and agencies. The funding doesn’t include programs for which funding levels are mandated by laws such as the farm bill.
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