The America Grows Act of 2026 would provide mandatory appropriations — direct spending that bypasses the annual appropriations process — for four USDA agricultural research agencies: the Agricultural Research Service, the Economic Research Service, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. For fiscal year 2027, each would receive 105 percent of its FY2026 baseline plus the Consumer Price Index increase. For FY2028 through 2036, each would get 105 percent of its previous year's amount plus CPI — sustaining roughly 5-percent real growth for a decade. Beginning FY2037, growth would shift to CPI-only adjustment. The mandatory appropriations are exempt from sequestration under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act and excluded from both statutory and Senate PAYGO scorecards. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois leads the bill with Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas.
Average Household Impact
- USDA agricultural research funding — Mandatory appropriations growth of 5% per year + CPI for FY2027-2036 across Agricultural Research Service, ERS, NASS, and NIFA
Transparency & Accountability
- Annual appropriations oversight — Mandatory direct appropriations bypass annual congressional appropriations process
- Sequestration applicability — Funds exempted from Balanced Budget Act sequestration
- PAYGO scorecards — Budgetary effects excluded from both statutory and Senate PAYGO scorecards
Congressional Summary
America Grows Act of 2026This bill permanently funds several agencies that perform agriculture research.The bill provides specified funding for the following agencies within the Department of Agriculture:the Agricultural Research Service,the Economic Research Service,the National Agricultural Statistics Service, andthe National Institute of Food and Agriculture.The bill exempts the funding from sequestration, which is a process of automatic, usually across-the-board spending reductions under which budgetary resources are permanently cancelled to enforce specific budget policy goals.It also exempts the budgetary effects of the funding from the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (PAYGO) and the Senate PAYGO rule.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-04-20
- Date Added
- 2026-05-13
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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