House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday released its fiscal year 2018 Agriculture and related agencies bill

The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday released its fiscal year 2018 Agriculture and related agencies bill in preparation for a markup on Wednesday.The content of the bill signaled that appropriators were not taking direction from President Donald Trump’s budget proposal, which contained big cuts to farm and food aid programs.The bill totals $20 billion in discretionary funding, which is $876 million lower than the fiscal year 2017 enacted level, but also $4.64 billion more than the president’s budget request.In total, the bill allows for $144.9 billion in both discretionary and mandatory funding – $4.6 billion above the president’s request and $8.5 billion below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level. Discretionary funding alone provided by the bill is $20 billion – $876 million below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level.