Senate Agriculture Committee gets its operating budget for two years
S.Res. 57 — An original resolution authorizing expenditures by the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. · Filed by John Boozman (R-AR) · Introduced Feb 5, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This resolution authorizes the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry to spend money on its operations — staff salaries, consultants, training, and other expenses — from March 2025 through February 2027. The total authorized spending across all periods is approximately $15.3 million, drawn from the Senate's contingent fund. This is routine congressional housekeeping that allows the committee to function and conduct its legislative work.
Why we flagged it
This is a standard biennial resolution authorizing a Senate committee's budget and staffing for a two-year congressional session — a routine procedural instrument with no substantive policy content.
What the text implies
- The $200,000 consultant cap per period is relatively modest and may limit the committee's ability to bring in specialized outside expertise on complex agricultural or nutrition policy questions.
- Nonreimbursable use of executive agency personnel (with consent) could subtly blur the line between legislative oversight and executive branch influence on committee work, though this is a standard and long-standing Senate practice.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Funding a standing Senate committee enables it to hold hearings, conduct investigations, and exercise oversight over agriculture, nutrition, and forestry policy — functions that serve the public interest by maintaining democratic accountability in those sectors.
Who stands to gain
- committee staff and employees
- individual consultants and consulting organizations
- Senate administrative service providers (Sergeant at Arms, Postmaster, etc.)
Named in the bill
Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Committee on Rules and Administration, Senator Boozman, Office of the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper, Keeper of the Stationery, Postmaster of the Senate, Senate Recording and Photographic Services, Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946
Where it stands
- Feb 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 5, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Rules and Administration · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration. (text: CR S671)”
- Feb 5, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Boozman.”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,643 characters) on Mar 15, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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