ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES 2009 BUDGET
News Date February 04, 2008
President Bush on February 4 released the administration's 2009 budget proposal which provides a record $3.1 trillion in spending for the next fiscal year. The budget request generally freezes most federal domestic spending, while boosting dollars for defense.
The FY09 budget would provide USDA with total expenditures of about $95 billion, the same funding level as FY08. Roughly 76 percent of expenditures, or $72 billion in 2009, will be for mandatory programs that provide services required by law, which include many of the nutrition assistance, commodity, export promotion and conservation programs. USDA's discretionary programs account for the remaining 24 percent of expenditures, or $23 billion in 2009. USDA Secretary Ed Schafer released a statement highlighting the agricultural budget which is available at http://www.usda.gov. (Contact: Charlie Ingram)