The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee held a brief and final hearing on the President’s FY14 USDA budget request on May 23. Committee Chair Mark Pryor thanked the USDA hearing witnesses for their work to help farmers and rural Americans during the past fiscal year. “Each of you is doing good things for rural America,” said Chair Pryor. The Chair recognized that “we are in a budget constrained environment,” and noted that “Rural Development staff has been cut by 18% since 2010,” even before sequestration was implemented. John O’Brien of USDA Rural Development said that the President’s FY14 budget “continues the commitment to rural America.” Mr. O’Brien said that the department made “difficult choices” in putting together the budget request but provides a “mix of grants and loans to help rural families.” Ranking Member Roy Blunt questioned Mr. O’Brien about the rural housing Rental Assistance program and the potential impacts of sequestration on the people served by the program before September 30, the end of this fiscal year. Mr. O’Brien said that the Rural Housing Service does “not envision negative impact on tenants in near term.” Mr. O’Brien said that “funds are not sufficient for all renewals” and that USDA is working with owners to mitigate this funding shortfall. They are exploring strategies such as deferring loan payments, extending loan terms, and allowing owners to use reserve funding for operations, said Mr. O’Brien. However, when contracts are renewed in the next fiscal year, said Mr. O’Brien, there will be “cascading affects through next year,” due to the shortfall. Chair Pryor requested an explanation of the anticipated impacts of sequestration on the USDA in writing from each of the witnesses. The Chair said that the next meeting of the Subcommittee will be the mark up of its FY14 spending bill.