Last week, the Senate voted 84-9 to approve the $214 billion “domestic” appropriations minibus. The package includes funding for the Appropriations Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

The Agriculture Appropriations bill supports egg producers with funding to carry out high-priority research programs, including research for improving the efficiency and sustainability of laying hen and turkey production through integrated, collaborative research and technology transfer. The bill emphasizes laying hen and turkey disease prevention, antimicrobial resistance, nutrition, gut health, and alternative housing systems under extreme seasonal weather conditions. Although the Senate has passed this appropriations package, a procedural vote on H.R. 2740, the minibus carrying the Defense and Labor-HHS-Education spending bills, was rejected. Negotiators are currently working on another Continuing Resolution (CR) to prevent a government shutdown after November 21. It is unclear how long the CR would last, but members have said a year-long stopgap spending bill is possible.