‘Mini farm bill’ funds national animal disease research and management
Provisions in budget reconciliation bill signed by President Donald Trump in July lock in $233 million annually for national animal disease prevention and management programs for four years, starting in 2026.
Specifically, Congress reauthorized yearly funding of $10 million for the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), $70 million for the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP), and $153 million for the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank (NAVVCB) for fiscal years 2026-30.
The NAHLN is the national system of federal, state, and university veterinary diagnostic laboratories coordinated by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for detecting animal disease threats such as highly pathogenic avian influenza and African swine fever. NADPRP funds states, tribes, universities, and industry groups to prepare for, prevent, and respond to serious livestock diseases. Earlier this year, the USDA announced more than $15.3 million had been awarded through the NADPRP to over a hundred projects meant to protect the nation from livestock diseases. And finally, the NAVVCB is a U.S. stockpile of vaccines and diagnostic tools to combat high-consequence foreign animal diseases, primarily foot-and-mouth disease.
Funding authorizations for these programs would normally be included in the farm bill, the omnibus spending package for U.S. food and agriculture renewed by Congress every five years. However, the last time Congress passed a farm bill was 2018. Since then, lawmakers have been paying for programs otherwise funded by the farm bill by extending it year to year as part of continuing resolutions. The latest resolution expires September 30.
In a recent interview, Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, was not optimistic that Congress would pass a farm bill by the September deadline. “September would be great, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were pushed out further,” Boozman is quoted as saying.
Boozman described the Senate version of the bill as a “skinny” farm bill as he expects it will be far less than the $428 billion authorized in the 2018 farm bill.
Veterinary-related issues Congress has yet to address but could be part of the farm bill include the USDA’s Veterinary Services Grant Program, the Healthy Dog Importation Act, federal veterinary workforce recruitment and retention, and reauthorization of the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank.
A version of this story appears in the October 2025 print issue of JAVMA