Summer 2024

Presidential Election

Although neither party has officially nominated its candidate, the first debate between President Biden and former President Trump took place on Thursday, June 27th.


The dates for each convention follows. The Republicans are up first and will be in Milwaukee, WI from July 15th - July 18th. The Democrats will convene in Chicago, IL from August 19th - 22nd. 



Stay tuned for a second Presidential debate currently scheduled to take place on September 10th.


The election is November 5, 2024.

Farm Bill


There was a great deal of action on the next Farm Bill during the month of May. The House held a markup of its bill on May 23rd. A summary from Chairman GT Thompson (R-PA) can be found here.


On the Senate side, competing versions of the legislation were introduced. Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) released the Democrats version, which is summarized here.


A few weeks later, Ranking Member of the Agriculture Committee Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), released the Republican priorities for the bill, which can be found here.



With the election looming in November, it remains to be seen whether the House and Senate can bridge their differences, which primarily revolve around the provisions for spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 


Appropriations for FY 2025


The appropriations process for Fiscal Year 2025 continues to move in the House, though the expectation is that none of the bills will be completed before the September 30th deadline. House Republicans plan to increase defense spending by 1 percent, while cutting all other domestic spending by at least 6 percent. This would certainly include cuts to many of our key programs. A summary of the House Agriculture Appropriations bill for FY 2025 can be found here.


The Senate has been much slower to pass its versions of appropriations bills, and is not projected to finish them before the end of the current Fiscal Year. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) issued a factsheet on the impact of some of the proposed spending cuts.


As a result of this delay, Congress will have to pass a Continuing Resolution, or CR, extending current funding levels into November or December, past the upcoming election.

FAFSA Announcements from the Department of Education


Recognizing the issues that have hampered the rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, the Department of Education made several announcements on this issue. Jeremy Singer, President of the College Board, will oversee the FAFSA strategy at the Office of Federal Student Aid.


The Department also announced that it will use the same FAFSA form for the 2025-2026 school year in an effort to cut the bureaucratic steps needed for launching the form on October 1. The Department will host listening sessions this summer about the new form. Guidance for the new form can be found here.

Gainful Employment Rule


Several of the provisions of the Biden Administration’s Gainful Employment (GE) regulation, which were initially supposed to go into effect on July 1st, have been put on hold or otherwise enjoined by the courts. More information can be found here. AAVMC will continue to monitor this issue.

Advocacy Letters



The AAVMC continues to work closely with a wide array of organizations that share our interests in supporting the advancement of academic veterinary medicine, food security and public health. The letters below reflect some of that recent activity.


AAVMC Government Affairs



Please contact: Kevin Cain, Director for Government Affairs at kcain@aavmc.org or 202-371-9195 (ext. 117) with any comments, questions and suggestions about our program.

AAVMC Newsletters


The AAVMC is working hard to create a culture of diversity and inclusion in every dimension of academic veterinary medicine. To foster this goal, the photographs and illustrations which are used in our communications programs are aspirational, and do not necessarily reflect the levels of diversity and inclusion that currently exist.


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