Spending on the principal federal program for academic research and education in agriculture would be cut by 7 percent, to about $627.4-million, under a bill approved on Thursday by a U.S. House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee.

That plan appeared to reflect a pledge by the House Democratic leadership to slice by half the amount spent in 2008 on noncompetitively awarded earmarks, although details of the bill were not immediately available.

For 2007 the Democratic leaders stripped most earmarks out of the federal budget for one year, promising they would return in 2008. That pledge included all earmarks in the Agriculture Department’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, or Csrees. Traditionally, earmarks have represented a good chunk of the service’s budget: For 2006 Congress provided about $185-million. Under the spending plan for 2007, the Democrats moved the money saved to other line items within Csrees, so the service’s overall budget did not decline. However, the 2008 plan would result in a net decline.

For 2008 President Bush proposed a total of only $569-million for Csrees, an amount that reflects the removal of all earmarked fund from Csrees. —Jeffrey Brainard