Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 13, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 710 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 4766.

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AMENDMENT NO. 4 OFFERED BY MR. LUCAS OF OKLAHOMA

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.

The text of the amendment is as follows:

Amendment No. 4 offered by Mr. Lucas of Oklahoma:

At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:

TITLE __--ADDITIONAL GENERAL PROVISIONS
SEC. __. (a) Section 1241(b) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841(b)) is amended-

(1) in paragraph (1), by striking "paragraph (2)" and inserting "paragraphs (2) through (4)"; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
"(3) FARMLAND PROTECTION PROGRAM, GRASSLAND RESERVE PROGRAM, ENVIRONMENTAL
QUALITY INCENTIVES PROGRAM, WILDLIFE HABITAT INCENTIVES PROGRAM, AND GROUND AND SURFACE WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAM.-

"(A) IN GENERAL.-Effective for fiscal year 2005 and subsequent fiscal years, Commodity Credit Corporation funds made available to carry out a conservation program specified in paragraphs (4) through (7) of subsection (a) of this section or the ground and surface water conservation program under section 1240I shall not be available for the provision of technical assistance for any other of such programs.

"(B) SEPARATION OF GROUND AND SURFACE WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAM FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY INCENTIVES PROGRAM.-For purposes of subparagraph (A), the ground and surface water conservation program under section 1240I shall be considered to be a program separate and apart from the rest of the environmental quality incentives program under chapter 4 of subtitle D.

"(4) CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM AND WETLANDS RESERVE PROGRAM.-Effective for fiscal year 2005 and subsequent fiscal years, Commodity Credit Corporation funds made available to carry out a conservation program specified in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (a) shall be available for the provision of technical assistance for the program.".

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Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla) reserves a point of order.

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer my amendment printed as No. 4 in the Congressional Record.

I know that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla) and his staff have worked diligently to create this year's bill under a very tight allocation.

In fiscal year 2003, USDA cut $284 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Farmland Protection Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, and the Grassland Reserves Program. I would like to include USDA's fiscal year 2003 and fiscal year 2004 chart of donor and recipient programs for the RECORD.

Most of this money was spent to provide technical assistance for each of the aforementioned programs. However, language in FY 2003's omnibus allowed USDA to take money from those four programs and provide technical assistance for the Conservation Reserve Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program. In FY 2004, USDA diverted almost $80 million to CRP and WRP. This creation of donor programs was caused by various interpretations of the 2000 farm bill and, unfortunately, has ended in four important programs being drained of funds.

The budget recently passed by the House provided a fix for CRP and WRP so they would be able to pay for their own technical assistance. Unless the Senate acts on the budget, I am afraid that we will once again see the four donor programs losing a great amount of funding to CRP and WRP.

I have held numerous hearings on technical assistance issues, and it is hard to find a solution. Since the Senate has not passed the budget, the only fair solution is for each program, each program to pay for its own technical assistance. If we do not address this issue, USDA has estimated that for FY 2004, $100 million will be transferred from EQIP, Farmland Protection, WEP, GRP in order to provide technical assistance. This number is most likely only to grow larger in FY 2005.

Consider for a moment that the Farmland Protection Program this year is $112 million. And WEP, the Wildlife Enhancements Program, is $60 million. Based on last year's number, the $100 million spent on technical assistance for CRP and WRP is more than the entire WEP program and almost as much as the entire Farmland Protection Program. I urge Members to support this amendment.

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AMENDMENT NO. 5 OFFERED BY MR. LUCAS OF OKLAHOMA

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.

The text of the amendment is as follows:

Amendment No. 5 offered by Mr. Lucas of Oklahoma:

At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:

TITLE __--ADDITIONAL GENERAL PROVISIONS
SEC. __. (a) None of the funds made available in this Act for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program authorized by chapter 4 of subtitle D of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-3839aa-9), the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program authorized by section 1240N of such Act (16 U.S.C. 3839bb-1), the Grassland Reserve Program authorized by subchapter C of chapter 2 of such subtitle (16 U.S.C. 3838n-3838q), or the Farmland Protection Program authorized by subchapter B of such chapter 2 (16 U.S.C. 3838h-3838j) may be used to provide technical assistance under the Conservation Reserve Program authorized by subchapter B of chapter 1 of such subtitle (16 U.S.C. 3831-3835a) or under the Wetlands Reserve Program authorized by subchapter C of such chapter 1 (16 U.S.C. 3837-3837f).

(b) None of the funds made available in this Act for the Conservation Reserve Program authorized by subchapter B of chapter 1 of subtitle D of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831-3835a) may be used to provide technical assistance under the Wetlands Reserve Program authorized by subchapter C of such chapter (16 U.S.C. 3837-3837f).
© None of the funds made available in this Act for the Wetlands Reserve Program authorized by subchapter C of chapter 1 of subtitle D of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3837-3837f) may be used to provide technical assistance under the Conservation Reserve Program authorized by subchapter B of such chapter (16 U.S.C. 3831-3835a).

The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the order of the House of today, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) and a Member opposed each will control 5 minutes.

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas).

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

My amendment No. 5 simply prohibits funding from being transferred from EQIP, WHIP, GRP, and FRPP to other conservation programs such as CRP and WRP for the purpose of technical assistance.

I have been asked on numerous times if CRP, WRP, continuous CRP and CREP sign-ups would still occur if this amendment was passed. It would be up to the USDA to find other funds from which to provide this technical assistance.

Mr. Chairman, quite simply put, I think it is a fairness issue. The programs should pay for themselves from their own expenditures.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

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Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. The gentleman much appreciates the Chair's offer.

Mr. Chairman, I yield as much time as he might consume that remains to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Holden), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Rural Development and Research.

Mr. HOLDEN. Mr. Chairman, I will be brief, and I thank the chairman for accepting the amendment, and I thank him and the ranking member for their significant work in bringing this bill to the floor.

As the chairman of the authorizing subcommittee has mentioned, we do have a tremendous problem with technical assistance, and when we passed the farm bill in 2002 it was never our intent, as we talked about that record-setting investment in conservation, to have the funds come from one program to be transferred to another. So I want to thank the chairman for accepting the amendment and thank my chairman for offering the amendment.

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.