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 OFFERED BY MR. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

The Clerk read as follows:

Amendment offered by Mr. Bonilla:

In title I, under the heading "COMMON COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT", insert after the dollar amount the following: "(decreased by $120,957,000)".

In title I, under the heading "FARM SERVICE AGENCY, SALARIES AND EXPENSES", insert after the dollar amount the following "(increased by $52,873,606)".

In title II, under the heading "NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, CONSERVATION OPERATIONS", insert after the first dollar amount the following: "increased by $40,458,661".

In title III, under the heading "RURAL DEVELOPMENT, SALARIES AND EXPENSES", insert after the first dollar amount the following: increased by $27,624,733".

Mr. BONILLA (during the reading). Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be considered as read and printed in the RECORD.

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. Chairman, I join the ranking member on the committee in opposition to the amendment basically because the gentleman from California (Mr. Baca), the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee) and myself would not be allowed if the amendment passes to introduce our amendment which basically would do three things:

First of all, it would increase the civil rights enforcement moneys for the Office of the Secretary. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has clearly been called the last plantation. Because of that, Mr. Chairman, many of the discriminations for black farmers and other individuals coming out of USDA, we could address it with more money.

In addition to this, the 2501 program would be increased so that socially disadvantaged farmers could take advantage of USDA programs. If this amendment is passed, we would not be able to offer the increase in the program.

But, thirdly, Mr. Chairman, the tribal extension grants for Hispanic-serving institutions, we could not increase that money. I know that the chairman does not want to hurt those institutions, but this is an opportunity, if this amendment is allowed to be offered and somehow we can reach some agreement, that we could help those Hispanic-serving institutions, also.

Reluctantly I rise in opposition to the amendment, because another amendment that we think would be as important to a tremendous number of people could not be offered.