Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013

Floor Speech

The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union had under consideration the bill (HR. 1947) to provide for the reform and continuation of agricultural and other programs of the Department of Agriculture through fiscal year 2018, and for other purposes:

Mr. LUCAS. Madam Chair, I am aware of the concern that some of the 1890's are having difficulty meeting the matching requirement under the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Program. There has been considerable discussion regarding matching fund policies in our research, extension and education programs. This legislation contains several reforms reflective of those discussions and beneficial to the entirety of the land-grant community.

I appreciate the gentleman's willingness to allow us the opportunity to work through this issue with USDA and the 1890's Council of Presidents to craft a workable policy under McIntire-Stennis. You have my commitment that we will resolve this issue favorably and will certainly look to the language contained in the Senate legislation as the basis for these discussions.

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