FB amendments

TK: From the office of Rep Dennis Cardoza.The Rules Committee has determined 31 amendments considered today in the farm bill debate. Note Cardoza amendment on moving APHIS staff back to USDA from DHS.

The rule makes in order the following 31 amendments printed in the Rules Committee report.

1. Kind (WI): The Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment will reform the farmer safety net to work better for small farmers at lower cost, reallocate funding to nutrition, conservation, specialty crops and healthy foods, rural development, and programs that benefit socially disadvantaged farmers., (40 minutes)

2. Frank (MA)/Bachus (AL): The amendment strikes five sections from Title V of the bill (Agribusiness loan eligibility, Loan-to-asset value requirements, Population limit for single-family housing loans, Majority farmer control requirement, and Borrower stock requirement), which expand the lending authority of the Farm Credit System., (10 minutes)

3. Goodlatte (VA): The amendment streamlines and adopts one set of terms and conditions of easements for the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP), Farmland and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP), and Healthy Forest Reserve Program (HFRP). , (10 minutes)

4. Lucas (OK): The amendment would make livestock producers eligible for livestock assistance programs regardless of whether they had Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance (NAP) coverage., (10 minutes)

5. Cardoza (CA): The amendment requires USDA to transition Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) employees responsible for plant pest inspection duties back to USDA from the Department of Homeland Security in order to better serve the needs of American agriculture., (10 minutes)

6. Boustany (LA)/Alexander (LA): The amendment states that in the case of sweet potatoes, Risk Management Agency Pilot Program data shall not be considered for purposes of determining production for the 2005-2006 Farm Service Agency Crop Disaster Program., (10 minutes)

7. Jackson-Lee (TX): The amendment is intended to express the sense of Congress that the food available to schoolchildren under the school breakfast and lunch program should be selected so as to reduce the incidence of juvenile obesity and to maximize nutritional value., (10 minutes)

8. Hastings (FL): The amendment adds a new section for "Pollinator Protection" that authorizes research funding to reduce North American pollinator decline and understand Colony Collapse Disorder. This amendment also adjusts USDA conservation programs to put a greater emphasis on increasing habitat and establishing cropping and integrated pest management practices to protect native and managed pollinators. , (10 minutes)

9. Arcuri (NY)/Welch (VT)/Gillibrand (NY): The amendment expresses the Sense of Congress that the Secretary of Agriculture should use existing authority when determining the Class I milk price mover to take into account the increased cost of production, including energy and feed. , (10 minutes)

10. Welch (VT): The amendment encourages schools to submit plans for implementation to the Secretary that include locally grown foods, in areas where geographically available. , (10 minutes)

11. Welch (VT)/Arcuri (NY): The amendment adds a provision to the review process for the Federal Milk Marketing Order Review Commission to include an evaluation of cost of production variables, including cost of feed and cost of fuel. Additionally, it encourages the Commission to be regionally diverse, and moves up the date from 24 months to 18 months after the enactment of this bill. , (10 minutes)

12. Rangel (NY): The amendment removes certain banking restrictions related to Cuba’s payment for agricultural purchases from U.S. producers. It also authorizes direct transfers between Cuban banks and U.S. banks and allows visas to be issued to conduct activities related to purchasing U.S. agricultural goods., (10 minutes)

13. Boehner (OH): The amendment would replace the current daily posted county prices (PCPs) used for determining loan deficiency payment rates and repayment rates for marketing assistance loans with a monthly PCP for each crop. It would revise requirements for establishing a producer’s loan deficiency payment (LDP) and loan repayment rate to be based on the month that beneficial interest is lost. The amendment aims to address farmers taking advantage of short-term market events to lock in artificially high loan deficiency payments, while actually selling the commodity later at prices well above the loan rate. , (10 minutes)

14. Johnson, Eddie Bernice (TX): The amendment adds the additional point to Subtitle B of the research title that emphasis should be placed on proposals that examine the efficacy of current agriculture policies in promoting the health and welfare of economically disadvantaged populations (in addition to supporting research/ health promotion to “solve the problems of nutritional inadequacy)., (10 minutes)

15. Manzullo (IL): The amendment exempts the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) from the $60,000 and $125,000 payment limitations, resetting it to the $450,000 limitation that is in the current law., (10 minutes)

16. Blumenauer (OR): The amendment would make conservation easements purchased through a transferable development rights program eligible for grants under the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program. Transferable Development Rights (TDR) programs are a voluntary, market-based tool used by states and cities to protect farmland, private property rights, and taxpayer dollars by allowing the transfer of development rights from one parcel of land to another., (10 minutes)

17. Latham (IA):
, The amendment amends the Household Water Well System Program, which makes grants to non-profit organizations to finance the construction, refurbishing, and servicing of individually owned household water well systems in rural areas for individuals with low or moderate incomes, to allow the use of in-kind contributions to meet the required federal funding match of 10%. The amendment also clarifies that in-kind contributions used to meet the match can be for no purpose other than to administer the water well grant program., (10 minutes)

18. Berry (AR): The amendment will prohibit non-profit organizations with more than $50 million in direct public support from receiving conservation payments., (10 minutes)

19. Davis, Danny (IL)/Kirk (IL): The amendment strikes the sugar sections in the commodity title as well as the feedstock flexibility program for bioenergy producers, extending current programs until 2012., (10 minutes)

20. Terry (NE): The amendment creates a competitive demonstration project designed to provide proof of concept in supplementing corn with sweet sorghum as an ethanol feedstock., (10 minutes)

21. Udall, Mark (CO): The amendment reduces the direct payment rate for cotton by 2/3 of a cent. The resulting savings would be used to fund enrollment of 224,000 additional acres in the Grasslands Reserve Program., (10 minutes)

22. Wu (OR): The amendment broadens the eligible universities by adding that universities that do work in alternative energy related fields, such as agriculture, chemistry, environmental sciences, bioengineering, biochemistry, natural resources and public policy are eligible for the biofuels from biomass internship program., (10 minutes)

23. Clay (MO): The amendment would make grants to eligible entities to assist in purchasing operating organic gardens or greenhouses in urban areas for growing fruits and vegetables., (10 minutes)

24. Israel (NY)/Doyle (PA): The amendment would eliminate the sale of random source animals for research and will prohibit the marketing of medical devices by using live animals in demonstrations to market such devices., (10 minutes)

25. Putnam (FL): The amendment prohibits individuals from receiving farm conservation payments if their income exceeds $1 million, unless 75% of the income comes from farm income. , (10 minutes)

26. Bordallo (GU): The amendment authorizes a grants program to assist the land grant institutions in the U.S. territories in upgrading facilities and equipment in the agricultural and food sciences. It authorizes appropriations for five years in the amount of $8 million per year. It authorizes USDA to vary award amounts and to establish competitive criteria for the program., (10 minutes)

27. Cooper (TN): The amendment will comprehensively reform the federal crop insurance program, including the Administration’s farm bill crop insurance proposals. This amendment saves approximately $4 billion while adding resources to the Grassland Reserve Program., (10 minutes)

28. Emanuel (IL): The amendment directs the USDA to investigate which estates have been receiving payments in the name of dead farmers and recoup payments made in the name of deceased individuals., (10 minutes)

29. Hall, John (NY): The amendment would establish a program to encourage environmentally responsible practices on actively farmed muck soil land., (10 minutes)

30. Hodes (NH)/Arcuri (NY): The amendment authorizes a grant program for state and local communities and governments known as the Community Wood Energy Program to use low-grade wood biomass in community wood energy systems for state and locally owned businesses such as schools, town halls, and courthouses., (10 minutes)

31. Shuler (NC): The amendment allows non-industrial private forest lands to be eligible for emergency restoration funds if the Secretary determines that insect or disease poses an imminent threat of loss or damage to those lands., (10 minutes)

The rule provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions.