[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2792 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2792

  To require the Secretary of Agriculture to make supplemental income 
  payments to producers of certain crops for crop years in which the 
national gross revenue of the crop is below a certain percentage of the 
         5-year average of that crop's national gross revenue.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 5, 1999

 Mr. Stenholm introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Secretary of Agriculture to make supplemental income 
  payments to producers of certain crops for crop years in which the 
national gross revenue of the crop is below a certain percentage of the 
         5-year average of that crop's national gross revenue.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Supplemental Income Payments for 
Farmers Act''.

SEC. 2. SUPPLEMENTAL INCOME PAYMENTS FOR PRODUCERS OF CERTAIN 
              AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES WITH REDUCED NATIONAL GROSS 
              REVENUES.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Eligible commodity.--The term ``eligible commodity'' 
        means wheat, oilseeds, feed grains, cotton, and rice.
            (2) National gross revenue.--The term ``national gross 
        revenue'', with respect to an eligible commodity for a crop 
        year, means the product obtained by the Secretary of 
        Agriculture by multiplying--
                    (A) the total United States production of the 
                eligible commodity for that crop year; and
                    (B) the higher of the season average price received 
                by producers or the loan rate in effect for the 
                eligible commodity for that crop year under subtitle C 
                of title I of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and 
                Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7231 et seq.).
    (b) Availability of Payments.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall 
make payments under this section to producers of an eligible commodity 
for each crop year for which the Secretary determines that the national 
gross revenue per acre of the eligible commodity is less than 95 
percent of the 5-year average of the national gross revenue per acre of 
that commodity.
    (c) Total Payments for Commodity.--If payments are required under 
subsection (b) to be made to producers of an eligible commodity for a 
crop year, the total amount of the payments to be made to all producers 
of that commodity shall be equal to the product obtained by 
multiplying--
            (1) the amount per acre by which the national gross revenue 
        for that crop year, as determined under subsection (b), is less 
        than 95 percent of the 5-year average of the national gross 
        revenue; and
            (2) the total number of acres for that crop year on which 
        the commodity was harvested.
    (d) Payment Rate and Payments to a Producer.--
            (1) Payment rate.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall 
        convert the total amount payable for an eligible commodity for 
        a crop year, as determined under subsection (c), to a per 
        bushel or other per unit amount by dividing the amount 
        determined under subsection (c) by the total actual and failed 
        production for the commodity for that year.
            (2) Producer payment.--A producer of an eligible commodity 
        for which payments are to be made under this section shall 
        receive a payment for the producer's actual or failed 
        production at the payment rate in effect for the commodity for 
        that crop year, with a reasonable allowance for errors. The 
        Secretary shall determine actual and failed production amounts 
        and the Secretary's determinations of such amounts shall not be 
        subject to review.
    (e) Effective Date.--This section shall apply to eligible 
commodities beginning with the 1999 crop year.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture for fiscal years 2000 
through 2004 such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.
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