[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 301 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 301

 To require the Secretary of Agriculture to make emergency loans under 
 the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act and provide emergency 
 assistance under the Livestock Assistance Program to poultry farmers 
               whose energy costs have escalated sharply.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 30, 2001

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Agriculture to make emergency loans under 
 the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act and provide emergency 
 assistance under the Livestock Assistance Program to poultry farmers 
               whose energy costs have escalated sharply.

    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 ``Poultry Farmers' Emergency Energy 
Assistance Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) sudden and dramatic increases in energy prices have 
        caused an economic disaster in the poultry farming industry; 
        and
            (2) such an economic disaster is as devastating to a 
        community as a natural disaster and should be regarded as such.

SEC. 3. EMERGENCY LOANS FOR POULTRY FARMERS WHOSE ENERGY COSTS HAVE 
              ESCALATED SHARPLY.

    A qualified energy price increase found by the Secretary of 
Agriculture to have been experienced by a poultry farming operation 
shall be considered a natural disaster for purposes of subtitle C of 
the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, but only with respect 
to such an operation.

SEC. 4. IMMEDIATE EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR POULTRY FARMERS WHOSE ENERGY 
              COSTS HAVE ESCALATED SHARPLY.

    (a) Availability of Assistance.--As soon as practicable after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall 
provide financial assistance directly to poultry farming operations 
that the Secretary finds had a qualified energy price increase to 
assist the operations in covering all or a portion of the higher 
operating costs incurred as a result of the increase in energy prices.
    (b) Emergency Designation.--The eligibility of a poultry farming 
operation for assistance under this section does not require either the 
existence of a natural disaster in the county in which the poultry 
farming operation is located or an emergency designation by the 
President or the Secretary.
    (c) Funding.--The Secretary shall use funds made available under 
section 806 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug 
Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (as 
enacted by Public Law 106-387; 114 Stat. 1549A-51), for the Livestock 
Assistance Program to provide assistance to poultry farming operations 
under this section.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Poultry farming operation.--The term ``poultry farming 
        operation'' means a farming operation used for the production 
        of poultry for commercial purposes. The term includes a poultry 
        farming operation in which the operator raises poultry owned by 
        another person under a contractual agreement, but has a 
        financial interest and risk in the production.
            (2) Poultry.--The term ``poultry'' includes poultry used 
        for the production of eggs and poultry raised for slaughter.
            (3) Qualified energy price increase.--The term ``qualified 
        energy price increase'' means, with respect to a poultry 
        farming operation, that the average price paid for energy for 
        the operation during the period that began on January 1, 2000, 
        and ended on the date of the enactment of this Act is at least 
        25 percent greater than the average price paid for energy for 
        the operation during the period that began on January 1, 1997, 
        and ended on December 31, 1999.
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