[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2733 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2733

 To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to 
                 rename the Department of Agriculture.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 24, 2018

   Mr. Warner (for himself, Mr. Manchin, Mrs. Capito, and Mr. Kaine) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to 
                 rename the Department of Agriculture.

    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 ``Department of Agriculture and Rural 
Development Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the Department of Agriculture is the primary Federal 
        agency dedicated to improving the economy and quality of life 
        in rural areas of the United States;
            (2) the Department of Agriculture provides significant 
        financial resources and technical assistance to rural 
        communities, including loans, loan guarantees, and grants to 
        help support economic development in rural areas of the United 
        States;
            (3) the United States has a substantial interest in 
        ensuring that the nearly 45,000,000 individuals in the United 
        States living in rural communities have access to critical 
        infrastructure, broadband, telecommunications connectivity, 
        capital, health care, and other essential resources; and
            (4) renaming the Department of Agriculture the ``Department 
        of Agriculture and Rural Development'' would--
                    (A) further establish the importance of rural 
                development to the mission of the Department; and
                    (B) raise awareness in rural areas of the United 
                States of the essential role the Department has in 
                supporting rural communities throughout the United 
                States.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle A of the Department of Agriculture 
Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:

``SEC. 221. RENAMING AS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL 
              DEVELOPMENT.

    ``(a) In General.--
            ``(1) Department.--The Department of Agriculture shall be 
        known and designated as the `Department of Agriculture and 
        Rural Development'.
            ``(2) Secretary.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall be 
        known and designated as the `Secretary of Agriculture and Rural 
        Development'.
    ``(b) References.--Except as provided in subsection (c), any 
reference to the Department of Agriculture or the Secretary of 
Agriculture in any law, regulation, map, document, record, or other 
paper of the United States shall be deemed to be a reference to the 
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Secretary of 
Agriculture and Rural Development, respectively.
    ``(c) Limitation on Application.--The renaming of the Department of 
Agriculture and the Secretary of Agriculture under this section shall 
not apply to any acronyms used before the date of enactment of this 
section by the Secretary for the purposes of labeling.''.
    (b) Authority.--Section 296(b) of the Department of Agriculture 
Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 7014(b)) is amended by adding at 
the end the following:
            ``(9) The authority of the Secretary to carry out section 
        221.''.
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