[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6921 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6921

To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize payments under the 
    environmental quality incentives program to assist producers in 
 implementing certain conservation practices along the southern border 
                   of Texas, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 9, 2024

 Ms. De La Cruz (for herself, Mr. Cuellar, Mr. Tony Gonzales of Texas, 
and Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas) introduced the following bill; which 
              was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize payments under the 
    environmental quality incentives program to assist producers in 
 implementing certain conservation practices along the southern border 
                   of Texas, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Southern Border Farmers and Ranchers 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. SOUTHERN BORDER INITIATIVE.

    Section 1240B of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-2) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Southern Border Initiative.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall provide payments to 
        producers under the program to implement conservation practices 
        to address and repair damage, to agricultural land and farming 
        infrastructure on covered land of such producers, that 
        contributes to natural resource concerns or problems.
            ``(2) Contract term.--A contract to provide payments under 
        paragraph (1) shall have a term of 1 year.
            ``(3) Covered land defined.--In this subsection, the term 
        `covered land' means land in a county at or near the southern 
        border of Texas, including the following counties:
                    ``(A) Brewster.
                    ``(B) Brooks.
                    ``(C) Cameron.
                    ``(D) Crockett.
                    ``(E) Culberson.
                    ``(F) Dimmit.
                    ``(G) Duval.
                    ``(H) Edwards.
                    ``(I) El Paso.
                    ``(J) Frio.
                    ``(K) Hidalgo.
                    ``(L) Hudspeth.
                    ``(M) Jeff Davis.
                    ``(N) Jim Hogg.
                    ``(O) Jim Wells.
                    ``(P) Karnes.
                    ``(Q) Kenedy.
                    ``(R) Kinney.
                    ``(S) Kleberg.
                    ``(T) La Salle.
                    ``(U) Live Oak.
                    ``(V) Maverick.
                    ``(W) McMullen.
                    ``(X) Pecos.
                    ``(Y) Presidio.
                    ``(Z) Reeves.
                    ``(AA) Starr.
                    ``(BB) Sutton.
                    ``(CC) Terrell.
                    ``(DD) Uvalde.
                    ``(EE) Val Verde.
                    ``(FF) Webb.
                    ``(GG) Willacy.
                    ``(HH) Zapata.
                    ``(II) Zavala.''.
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