[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 834 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 834

 To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching 
Policy Act of 1977 to reauthorize the Agriculture Advanced Research and 
             Development Authority, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 16, 2023

  Mr. Bennet (for himself and Mr. Marshall) introduced the following 
      bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching 
Policy Act of 1977 to reauthorize the Agriculture Advanced Research and 
             Development Authority, 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 ``Advancing Cutting Edge Agriculture 
Act of 2023'' or the ``ACE Agriculture Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. AGRICULTURE ADVANCED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.

    Section 1473H of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and 
Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3319k) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by striking ``pilot'';
            (2) in subsection (a)(6)(A), by striking ``growing,'' and 
        inserting ``growing (including water conservation technologies 
        and innovation),'';
            (3) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by striking ``pilot program'' each place it 
                appears and inserting ``program'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (B)--
                                    (I) by inserting ``the long-term 
                                and high-risk technological'' before 
                                ``barriers''; and
                                    (II) by striking ``and resilience 
                                to extreme weather;'' and inserting 
                                ``water conservation, the reduction, 
                                avoidance, sequestration, or mitigation 
                                of greenhouse gas emissions from the 
                                agriculture sector, and resilience to 
                                extreme weather, drought, infectious 
                                diseases, plant and animal pathogens, 
                                and plant and animal pests;''; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ``or 
                        economic cost'' before the period at the end;
                    (C) in paragraph (3)(B)--
                            (i) in clause (ii), in the matter preceding 
                        subclause (I), by striking ``advise the Chief 
                        Scientist on, and''; and
                            (ii) by striking clause (iii) and inserting 
                        the following:
                            ``(iii) Relationship within the department 
                        of agriculture.--
                                    ``(I) Chief scientist.--The 
                                Director shall work in close 
                                collaboration with the Office of the 
                                Chief Scientist.
                                    ``(II) Other programs.--No other 
                                official who is the head of any other 
                                program of the Department of 
                                Agriculture shall report to the 
                                Director.''; and
                    (D) in paragraph (9), by striking the paragraph 
                designation and heading and all that follows through 
                ``In carrying out'' and inserting the following:
            ``(9) Personnel matters.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Director shall establish and 
                maintain within the AGARDA a staff with sufficient 
                qualifications and expertise to enable the AGARDA to 
                carry out the responsibilities of the AGARDA under this 
                section in conjunction with other operations of the 
                Department of Agriculture.
                    ``(B) Use of existing personnel authorities.--In 
                carrying out'';
            (4) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Use of strategic plan.--The Secretary shall use the 
        strategic plan developed under paragraph (1) and dated 2022 to 
        inform the administration of the AGARDA under this section.'';
            (5) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraph (C) of paragraph 
                (2) as paragraph (5), indenting appropriately, and 
                moving the paragraph so as to appear after paragraph 
                (3);
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``$50,000,000 for 
                each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023'' and inserting 
                ``$100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 
                2029'';
                    (C) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
            ``(4) Other funding.--In addition to amounts otherwise made 
        available to carry out this section, the Secretary may use to 
        carry out this section other unobligated funds available to the 
        Secretary for any other purpose.''; and
                    (D) in paragraph (5) (as redesignated by 
                subparagraph (A)), by striking ``this paragraph'' and 
                inserting ``paragraph (2) or (4)''; and
            (6) by striking subsection (e).
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