[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 142 (Tuesday, October 4, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 4, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
CONCURRING IN THE SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 4217, FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE 
 REFORM AND DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1994, WITH 
                              AN AMENDMENT

                                 ______


                               speech of

                        HON. CHARLES W. STENHOLM

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 3, 1994

  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, after years of review, Congress is finally 
taking a bold and significant step in restructuring and streamlining 
the bureaucracy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For the first 
time in decades, USDA will undergo an unprecedented overhaul in its 
bureaucracy. Over $2 billion will be saved; 7,500 staff cuts will be 
made; Federal agencies and field offices will be consolidated or 
eliminated; computer systems will be modernized--efficiencies and 
services improved. The farmer and the taxpayer will enjoy the benefit 
of a more cost-effective and competent arm of government.
  Regarding research and education activities within USDA, the 
Conference agreement specifically provides for the following:
  First, in section 251 (a), the world ``shall'' is replaced by ``is 
authorized.'' Thus, the Secretary is authorized, not required, to 
establish the position of Under Secretary for Research, Education and 
Economics.
  Second, in section 251(d)(1), the word ``Extension'' was added to the 
title, thus creating the ``Cooperative State Research, Education, and 
Extension Service.''
  Third, in section 252, the Program Planning and Budget Staff in 
section 804 of the Senate bill is replaced with language that addresses 
the reduction of ``Program Staff'' equal to that of the overall 
departmental reductions.
  Fourth, given that there is no report language to accompany the 
conference agreement, the House report language for research and 
education prevails as the intent of Congress.
  An extremely important aspect of this reorganization is the 
coordination of research and education activities. To ensure 
efficiencies regarding national research, education, and economic 
objectives and priorities, it is the House Agriculture Committee's 
intent that section 251 of subtitle F of the conference report specify 
that research activities of the Department be coordinated through the 
Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics--to the maximum 
extent practicable. Given limited resources, all agencies are expected 
to cooperate and communicate with the Office of the Under Secretary for 
Research, Education and Economics in addressing appropriate issues, 
rather than duplicate such activities elsewhere in the Department.
  To ensure such coordination, the committee expects the Secretary to 
establish a coordinating council within the Office of the Under 
Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics. This council will be 
composed of the heads of all agencies that report to the Under 
Secretary, including the head of the Cooperative State Research, 
Education and Extension Service, and will also have advisory members 
selected from the State agricultural experiment stations, the State 
extension system, and other agencies within the Department that the 
Secretary deems appropriate. The committee expects this council to 
provide a mechanism at the Under Secretary level: to coordinate all 
Department research, education, and economics activities; to avoid 
unnecessary duplication; to ensure accountability for research 
objectives and for the expenditure of taxpayer dollars; and to 
encourage a more interdisciplinary approach to problems that require 
solutions from the research, education, and economics branches of USDA.

  The Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service 
established by this legislation would subsume the functions now 
performed by the Cooperative State Research Service and the Extension 
Service, aggregating into one agency the elements of the current 
Science and Education functions involving State-Federal partnerships, 
while separating them from the line agencies of USDA, which are managed 
in fundamentally different ways.
  The head of the Service will report directly to the Under Secretary 
for Research, Education and Economics. The planning, budget 
development, and program activities relevant to the Cooperative State 
Research, Education and Extension Service will be kept within the 
Service, building on and incorporating the local and state priority 
setting and program development processes of the land-grant university 
system. Moreover, the committee expects the land-grant university 
system to have direct input into the design and program development of 
the new Cooperative State Research and Education Service. Any questions 
can be answered by referring to the House report language (103-714), as 
the House provisions addressing research and education prevailed in the 
conference.
  The committee expects the Secretary to ensure that any reorganization 
of USDA enhance rather than impair the historical cooperation between 
the Federal, State, and local governmental levels with regard to 
research and extension. This relationship has been based upon mutual 
benefit and the sharing of expenses. It is noteworthy that, currently, 
State experiment stations receive, on average, only 15 percent of their 
funding, and State extension programs about 30 percent of their 
funding, from USDA. USDA's proposal would have created an 
organizational imbalance where Federal research officials, who provide 
only a fraction of the funds, would have unfair influence over research 
planning, budget development, and program management. The House bill, 
which was effectively endorsed by the House-Senate agreement on H.R. 
4217, seeks to maintain the strengths of grass-roots participation in 
priority-setting and program development, while still providing the 
Secretary with the latitude he needs to downsize Department staffing 
activities to achieve efficiencies and cost savings.

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