[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 108 (Monday, July 22, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H8052-H8053]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE ACT OF 1996

  Mr. COMBEST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3665) to transfer to the Secretary of Agriculture the 
authority to conduct the census of agriculture, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 3665

       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 ``Census of Agriculture Act of 
     1996''.

     SEC. 2. TRANSFER TO THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE OF THE 
                   AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT THE CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE

       (a) In General.--Section 526 of the Revised Statutes (7 
     U.S.C. 2204) is amended by adding at the end the following.
       ``(c)(1) The Secretary shall, in 1998 and in every 5th year 
     beginning after 1998, take a census of agriculture. In 
     connection with each such census, the Secretary may conduct 
     any survey or other data collection, and employ any sampling 
     or other statistical method, that the Secretary determines is 
     necessary and appropriate.
       ``(2) The data collected in each census taken under this 
     subsection shall relate to the year immediately preceding the 
     year in which the census is taken.
       ``(3) Any person who refuses or neglects to answer 
     questions submitted to such person in connection with a 
     census or survey under this subsection, or who answers any 
     such questions falsely, shall be subject to section 221 of 
     title 13, United States Code, to the same extent and in the 
     same manner as if--
       ``(A) section 142 of such title 13 had remained in effect; 
     and
       ``(B) the census or survey were a census or survey under 
     such section 142, rather than under this subsection.

     The failure or refusal on the part of any person to disclose 
     such person's social security number in response to a request 
     made in connection with any census or other activity under 
     this subsection shall not be a violation under the preceding 
     sentence.
       ``(4) Each census under this subsection shall include each 
     State, and as may be determined by the Secretary, the 
     District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam, 
     the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the 
     Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any such other 
     possessions and areas over which the United States 
     exercises jurisdiction, control, or sovereignty. Inclusion 
     of other areas over which the United States exercises 
     jurisdiction, control, or sovereignty shall be subject to 
     the concurrence of the Secretary of State.
       ``(5) The Secretary of Commerce may, upon written request 
     of the Secretary of Agriculture, furnish any information 
     collected under title 13, United States Code, which the 
     Secretary of Agriculture considers necessary for the taking 
     of a census or survey under this subsection. Any information 
     so furnished may not be used for any purpose other than the 
     statistical purposes for which it is supplied.
       ``(6) The Secretary of Agriculture shall, upon written 
     request of the Secretary of Commerce, furnish any information 
     collected in a census taken under this subsection which the 
     Secretary of Commerce considers necessary for the taking of a 
     census or survey under title 13, United States Code. Any 
     information so furnished may not be used for any purpose 
     other than the statistical purposes for which it is supplied.
       ``(7) Any rules or regulations necessary to carry out this 
     subsection may be prescribed by--
       ``(A) the Secretary, to the extent that matters within the 
     jurisdiction of the Secretary are involved; and
       ``(B) the Secretary of Commerce, to the extent that matters 
     within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Commerce are 
     involved.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendments.--Effective October 1, 1998--
       (1) section 142 of title 13, United States Code, and the 
     item relating to section 142 in the table of sections for 
     chapter 5 of such title 13, are repealed; and
       (2) section 343(a)(11)(F) of the Consolidated Farm and 
     Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(11)(F)) is amended by 
     inserting ``or section 526(c) of the Revised Statutes (7 
     U.S.C. 2204(c)), as the case may be,'' before ``except''.

     SEC. 3. PROVISIONS RELATING TO CONFIDENTIALITY OF 
                   INFORMATION.

       (a) Information Furnished to the Department of 
     Agriculture.--
       (1) Authority to furnish information.--Section 9(a) of 
     title 13, United States Code, is amended by striking 
     ``chapter 10 of this title--'' and
       (2) Confidentiality of information.--Section 1770(d)(5) of 
     the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 2276(d)(5)) is 
     amended to read as follows:
       ``(5) subsections (a) and (c) of section 526 of the Revised 
     Statues (7 U.S.C. 2204(a) and (c));''.
       (b) Information Furnished to the Department of Commerce.--
       (1) Authority to furnish information.--Section 1770 of the 
     Food Security Act of 1985 is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(e) Nothing in this section shall be considered to 
     prohibit any release of information under section 526(c)(6) 
     of the Revised Statutes (7 U.S.C. 2204(c)(6)).''.
       (2) Confidentiality of information.--Information furnished 
     under section 526(c)(6) of the Revised Statutes shall, for 
     purposes of section 9 and 214 of title 13, United States 
     Code, be treated as if it were information furnished under 
     the provisions of such title 13.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas [Mr. Combest] and the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Stenholm] each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Combest].
  Mr. COMBEST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3665 is a short bill--it simply transfers the 
authority to conduct the Census on Agriculture from the Secretary of 
Commerce to the Secretary of Agriculture and eliminates this authority 
from the Secretary of Commerce as of October 1, 1998.
  This census authority change was one that the Senate wanted to 
include as part of the 1996 farm bill. However, we completed the farm 
bill conference before we on the House side had a chance to clear this 
change with the Government Reform Committee.
  I, along with Chairman Roberts and all the other members of the 
Agriculture Committee, want to thank all the members and staff of the 
Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, International 
Affairs, and Criminal Justice, Chairman Zeliff and his ranking member, 
Mrs. Thurman, for their help in accommodating this move--everyone 
worked very hard to get this bill put together very quickly.
  In order to cope with the continuing move to streamline and downsize 
Federal agencies, it has become apparent that moving the authority to 
conduct the Census on Agriculture from Commerce to USDA makes sense, 
from both an administrative and cost-effective point of view. In fact, 
the fiscal year 1997 Agriculture appropriations bill has already 
shifted the $17 million in funding for the Census on Agriculture to 
USDA, rather than the Department of Commerce.
  By moving the authority to conduct the census over to USDA, it allows 
the Department of Commerce to free up the funds otherwise obligated for 
this census; eliminates the need for a specific line-item in the 
Commerce Department's appropriation; and locates the census at the 
agency with the biggest interest in the ag census, without precluding 
USDA from working with the Commerce Department on actually getting the 
work done.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3665, the Census of 
Agriculture Act of 1996. I would simply like to reiterate to my 
colleagues what my colleague the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Combest] has 
already said, and that is that this bill does not change the definition 
of what constitutes a farm nor does it decrease the amount of funding 
available for other discretionary activities within the Department of 
Agriculture.
  This legislation simply moves the administration of the ag census 
from the Bureau of the Census within Commerce to the Department of 
Agriculture. Secretary Glickman has indicated that he

[[Page H8053]]

will charge the National Agriculture Statistics Service with continuing 
to carry out an agricultural census every 5 years. The Ag Statistics 
Service within USDA is well suited to take over the responsibilities 
for carrying out the census activities, as they already maintain a 
network in every state that allows them to put out State by State 
reports weekly and major reports throughout the year. These reports are 
utilized by all segments of the agricultural sector in this country and 
every by our foreign competitors.
  I am pleased that Secretary Glickman took the initiative in forging 
this compromise with the Department of Commerce as well as the Office 
of Management and Budget to ensure the viability of the ag census for 
future years. I would also like to thank our colleagues on the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight for their cooperation in 
ensuring the passage of H.R. 3665 and urge my colleagues to support the 
passage of this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from West Virginia [Mr. Wise].
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas [Mr. 
Stenholm] and I thank the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Combest]. This is 
truly a great Texas piece of legislation, but it is very, very 
important for West Virginia. Let me just say that I appreciate also the 
full committee chair of both the Committee on Agriculture and the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight for their efforts as well.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a very important bill, particularly for rural 
States, rural areas, and particularly for States that have farming of 
the type that West Virginia does.

                              {time}  1345

  If this piece of legislation did not go through, West Virginia will 
be the most seriously affected State of any State in the Nation in 
terms of losing its definition of family farm and losing a lot of farms 
that presently benefit from that definition. West Virginia presently 
has over 17,000 farms that are defined as farms by the Department of 
Census, that is, they have sales in excess of $1,000. Raising that to 
$10,000 would cause 78 percent of our farms in the State to lose that 
definition.
  What that means then is that we would be greatly impacted, farmers 
would not be able to receive certain tax, favorable tax treatment, the 
distribution of research funds for farms would be altered and also for 
college agricultural programs as well as the allocation of soil 
conservation efforts. So clearly this is a very, very significant piece 
of legislation for much of rural West Virginia and much of rural 
America.
  Simply, what it does is to move the census functions from the Bureau 
of Census to the United States Department of Agriculture. That is 
important because the USDA obviously has clear experience with working 
with farms and farm definitions, not so the Bureau of Census.
  Also, the Bureau of Census has seen its budget cut in this particular 
area 31 percent. That means they are not going to be spending as much 
time focusing on what it is that makes up farming and what is important 
to farmers. I believe that this consolidation moving to USDA will also 
integrate the agriculture statistic programs of the two departments and 
eliminate duplication and promote efficiency. The Bureau of Census, I 
am happy to say supports this move as well.
  The USDA has indicated that at least in the foreseeable future, the 
near future, they do not foresee changing the threshold definition of 
farming, that is changing the threshold definition from the present 
$1,000. That means that there would not be an immediate increase to 5- 
or, even as had been proposed in the Bureau of Census, to $10,000. If 
that threshold level is raised to $10,000, 78 percent of West Virginia 
farms will no longer be defined as a farm and therefore not be eligible 
for favorable tax treatments in certain instances nor will they count 
towards the formula monies for various agriculture programs, including 
Soil Conservation Service and agricultural research efforts.
  I think this is an extremely important piece of legislation. I just 
want the chairman to know, and the ranking member, that just as 
recently as this weekend at various functions people were coming up to 
me and saying what is being done about the farm threshold. Am I going 
to be a farmer or not? I was happy to tell them that it is on the floor 
Monday afternoon and that it should be voted on.
  Now, of course this bill will go to the Senate, so it is important 
that the Senate as well, the other body, take this piece of legislation 
up. There is no controversy that I can see. It seems to be widely 
supported. The Bureau of Census supports it. The United States 
Department of Agriculture supports it. We have got the Agriculture 
Committees, the Government Reform Committees supporting it. So, clearly 
it ought to be able to move quickly and get to the President and we can 
end this anxiety that presently a lot of farmers in my State and many 
other States are undergoing as they wonder whether or not they are 
going to see their farm continue with the farm status which entitled 
them to certain preferential tax treatments as well as figuring into 
the formula monies for agricultural functions such as soil conservation 
and ag research.
  So I thank once again those who made this possible. Let me just say 
of the 17,020 family farms in West Virginia, 13,274, or 78 percent, are 
very, very grateful to us for moving this bill to the floor so quickly.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, just in conclusion, I might point out that this is an 
excellent example of cooperation between various agencies, cooperation 
between various committees that will now allow us to do the most 
efficient census possible with the least amount of taxpayer resources 
and the best utilization of all of the talents available in agriculture 
already there in order to do the job that needs doing for American 
agriculture.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. COMBEST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I conclude and say I appreciate the cooperation of my 
colleague, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Stenholm], the comments of the 
gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Wise], and would urge our colleagues 
to support this legislation under the suspension.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Coble). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Combest] that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3665, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof), the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was 
passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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