[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 166 (Monday, November 17, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H11167-H11169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   PROVIDING FOR DESIGNATION OF A DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DISASTER 
                                LIAISON

  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3157) to provide for the designation of a Department of 
Agriculture disaster liaison to assist State and local employees of the 
Department in coordination with other disaster agencies in response to 
a federally declared disaster area as a result of a disaster, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 3157

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. LIAISON FOR DISASTER EMERGENCIES.

       (a) Deployment of Disaster Liaison.--The Secretary of 
     Agriculture shall deploy disaster liaisons to State and local 
     Department of Agriculture Service Centers in a federally 
     declared disaster area whenever Federal Emergency Management 
     Agency Personnel are deployed in that area, to coordinate 
     Department programs with the appropriate disaster agencies 
     designated under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
     Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.).
       (b) Qualifications.--Disaster liaisons shall be selected 
     from among Department employees who have experience providing 
     emergency disaster relief in federally declared disaster 
     areas.
       (c) Duties.--A disaster liaison shall--
       (1) serve as a liaison to State and Federal Emergency 
     Services;
       (2) be deployed to a federally declared disaster area to 
     coordinate Department interagency programs in assistance to 
     agricultural producers in the declared disaster area;
       (3) facilitate the claims and applications of agricultural 
     producers who are victims of the disaster that are forwarded 
     to the Department by the appropriate State Department of 
     Agriculture agency director; and
       (4) coordinate with the Director of the State office of the 
     appropriate Department agency to assist with the application 
     for and distribution of economic assistance.
       (d) Duration of Deployment.--The deployment of a disaster 
     liaison under subsection (a) may not exceed 30 days.
       (e) Definition.--In this section, the term ``federally 
     declared disaster area'' means--
       (1) an area covered by a Presidential declaration of major 
     disaster, including a disaster caused by a wildfire, issued 
     under section 301 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
     and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); or
       (2) determined to be a disaster area, including a disaster 
     caused by a wildfire, by the Secretary under subpart A of 
     part 1945 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht).
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3157, a bill to designate and deploy U.S. 
Department of Agriculture liaison teams to areas of the country 
declared disaster areas, was approved by the Committee on Agriculture 
on October 29 of this year.
  The bill seeks to ensure prompt Federal assistance to agricultural 
producers in rural areas affected by natural disasters that have been 
declared by the President or the Secretary of Agriculture. The teams 
will coordinate the activities of USDA employees assisting agricultural 
producers within the disaster area. The teams will facilitate the 
making of claims and applications for economic assistance of affected 
producers and others as they deal with the agencies designated under 
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.
  During the business meeting to consider H.R. 3157, the committee 
considered and adopted as a substitute amendment four changes to the 
legislation as originally introduced by the gentleman from Missouri 
(Mr. Blunt). These changes include directing the Secretary of 
Agriculture to use USDA Food and Agriculture Council as a point of 
contact for the liaison team, requiring the Secretary to make the 
deployment only when FEMA has been sent to the disaster area, providing 
that the team will conduct and conclude its business within 30 days of 
the deployment, and, finally, adding wildfire as a specific disaster 
under a secretarial disaster declaration.
  The bill before the House this afternoon makes a minor amendment to 
the

[[Page H11168]]

committee-reported bill by returning to the Secretary of Agriculture 
the full discretion to assign USDA employees to the liaison positions, 
instead of acting through the Department's Food and Agriculture 
Council.
  As I am certain my colleagues can understand, natural disasters over 
large geographical areas often are followed by chaotic circumstances on 
the ground. Traditionally, USDA has had a significant role along with 
FEMA in assisting farmers, ranchers, and other rural residents; and 
this bill attempts to make those circumstances more orderly and more 
predictable for our rural constituents during a time when those 
residents and the communities in which they live need Federal help.
  I hope the House will join with me in supporting this bill that seeks 
to improve Federal disaster assistance on our farms and in rural 
communities.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3157 is a bipartisan piece of legislation that 
attempts to address the very serious issue of USDA program coordination 
and information dissemination during times of federally declared 
national disasters.
  Currently, there is no statutory requirement that USDA make a 
representative available at the Emergency Operations Center following a 
catastrophic disaster. As a result, if a farmer or rancher suffers a 
loss due to a natural disaster, there is no USDA point of contact on 
site to answer questions or provide information about departmental 
relief programs. Such information is obviously critical, and this 
legislation simply ensures that farmers and ranchers will have access 
to an on-site USDA point of contact.
  While expressing support for this bill, let me briefly address a 
bigger issue for farmers and ranchers that have been adversely affected 
by a disaster. The fact is there are only minimal standing disaster 
programs within USDA to help farmers and ranchers deal with the variety 
of losses that can occur as a result of a natural disaster. In effect, 
all that USDA on-site points of contact can do is to tell farmers and 
ranchers, Sorry, the United States Department of Agriculture cannot 
help you. In addition, farmers and ranchers do not qualify for Small 
Business Administration programs and, in point of fact, receive very 
little help from FEMA.
  So again, while I support H.R. 3157, the bigger question is what can 
be done to provide farmers and ranchers with greater certainty in terms 
of permanent disaster programs so that they may have some hope of 
recovering from such disasters.
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge support for the Rural 
Disaster Liaison Bill (H.R. 3157).
  This past May, my district saw devastating losses in the aftermath of 
a series of tornadoes.
  Estimates indicate that our agriculture community in southwest 
Missouri lost an estimated $27 billion in damages.
  On the ground at home following those tornadoes, I noticed that the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had no staff in the statewide 
disaster field office (DFO) where officials from FEMA and the Small 
Business Administration were helping individuals and business owners.
  Because Disaster Act declarations make no arrangements for a USDA 
representative, a single voice from USDA was noticeably absent on the 
ground in Southwest Missouri during disaster response discussions in 
the days and weeks after those terrible tornadoes.
  This legislation will bring greater coordination from the USDA's 
three major agencies--Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Farm 
Service Agency and Rural Development--by requiring that a liaison from 
USDA be a member of future Federal disaster response teams. This 
individual would be dispatched to a disaster to work side-by-side with 
representatives from the local Farm Service Agency (FSA) for 30 days to 
help find relief for those disaster victims. Once the 30 days are up, 
the liaison will return to his or her post in Washington, DC, and 
continue to work on behalf of the farmers and others who need the 
services that the USDA provides.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that a disaster response team is never necessary 
in any of the districts my colleagues represent. However, should 
disaster strike, let's make sure that our agriculture communities are 
represented and that they get the help they deserve in a prompt 
fashion.
  I urge my colleagues to support the passage of H.R. 3157.
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3157. I am proud to 
support this legislation that will help farmers recover from national 
disasters because I believe that far too often, farmers are not thought 
of during times of emergency.
  Representative Blunt has authored a good bill. I supported it in the 
House Agriculture Committee and I even introduced an amendment that 
would make sure that the people in my home State of California, who 
suffered from the recent wildfires, could be helped by this bill.
  Too many Californians have no idea how they will get by without their 
orchards, olive groves, and other farming operations that burned to the 
ground.
  This legislation will compel the Department of Agriculture to create 
disaster liaisons and dispatch them to disaster zones.
  In California, we have suffered greatly from several wildfires that 
have caused great damage throughout the state.
  In San Bernardino County, over 40,000 people were evacuated from 
their homes, and nearly 1,200 buildings burned to the ground.
  Far too many people lost their homes, farms, and in some cases--their 
lives--to these wild fires.
  This bill and my amendment are only a small step in the right 
direction. We must funnel Federal attention and resources to rebuild 
after these deadly wildfires and help prevent similar events in the 
future.
  Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3157 would require USDA to designate 
employees of the Department to serve as disaster liaisons to State and 
local emergency agencies in a federally declared disaster area. These 
liaisons would be responsible for coordinating interagency programs and 
assisting agricultural producers in the area to navigate through the 
bureaucracy of Federal Government support.
  I want to thank Majority Whip Blunt for taking the initiative to 
introduce this legislation on behalf of farmers and growers in the 
United States. I was more than happy to sign on as the lead cosponsor 
because of a situation faced by a handful of growers in my 
congressional district earlier this year.
  During this past April, an unusual hailstorm descended upon Merced 
Country, ruining acres and acres of peach orchards. That event set off 
a chain of events involving numerous agencies within USDA, which in 
turn led to me and my staff to negotiate on their behalf with countless 
officials and administrators throughout USDA attempting to elicit some 
type of assistance from the Federal Government. It was a trying 
experience to say the least.
  When a disaster happens now, multiple USDA agencies involved with 
numerous programs actively assess damage in a disaster area, while 
compiling information from hundreds of phone calls and by talking to 
numerous disaster victims. This information is then assembled and sent 
to representatives of the State. The farmer is left to fend for himself 
or herself with no point of contact for follow up.
  Those situations are what Mr. Blunt and I are trying to avoid with 
this legislation.
  When enacted, H.R. 3157 will require USDA to recognize the importance 
of quick response time to agricultural disasters by deploying an 
experienced disaster specialist to an affected area. This official will 
facilitate such things as crop insurance claims processing and other 
applications for economic assistance as well as provide one legitimate 
source of information and comfort from the Federal Government.
  My growers affected by the hailstorm were continually given 
conflicting information from different USDA employees. It is imperative 
that growers, especially the more skeptical growers in my home State of 
California, be able to receive clear and concise information on how to 
proceed after a Federal disaster as been declared in order to most 
efficiently proceed to the next crop year.
  H.R. 3157 is the right thing to do for America's agricultural 
industry and I am proud to be a sponsor of this bill.
  Again, I would like to thank Chairman Goodlatte, Ranking Member 
Stenholm, and Majority Whip Blunt for recognizing the importance of the 
legislation. I urge an aye vote on this bill.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3157, 
which will direct the Secretary of Agriculture to designate employees 
of the Department of Agriculture to serve as liaisons between the 
federal agencies and state and local governments in the event of a 
federally declared disaster area.
  As Delegate and long-term resident of Guam, I can attest to the 
debilitating state of confusion in the after math of a disaster. Just 
last year, individuals and businesses on Guam sustained millions of 
dollars in damage as result of the destruction wrought by two 
supertyphoons, Cha'at'an in May and Pongsona in December, 2002. While 
federal agencies worked quickly to implement disaster recovery plans 
for Guam, the central communications

[[Page H11169]]

mechanism between GovGuam and the various agencies through FEMA and its 
designated liaisons was crucial to the typhoon recovery.
  H.R. 3157 will create a consistent mechanism of communication between 
the federal government and state and local entities for agricultural 
issues in the event of a disaster. I strongly support passage of H.R. 
3157 and encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of this important 
disaster legislation.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3157, 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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