[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 123 (Wednesday, September 28, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H8416-H8418]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           UNITED STATES GRAIN STANDARDS ACT REAUTHORIZATION

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
Senate bill (S. 1752) to amend the United States Grain Standards Act to 
reauthorize that Act.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                S. 1752

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

     SECTION 1. REAUTHORIZATION OF ACT.

       (a) In General.--Sections 7(j)(4), 7A(l)(3), 7D, 19, and 
     21(e) of the United States Grains Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 
     79(j)(4), 79a(l)(3), 79d, 87h, 87j(e)) are amended by 
     striking ``2005'' each place it appears and inserting 
     ``2015''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) 
     take effect on September 30, 2005.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. 
Peterson) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support S. 1752, a bill to reauthorize 
the U.S. Grain Standards Act. The other body passed this bill by 
unanimous consent last week, and I look forward to its swift approval 
today as the act expires September 30, 2005.
  This bill is identical to the language that the administration 
provided Congress earlier this year. The bill is a simple 10-year 
extension of current law. It will reauthorize the Secretary's authority 
to charge and collect fees to cover costs of inspection and weighing 
services and to receive appropriated dollars for standardization and 
compliance activities.
  The House Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk 
Management of the Committee on Agriculture held a hearing on May 24, 
2005, to review the U.S. Grain Standards Act. Testimony provided on 
behalf of the National Grain and Feed Association and the North 
American Export Grain Association highlighted the need for the U.S. 
grain industry to remain cost-competitive for bulk exports of U.S. 
grains and oilseeds in the future.
  The American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Soybean 
Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the National 
Corn Growers Association, the National Grain Sorghum Producers, and the 
American Association of Grain Inspection and Weighing Agencies all 
voiced support for this legislation.
  The U.S. Grain Standards Act first became law in 1916. In the 
intervening 89 years, Congress has reauthorized and amended the U.S. 
Grain Standards Act so that the law could adapt to changes in grain 
production, grain marketing, crop diversity, competitive pressure, and 
fiscal constraints.
  The U.S. Grain Standards Act has served agriculture and our Nation 
well. For nearly a century, it has provided for standard marketing 
terms, grades and weights and facilitated domestic and international 
marketing of our farmers' production. Among its many responsibilities, 
the Federal Grain Inspection Service establishes and maintains official 
grades for our Nation's crop production, promotes the uniform 
application of official grades, provides for the official weighing and 
grading at export locations, provides Federal oversight of weighing and 
grading done by States, and investigates complaints or discrepancies 
reported by importers. Passage of this bill ensures the continuity of 
these standards and the opportunity for our farmers to remain 
competitive in the world marketplace.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Peterson), the ranking 
member of the committee, for his cooperation in working with us to 
bring this legislation to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, S. 1752 is a bill to reauthorize the U.S. Grain 
Standards Act. The other body passed this bill by unanimous consent 
last week. Timely approval of this bill is important because the 
current law expires September 30, 2005.
  This bill is identical to the language the Administration provided 
Congress earlier this year. This bill is a simple 10-year extension of 
current law.
  The House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and 
Risk Management held a hearing on May 24, 2005 to review the U.S. Grain 
Standards Act. Testimony provided on behalf of the National Grain and 
Feed Association and the North American Export Grain Association 
highlighted the need for

[[Page H8417]]

the U.S. grain industry to remain cost-competitive for bulk exports of 
U.S. grains and oilseeds in the future. Specifically, these 
organizations proposed that U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 
utilize third party entities to provide inspection and weighing 
activities at export facilities with 100 percent USDA oversight using 
USDA-approved standards and procedures. The American Farm Bureau 
Federation, American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat 
Growers, National Corn Growers Association, National Grain Sorghum 
Producers, and the American Association of Grain Inspection and 
Weighing Agencies all voice support for this proposal. USDA testified 
that the ``proposal of the industry establishes a framework for 
changing the delivery of services without compromising the integrity of 
the official system.''
  During the hearing, the Committee also learned of workforce 
challenges currently facing the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Grain 
Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA). The majority 
of official grain inspectors will be eligible for retirement over the 
next several years. Testimony presented explained that transitioning 
the delivery of services through attrition would minimize the impact on 
Federal employees.
  Since the hearing, I have reviewed legislative proposals and 
discussed the issue of improved competitiveness with my colleagues, 
farm and industry organizations, and USDA. Chairman Saxby Chambliss of 
the Senate Agriculture Committee and I asked USDA to determine if they 
had the authority under the existing law to use private entities at 
export port locations for grain inspection and weighing services, and 
if they did, how would they implement this authority.
  Accompanying this statement is a copy of USDA's response to our 
questions. The letter states that the U.S. Grain Standards Act 
``currently authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to contract with 
private persons or entities for the performance of inspection and 
weighing services at export port locations.'' The letter further 
explains that GIPSA considers the use of this authority as an option to 
address future attrition within the Agency and to address expanded 
service demand. I fully expect USDA to use this authority in a manner 
that improves competitiveness of the U.S. grain industry, that 
maintains the integrity of the Federal grain inspection system, and 
that provides benefits to employees who may be impacted.
  The Committee greatly appreciates the work that has gone into the 
reauthorization of this law and we are pleased to extend the 
authorization for 10 years.

                                 The Secretary of Agriculture,

                               Washington, DC, September 21, 2005.
     Hon. Bob Goodlatte,
     Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: This is in response to your letter of 
     this date, also signed by Saxby Chambliss, Chairman of the 
     U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
     Forestry, posing two questions regarding legislation which is 
     currently pending before the Congress. The legislation would 
     reauthorize, for an additional period of years, the United 
     States Grain Standards Act, 7 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 71 et seq. 
     (Act), which is presently scheduled to expire on September 
     30, 2005. Your questions and our responses are as follows:
       1. Would existing authority under the U.S. Grain Standards 
     Act allow USDA to use private entities at export port 
     locations for grain inspection and weighing services?
       Response. The Act currently authorizes the Secretary of 
     Agriculture to contract with private persons or entities for 
     the perfonnance of inspection and weighing services at export 
     port locations. See 7 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 79(e)(I), 84(a)(3).
       2. If so, how would USDA implement this authority?
       Response. The Act currently authorizes the Secretary to 
     contract with a person to provide export grain inspection and 
     weighing services at export port locations. The Grain 
     Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) has 
     reserved this authority to supplement the current Federal 
     workforce if the workload demand exceeded the capability of 
     current staffing. GIPSA has also considered use of this 
     authority as one of several options to address future 
     attrition within the Agency and to address expanded service 
     demand as several delegated States have decided or are 
     considering to cancel their Delegation of Authority with 
     GIPSA.
       In accordance with Federal contracting requirements, GIPSA 
     would contract with a person(s) (defined as any individual, 
     partnership, corporation, association, or other business 
     entity) to provide inspection and weighing services to the 
     export grain industry. The person(s) awarded the contract 
     would adhere to all applicable provisions of the Act to 
     ensure the integrity of the official inspection system during 
     the delivery of services to the export grain industry. The 
     person( s) would charge a fee directly to the export grain 
     customer to cover the cost of service delivery and the cost 
     of GIPSA supervision. Contract terms would require 
     reimbursement to GIPSA for the cost of supervising the 
     contractor's delivery of official inspection and weighing 
     services.
       GIPSA would comply with OMB Circular No. A-76 for any 
     contracting activity that may replace or displace Federal 
     employees. The Circular would not apply if the contract for 
     outsourcing services intends to fill workforce gaps, not 
     affect Federal employees, or supplement rather than replace 
     the Federal workforce. The A-76 process typically takes two 
     years and involves an initial cost-benefits analysis, an open 
     competitive process, and an implementation period.
       I hope that the explanations provided above are fully 
     responsive to the questions you have asked. A similar letter 
     is being sent to Chairman Chambliss.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Mike Johanns,
                                                        Secretary.

  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am glad that we are moving this reauthorization before 
various authorities in the Grain Standards Act expire on September 30. 
I want to thank Subcommittee Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Etheridge, 
as well as Chairman Goodlatte for their work on moving this 
reauthorization.
  The legislation we are considering today would simply reauthorize the 
existing Grain Standards Act for 10 years. While I would prefer that 
the reauthorization be for 5 years to allow for reexamination of the 
state of the inspection service and industry at that time, I support 
the bill before us today.
  As we saw with the recent experiences in the aftermath of Hurricane 
Katrina, the Federal Grain Inspection Service's Federal workforce is a 
dedicated group of individuals with many years of experience and a 
great deal of pride in the work that they do. The folks that work in 
the Port of New Orleans, for example, have continued to provide 
valuable public services even as the disaster affects their own 
families, homes, and neighborhoods.
  The quality of the grain produced on American farms is among the best 
in the world, and our export inspection system helps ensure that the 
integrity of those crops is maintained as it is exported to our foreign 
customers.
  I support the passage of this reauthorization, and I again want to 
thank my colleagues for their work on this issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Kucinich), who has worked on this issue.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Peterson) for the work he has done on this bill. I rise 
in support of S. 1752, the Reauthorization of the Grain Standards Act.
  Two weeks ago, I was opposed to the bill because it needlessly 
privatized grain inspectors, which could harm our agricultural export 
market. In the mid-1970s, the inspection service was federalized 
following several scandals involving some growers who tried to cheat 
foreign buyers by, for example, substituting saw dust for grain. 
Overall, there were indictments of 52 individuals and four 
corporations.
  Today, with Federal inspectors on the job, our foreign customers are 
confident in the quality of U.S. grain. But many of these buyers, 
international buyers, have spoken publicly about their reservations of 
a private inspection system. Such a scheme may harm U.S. exports of 
grains, something our farmers cannot afford.
  Worse yet, the benefits from privatization are almost nil. According 
to testimony from the National Grain and Feed Association, privatizing 
the inspector force will save 8 cents per ton of grain per export in 
the unlikely scenarios that the entire cost savings were passed along 
to farmers by way of better commodity prices. The average 500-acre 
soybean farm would gain a measly $46 a year in extra income. For 
nothing more than pocket change, that kind of privatization could 
undermine the 30 years of confidence in the quality of U.S. grain. That 
was an enormous risk for pocket change.
  Thankfully, because of the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Peterson) 
and others, this bill before us today does not include the risky 
privatization scheme that was contemplated.
  I once again want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota and his staff 
for the opportunity to work with them on this legislation.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, today the House is considering S. 1752, 
Senate-passed legislation to reauthorize the U.S. Grain Standards Act.

[[Page H8418]]

  The Grain Standards Act helps farmers maintain a high standard of 
quality in crop production through a national system for inspecting, 
weighing and grading grain, both for domestic and foreign shipments.
  S. 1752 reauthorizes the U.S. Grain Standards Act for 10 years. This 
bill will reauthorize the Secretary's authority to charge and collect 
fees to cover costs of inspection and weighing services and to receive 
appropriated dollars for standardization and compliance activities.
  I support reauthorization of these important components of the Grains 
Standards Act in order to ensure the United States remains a large 
producer of quality agricultural products.
  I urge my colleagues to support S. 1752 so we can send it to the 
President for signature.

                              {time}  1345

  Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of 
my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 1752.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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