[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 77 (Thursday, May 10, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H4868-H4880]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     AGRICULTURAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE AND WESTERN STATES EMERGENCY 
              UNFINISHED BUSINESS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007

  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 387, I call up 
the bill (H.R. 2207) making supplemental appropriations for 
agricultural and other emergency assistance for the fiscal year ending 
September 30, 2007, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate 
consideration.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of H.R. 2207 is as follows:

                               H.R. 2207

       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 ``Agricultural Disaster 
     Assistance and Western States Emergency Unfinished Business 
     Appropriations Act, 2007''.

     SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

       The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

TITLE I--AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE
TITLE II--EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS FOR WESTERN STATES

     SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       The following sums in this Act are appropriated, out of any 
     money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 2007.

                    TITLE I--AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE

     SEC. 1001. CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE.

       (a) Assistance Available.--There are hereby appropriated to 
     the Secretary of Agriculture such sums as are necessary, to 
     remain available until expended, to make emergency financial 
     assistance available to producers on a farm that incurred 
     qualifying quantity or quality losses for the 2005 or 2006 
     crop, or that part of the 2007 crop year before February 28, 
     2007, due to damaging weather or any related condition 
     (including losses due to crop diseases, insects, and delayed 
     planting), as determined by the Secretary. However, to be 
     eligible for assistance, the crop subject to the loss must 
     have been planted before February 28, 2007 or, in the case of 
     prevented planting or other total loss, would have been 
     planted before February 28, 2007 in the absence of the 
     damaging weather or any related condition.
       (b) Election of Crop Year.--If a producer incurred 
     qualifying crop losses in more than one of the 2005, 2006, or 
     2007 crop years, the producer shall elect to receive 
     assistance under this section for losses incurred in only one 
     of such crop years. The producer may not receive assistance 
     under this section for more than one crop year.
       (c) Administration.--
       (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
     Secretary of Agriculture shall make assistance available 
     under this section in the same manner as provided under 
     section 815 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and 
     Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 
     2001 (Public Law 106-387; 114 Stat. 1549A-55), including 
     using the same loss thresholds for quantity and economic 
     losses as were used in administering that section, except 
     that the payment rate shall be 50 percent of the established 
     price, instead of 65 percent.
       (2) Loss thresholds for quality losses.--In the case of a 
     payment for quality loss for a crop under subsection (a), the 
     loss thresholds for quality loss for the crop shall be 
     determined under subsection (d).
       (d) Quality Losses.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (3), the amount of a 
     payment made to producers on a farm for a quality loss for a 
     crop under subsection (a) shall be equal to the amount 
     obtained by multiplying--
       (A) 65 percent of the payment quantity determined under 
     paragraph (2); by
       (B) 50 percent of the payment rate determined under 
     paragraph (3).
       (2) Payment quantity.--For the purpose of paragraph (1)(A), 
     the payment quantity for quality losses for a crop of a 
     commodity on a farm shall equal the lesser of--
       (A) the actual production of the crop affected by a quality 
     loss of the commodity on the farm; or
       (B) the quantity of expected production of the crop 
     affected by a quality loss of the commodity on the farm, 
     using the formula used by the Secretary of Agriculture to 
     determine quantity losses for the crop of the commodity under 
     subsection (a).
       (3) Payment rate.--For the purpose of paragraph (1)(B) and 
     in accordance with paragraphs (5) and (6), the payment rate 
     for quality losses for a crop of a commodity on a farm shall 
     be equal to the difference between--
       (A) the per unit market value that the units of the crop 
     affected by the quality loss would have had if the crop had 
     not suffered a quality loss; and
       (B) the per unit market value of the units of the crop 
     affected by the quality loss.
       (4) Eligibility.--For producers on a farm to be eligible to 
     obtain a payment for a quality loss for a crop under 
     subsection (a), the amount obtained by multiplying the per 
     unit loss determined under paragraph (1) by the number of 
     units affected by the quality loss shall be at least 25 
     percent of the value that all affected production of the crop 
     would have had if the crop had not suffered a quality loss.
       (5) Marketing contracts.--In the case of any production of 
     a commodity that is sold pursuant to one or more marketing 
     contracts (regardless of whether the contract is entered into 
     by the producers on the farm before or after harvest) and for 
     which appropriate documentation exists, the quantity 
     designated in the contracts shall be eligible for quality 
     loss assistance based on the one or more prices specified in 
     the contracts.
       (6) Other production.--For any additional production of a 
     commodity for which a marketing contract does not exist or 
     for which production continues to be owned by the producer, 
     quality losses shall be based on the average local market 
     discounts for reduced quality, as determined by the 
     appropriate State committee of the Farm Service Agency.
       (7) Quality adjustments and discounts.--The appropriate 
     State committee of the Farm Service Agency shall identify the 
     appropriate quality adjustment and discount factors to be 
     considered in carrying out this subsection, including--
       (A) the average local discounts actually applied to a crop; 
     and
       (B) the discount schedules applied to loans made by the 
     Farm Service Agency or crop insurance coverage under the 
     Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).
       (8) Eligible production.--The Secretary of Agriculture 
     shall carry out this subsection in a fair and equitable 
     manner for all eligible production, including the production 
     of fruits and vegetables, other specialty crops, and field 
     crops.
       (e) Payment Limitations.--
       (1) Limit on amount of assistance.--Assistance provided 
     under this section to a producer for losses to a crop, 
     together with the amounts specified in paragraph (2) 
     applicable to the same crop, may not exceed 95 percent of 
     what the value of the crop would have been in the absence of 
     the losses, as estimated by the Secretary of Agriculture.
       (2) Other payments.--In applying the limitation in 
     paragraph (1), the Secretary shall include the following:
       (A) Any crop insurance payment made under the Federal Crop 
     Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) or payment under 
     section 196 of the Federal Agricultural Improvement and 
     Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333) that the producer receives 
     for losses to the same crop.
       (B) The value of the crop that was not lost (if any), as 
     estimated by the Secretary.
       (f) Eligibility Requirements and Limitations.--The 
     producers on a farm shall not be eligible for assistance 
     under this section with respect to losses to an insurable 
     commodity or noninsurable commodity if the producers on the 
     farm--
       (1) in the case of an insurable commodity, did not obtain a 
     policy or plan of insurance for the insurable commodity under 
     the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) for 
     the crop incurring the losses;
       (2) in the case of a noninsurable commodity, did not file 
     the required paperwork,

[[Page H4869]]

     and pay the administrative fee by the applicable State filing 
     deadline, for the noninsurable commodity under section 196 of 
     the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 
     U.S.C. 7333) for the crop incurring the losses; or
       (3) were not in compliance with highly erodible land 
     conservation and wetland conservation provisions.
       (g) Timing.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary of 
     Agriculture shall make payments to producers on a farm for a 
     crop under this section not later than 60 days after the date 
     the producers on the farm submit to the Secretary a completed 
     application for the payments.
       (2) Interest.--If the Secretary does not make payments to 
     the producers on a farm by the date described in paragraph 
     (1), the Secretary shall pay to the producers on a farm 
     interest on the payments at a rate equal to the current (as 
     of the sign-up deadline established by the Secretary) market 
     yield on outstanding, marketable obligations of the United 
     States with maturities of 30 years.
       (h) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Insurable commodity.--The term ``insurable commodity'' 
     means an agricultural commodity (excluding livestock) for 
     which the producers on a farm are eligible to obtain a policy 
     or plan of insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 
     U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).
       (2) Noninsurable commodity.--The term ``noninsurable 
     commodity'' means a crop for which the producers on a farm 
     are eligible to obtain assistance under section 196 of the 
     Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 
     U.S.C. 7333).

     SEC. 1002. LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE.

       (a) Livestock Compensation Program.--
       (1) Availability of assistance.--There are hereby 
     appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture such sums as are 
     necessary, to remain available until expended, to carry out 
     the livestock compensation program established under subpart 
     B of part 1416 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, as 
     announced by the Secretary on February 12, 2007 (72 Fed. Reg. 
     6443), to provide compensation for livestock losses between 
     January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2007, due to a disaster, as 
     determined by the Secretary (including losses due to 
     blizzards that started in 2006 and continued into January 
     2007). However, the payment rate for compensation under this 
     subsection shall be 70 percent of the payment rate otherwise 
     applicable under such program. In addition, section 
     1416.102(b)(2)(ii) of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations 
     (72 Fed. Reg. 6444) shall not apply.
       (2) Eligible applicants.--In carrying out the program 
     described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide 
     assistance to any applicant that--
       (A) conducts a livestock operation that is located in a 
     disaster county with eligible livestock specified in 
     paragraph (1) of section 1416.102(a) of title 7, Code of 
     Federal Regulations (72 Fed. Reg. 6444), an animal described 
     in section 10806(a)(1) of the Farm Security and Rural 
     Investment Act of 2002 (21 U.S.C. 321d(a)(1)), or other 
     animals designated by the Secretary as livestock for purposes 
     of this subsection; and
       (B) meets the requirements of paragraphs (3) and (4) of 
     section 1416.102(a) of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, 
     and all other eligibility requirements established by the 
     Secretary for the program.
       (3) Election of losses.--
       (A) If a producer incurred eligible livestock losses in 
     more than one of the 2005, 2006, or 2007 calendar years, the 
     producer shall elect to receive payments under this 
     subsection for losses incurred in only one of such calendar 
     years, and such losses must have been incurred in a county 
     declared or designated as a disaster county in that same 
     calendar year.
       (B) Producers may elect to receive compensation for losses 
     in the calendar year 2007 grazing season that are 
     attributable to wildfires occurring during the applicable 
     period, as determined by the Secretary.
       (4) Mitigation.--In determining the eligibility for or 
     amount of payments for which a producer is eligible under the 
     livestock compensation program, the Secretary shall not 
     penalize a producer that takes actions (recognizing disaster 
     conditions) that reduce the average number of livestock the 
     producer owned for grazing during the production year for 
     which assistance is being provided.
       (5) Definitions.--In this subsection:
       (A) Disaster county.--The term ``disaster county'' means--
       (i) a county included in the geographic area covered by a 
     natural disaster declaration; and
       (ii) each county contiguous to a county described in clause 
     (i).
       (B) Natural disaster declaration.--The term ``natural 
     disaster declaration'' means--
       (i) a natural disaster declared by the Secretary between 
     January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2007, under section 321(a) 
     of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 
     1961(a));
       (ii) a major disaster or emergency designated by the 
     President between January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2007, 
     under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
     Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); or
       (iii) a determination of a Farm Service Agency 
     Administrator's Physical Loss Notice if such notice applies 
     to a county included under (ii).
       (b) Livestock Indemnity Payments.--
       (1) Availability of assistance.--There are hereby 
     appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture such sums as are 
     necessary, to remain available until expended, to make 
     livestock indemnity payments to producers on farms that have 
     incurred livestock losses between January 1, 2005 and 
     February 28, 2007, due to a disaster, as determined by the 
     Secretary (including losses due to blizzards that started in 
     2006 and continued into January 2007) in a disaster county. 
     To be eligible for assistance, applicants must meet all 
     eligibility requirements established by the Secretary for the 
     program.
       (2) Election of losses.--If a producer incurred eligible 
     livestock losses in more than one of the 2005, 2006, or 2007 
     calendar years, the producer shall elect to receive payments 
     under this subsection for losses incurred in only one of such 
     calendar years. The producer may not receive payments under 
     this subsection for more than one calendar year.
       (3) Payment rates.--Indemnity payments to a producer on a 
     farm under paragraph (1) shall be made at a rate of not less 
     than 30 percent of the market value of the applicable 
     livestock on the day before the date of death of the 
     livestock, as determined by the Secretary.
       (4) Livestock defined.--In this subsection, the term 
     ``livestock'' means an animal that--
       (A) is specified in clause (i) of section 1416.203(a)(2) of 
     title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (72 Fed. Reg. 6445), or 
     is designated by the Secretary as livestock for purposes of 
     this subsection; and
       (B) meets the requirements of clauses (iii) and (iv) of 
     such section.
       (5) Definitions.--In this subsection:
       (A) Disaster county.--The term ``disaster county'' means--
       (i) a county included in the geographic area covered by a 
     natural disaster declaration; and
       (ii) each county contiguous to a county described in clause 
     (i).
       (B) Natural disaster declaration.--The term ``natural 
     disaster declaration'' means--
       (i) a natural disaster declared by the Secretary between 
     January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2007 under section 321(a) of 
     the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 
     1961(a));
       (ii) a major disaster or emergency designated by the 
     President between January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2007 under 
     the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
     Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); or
       (iii) a determination of a Farm Service Agency 
     Administrator's Physical Loss Notice if such notice applies 
     to a county included under (ii).

     SEC. 1003. EMERGENCY CONSERVATION PROGRAM.

       There is hereby appropriated to the Secretary of 
     Agriculture $20,000,000, to remain available until expended, 
     to provide assistance under the Emergency Conservation 
     Program under title IV of the Agriculture Credit Act of 1978 
     (16 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) for the cleanup and restoration of 
     farm and agricultural production lands.

     SEC. 1004. PAYMENT LIMITATIONS.

       (a) Reduction in Payments to Reflect Payments for Same or 
     Similar Losses.--The amount of any payment for which a 
     producer is eligible under sections 5101 and 5102 shall be 
     reduced by any amount received by the producer for the same 
     loss or any similar loss under--
       (1) the Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental 
     Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, 
     and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006 (Public Law 109-148; 119 
     Stat. 2680);
       (2) an agricultural disaster assistance provision contained 
     in the announcement of the Secretary on January 26, 2006, or 
     August 29, 2006; or
       (3) the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for 
     Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 
     2006 (Public Law 109-234; 120 Stat. 418).
       (b) Adjusted Gross Income Limitation.--Section 1001D of the 
     Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308-3a) shall apply with 
     respect to assistance provided under sections 5101, 5102, and 
     5103.

     SEC. 1005. ADMINISTRATION.

       (a) Regulations.--The Secretary of Agriculture may 
     promulgate such regulations as are necessary to implement 
     sections 5101 and 5102.
       (b) Procedure.--The promulgation of the implementing 
     regulations and the administration of sections 5101 and 5102 
     shall be made without regard to--
       (1) the notice and comment provisions of section 553 of 
     title 5, United States Code;
       (2) the Statement of Policy of the Secretary of Agriculture 
     effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 13804), relating to 
     notices of proposed rulemaking and public participation in 
     rulemaking; and
       (3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly 
     known as the ``Paperwork Reduction Act'').
       (c) Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking.--In carrying 
     out this section, the Secretary of Agriculture shall use the 
     authority provided under section 808 of title 5, United 
     States Code.
       (d) Use of Commodity Credit Corporation; Limitation.--In 
     implementing sections 5101 and 5102, the Secretary of 
     Agriculture may use the facilities, services, and authorities 
     of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

[[Page H4870]]

     The Corporation shall not make any expenditures to carry out 
     sections 5101 and 5102 unless funds have been specifically 
     appropriated for such purpose.

     SEC. 1006. MILK INCOME LOSS CONTRACT PROGRAM.

       Section 1502(c)(3) of the Farm Security and Rural 
     Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 7982(c)(3)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by adding ``and'' at the end;
       (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``August'' and all 
     that follows through the end and inserting ``September 30, 
     2007, 34 percent.''; and
       (3) by striking subparagraph (C).

     SEC. 1007. DAIRY ASSISTANCE.

       There is hereby appropriated $20,000,000 to make payments 
     to dairy producers for dairy production losses in disaster 
     counties, as defined in section 1002 of this title, to remain 
     available until expended.

     SEC. 1008. NONINSURED CROP ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.

       For states in which there is a shortage of claims 
     adjustors, as determined by the Secretary, the Secretary 
     shall permit the use of one claims adjustor certified by the 
     Secretary in carrying out 7 CFR 1437.401.

     SEC. 1009. EMERGENCY GRANTS TO ASSIST LOW-INCOME MIGRANT AND 
                   SEASONAL FARMWORKERS.

       There is hereby appropriated $21,000,000 to carry out 
     section 2281 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade 
     Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5177a), to remain available until 
     expended.

     SEC. 1010. CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM.

       Section 20115 of Public Law 110-5 is amended by striking 
     ``section 726'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``section 726; 
     section 741''.

     SEC. 1011. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.

       There is hereby appropriated $30,000,000 for the ``Farm 
     Service Agency, Salaries and Expenses'', to remain available 
     until September 30, 2008.

     SEC. 1012. CONTRACT WAIVER.

       In carrying out crop disaster and livestock assistance in 
     this title, the Secretary shall require forage producers to 
     have participated in a crop insurance pilot program or the 
     Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program during the crop 
     year for which compensation is received.

     SEC. 1013. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.

       Amounts in this title are designated as emergency 
     requirements pursuant to section 402 of H. Con. Res. 95 
     (109th Congress), and pursuant to section 501 of H. Con. Res. 
     376 (109th Congress) as made applicable to the House of 
     Representatives by section 511(a)(4) of H. Res. 6 (110th 
     Congress).

         TITLE II--EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS FOR WESTERN STATES

                CHAPTER 1--FISHERIES DISASTER ASSISTANCE

                         DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

            National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

                  operations, research, and facilities

       For an additional amount for ``Operations, Research, and 
     Facilities'', $60,400,000, to remain available until 
     September 30, 2008: Provided, That the National Marine 
     Fisheries Service shall cause such amounts to be distributed 
     among eligible recipients of assistance for the commercial 
     fishery failure designated under section 312(a) of the 
     Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 
     U.S.C. 1861a(a)) and declared by the Secretary of Commerce on 
     August 10, 2006.

           CHAPTER 2--WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING AND RURAL SCHOOLS

                       DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

                       Bureau of Land Management

                        wildland fire management

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For an additional amount for ``Wildland Fire Management'', 
     $100,000,000, to remain available until expended, for urgent 
     wildland fire suppression activities: Provided, That such 
     funds shall only become available if funds previously 
     provided for wildland fire suppression will be exhausted 
     imminently and the Secretary of the Interior notifies the 
     House and Senate Committees on Appropriations in writing of 
     the need for these additional funds: Provided further, That 
     such funds are also available for repayment to other 
     appropriations accounts from which funds were transferred for 
     wildfire suppression.

                       DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

                             Forest Service

                        wildland fire management

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For an additional amount for ``Wildland Fire Management'', 
     $400,000,000, to remain available until expended, for urgent 
     wildland fire suppression activities: Provided, That such 
     funds shall only become available if funds provided 
     previously for wildland fire suppression will be exhausted 
     imminently and the Secretary of Agriculture notifies the 
     House and Senate Committees on Appropriations in writing of 
     the need for these additional funds: Provided further, That 
     such funds are also available for repayment to other 
     appropriation accounts from which funds were transferred for 
     wildfire suppression.

                    GENERAL PROVISION, THIS CHAPTER

     SEC. 2201. SECURE RURAL SCHOOLS.

       (a) For fiscal year 2007, payments shall be made from any 
     revenues, fees, penalties, or miscellaneous receipts 
     described in sections 102(b)(3) and 103(b)(2) of the Secure 
     Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 
     (Public Law 106-393; 16 U.S.C. 500 note), not to exceed 
     $100,000,000, and the payments shall be made, to the maximum 
     extent practicable, in the same amounts, for the same 
     purposes, and in the same manner as were made to States and 
     counties in 2006 under that Act.
       (b) There is appropriated $425,000,000, to remain available 
     until December 31, 2007, to be used to cover any shortfall 
     for payments made under this section from funds not otherwise 
     appropriated.
       (c) Titles II and III of Public Law 106-393 are amended, 
     effective September 30, 2006, by striking ``2006'' and 
     ``2007'' each place they appear and inserting ``2007'' and 
     ``2008'', respectively.

                CHAPTER 3--GENERAL PROVISION, THIS TITLE

     SEC. 2301. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.

       Amounts in this title are designated as emergency 
     requirements pursuant to section 402 of H. Con. Res. 95 
     (109th Congress), and pursuant to section 501 of H. Con. Res. 
     376 (109th Congress) as made applicable to the House of 
     Representatives by section 511(a)(4) of H. Res. 6 (110th 
     Congress).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 387, the 
amendment printed in part B of House Report 110-143 is adopted and the 
bill, as amended, is considered read.
  The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:

                               H.R. 2207

       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 ``Agricultural Disaster 
     Assistance and Western States Emergency Unfinished Business 
     Appropriations Act, 2007''.

     SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

       The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

TITLE I--AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE
TITLE II--EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS FOR WESTERN STATES

     SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       The following sums in this Act are appropriated, out of any 
     money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 2007.

                    TITLE I--AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE

     SEC. 1001. CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE.

       (a) Assistance Available.--There are hereby appropriated to 
     the Secretary of Agriculture such sums as are necessary, to 
     remain available until expended, to make emergency financial 
     assistance available to producers on a farm that incurred 
     qualifying quantity or quality losses for the 2005 or 2006 
     crop, or that part of the 2007 crop year before February 28, 
     2007, due to damaging weather or any related condition 
     (including losses due to crop diseases, insects, and delayed 
     planting), as determined by the Secretary. However, to be 
     eligible for assistance, the crop subject to the loss must 
     have been planted before February 28, 2007 or, in the case of 
     prevented planting or other total loss, would have been 
     planted before February 28, 2007 in the absence of the 
     damaging weather or any related condition.
       (b) Election of Crop Year.--If a producer incurred 
     qualifying crop losses in more than one of the 2005, 2006, or 
     2007 crop years, the producer shall elect to receive 
     assistance under this section for losses incurred in only one 
     of such crop years. The producer may not receive assistance 
     under this section for more than one crop year.
       (c) Administration.--
       (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
     Secretary of Agriculture shall make assistance available 
     under this section in the same manner as provided under 
     section 815 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and 
     Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 
     2001 (Public Law 106-387; 114 Stat. 1549A-55), including 
     using the same loss thresholds for quantity and economic 
     losses as were used in administering that section, except 
     that the payment rate shall be 50 percent of the established 
     price, instead of 65 percent.
       (2) Loss thresholds for quality losses.--In the case of a 
     payment for quality loss for a crop under subsection (a), the 
     loss thresholds for quality loss for the crop shall be 
     determined under subsection (d).
       (d) Quality Losses.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (3), the amount of a 
     payment made to producers on a farm for a quality loss for a 
     crop under subsection (a) shall be equal to the amount 
     obtained by multiplying--
       (A) 65 percent of the payment quantity determined under 
     paragraph (2); by
       (B) 50 percent of the payment rate determined under 
     paragraph (3).
       (2) Payment quantity.--For the purpose of paragraph (1)(A), 
     the payment quantity for quality losses for a crop of a 
     commodity on a farm shall equal the lesser of--
       (A) the actual production of the crop affected by a quality 
     loss of the commodity on the farm; or
       (B) the quantity of expected production of the crop 
     affected by a quality loss of the commodity on the farm, 
     using the formula used by the Secretary of Agriculture to 
     determine quantity losses for the crop of the commodity under 
     subsection (a).

[[Page H4871]]

       (3) Payment rate.--For the purpose of paragraph (1)(B) and 
     in accordance with paragraphs (5) and (6), the payment rate 
     for quality losses for a crop of a commodity on a farm shall 
     be equal to the difference between--
       (A) the per unit market value that the units of the crop 
     affected by the quality loss would have had if the crop had 
     not suffered a quality loss; and
       (B) the per unit market value of the units of the crop 
     affected by the quality loss.
       (4) Eligibility.--For producers on a farm to be eligible to 
     obtain a payment for a quality loss for a crop under 
     subsection (a), the amount obtained by multiplying the per 
     unit loss determined under paragraph (1) by the number of 
     units affected by the quality loss shall be at least 25 
     percent of the value that all affected production of the crop 
     would have had if the crop had not suffered a quality loss.
       (5) Marketing contracts.--In the case of any production of 
     a commodity that is sold pursuant to one or more marketing 
     contracts (regardless of whether the contract is entered into 
     by the producers on the farm before or after harvest) and for 
     which appropriate documentation exists, the quantity 
     designated in the contracts shall be eligible for quality 
     loss assistance based on the one or more prices specified in 
     the contracts.
       (6) Other production.--For any additional production of a 
     commodity for which a marketing contract does not exist or 
     for which production continues to be owned by the producer, 
     quality losses shall be based on the average local market 
     discounts for reduced quality, as determined by the 
     appropriate State committee of the Farm Service Agency.
       (7) Quality adjustments and discounts.--The appropriate 
     State committee of the Farm Service Agency shall identify the 
     appropriate quality adjustment and discount factors to be 
     considered in carrying out this subsection, including--
       (A) the average local discounts actually applied to a crop; 
     and
       (B) the discount schedules applied to loans made by the 
     Farm Service Agency or crop insurance coverage under the 
     Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).
       (8) Eligible production.--The Secretary of Agriculture 
     shall carry out this subsection in a fair and equitable 
     manner for all eligible production, including the production 
     of fruits and vegetables, other specialty crops, and field 
     crops.
       (e) Payment Limitations.--
       (1) Limit on amount of assistance.--Assistance provided 
     under this section to a producer for losses to a crop, 
     together with the amounts specified in paragraph (2) 
     applicable to the same crop, may not exceed 95 percent of 
     what the value of the crop would have been in the absence of 
     the losses, as estimated by the Secretary of Agriculture.
       (2) Other payments.--In applying the limitation in 
     paragraph (1), the Secretary shall include the following:
       (A) Any crop insurance payment made under the Federal Crop 
     Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) or payment under 
     section 196 of the Federal Agricultural Improvement and 
     Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333) that the producer receives 
     for losses to the same crop.
       (B) The value of the crop that was not lost (if any), as 
     estimated by the Secretary.
       (f) Eligibility Requirements and Limitations.--The 
     producers on a farm shall not be eligible for assistance 
     under this section with respect to losses to an insurable 
     commodity or noninsurable commodity if the producers on the 
     farm--
       (1) in the case of an insurable commodity, did not obtain a 
     policy or plan of insurance for the insurable commodity under 
     the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) for 
     the crop incurring the losses;
       (2) in the case of a noninsurable commodity, did not file 
     the required paperwork, and pay the administrative fee by the 
     applicable State filing deadline, for the noninsurable 
     commodity under section 196 of the Federal Agriculture 
     Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333) for the 
     crop incurring the losses; or
       (3) were not in compliance with highly erodible land 
     conservation and wetland conservation provisions.
       (g) Timing.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary of 
     Agriculture shall make payments to producers on a farm for a 
     crop under this section not later than 60 days after the date 
     the producers on the farm submit to the Secretary a completed 
     application for the payments.
       (2) Interest.--If the Secretary does not make payments to 
     the producers on a farm by the date described in paragraph 
     (1), the Secretary shall pay to the producers on a farm 
     interest on the payments at a rate equal to the current (as 
     of the sign-up deadline established by the Secretary) market 
     yield on outstanding, marketable obligations of the United 
     States with maturities of 30 years.
       (h) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Insurable commodity.--The term ``insurable commodity'' 
     means an agricultural commodity (excluding livestock) for 
     which the producers on a farm are eligible to obtain a policy 
     or plan of insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 
     U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).
       (2) Noninsurable commodity.--The term ``noninsurable 
     commodity'' means a crop for which the producers on a farm 
     are eligible to obtain assistance under section 196 of the 
     Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 
     U.S.C. 7333).

     SEC. 1002. LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE.

       (a) Livestock Compensation Program.--
       (1) Availability of assistance.--There are hereby 
     appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture such sums as are 
     necessary, to remain available until expended, to carry out 
     the livestock compensation program established under subpart 
     B of part 1416 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, as 
     announced by the Secretary on February 12, 2007 (72 Fed. Reg. 
     6443), to provide compensation for livestock losses between 
     January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2007, due to a disaster, as 
     determined by the Secretary (including losses due to 
     blizzards that started in 2006 and continued into January 
     2007). However, the payment rate for compensation under this 
     subsection shall be 70 percent of the payment rate otherwise 
     applicable under such program. In addition, section 
     1416.102(b)(2)(ii) of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations 
     (72 Fed. Reg. 6444) shall not apply.
       (2) Eligible applicants.--In carrying out the program 
     described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide 
     assistance to any applicant that--
       (A) conducts a livestock operation that is located in a 
     disaster county with eligible livestock specified in 
     paragraph (1) of section 1416.102(a) of title 7, Code of 
     Federal Regulations (72 Fed. Reg. 6444), an animal described 
     in section 10806(a)(1) of the Farm Security and Rural 
     Investment Act of 2002 (21 U.S.C. 321d(a)(1)), or other 
     animals designated by the Secretary as livestock for purposes 
     of this subsection; and
       (B) meets the requirements of paragraphs (3) and (4) of 
     section 1416.102(a) of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, 
     and all other eligibility requirements established by the 
     Secretary for the program.
       (3) Election of losses.--
       (A) If a producer incurred eligible livestock losses in 
     more than one of the 2005, 2006, or 2007 calendar years, the 
     producer shall elect to receive payments under this 
     subsection for losses incurred in only one of such calendar 
     years, and such losses must have been incurred in a county 
     declared or designated as a disaster county in that same 
     calendar year.
       (B) Producers may elect to receive compensation for losses 
     in the calendar year 2007 grazing season that are 
     attributable to wildfires occurring during the applicable 
     period, as determined by the Secretary.
       (4) Mitigation.--In determining the eligibility for or 
     amount of payments for which a producer is eligible under the 
     livestock compensation program, the Secretary shall not 
     penalize a producer that takes actions (recognizing disaster 
     conditions) that reduce the average number of livestock the 
     producer owned for grazing during the production year for 
     which assistance is being provided.
       (5) Definitions.--In this subsection:
       (A) Disaster county.--The term ``disaster county'' means--
       (i) a county included in the geographic area covered by a 
     natural disaster declaration; and
       (ii) each county contiguous to a county described in clause 
     (i).
       (B) Natural disaster declaration.--The term ``natural 
     disaster declaration'' means--
       (i) a natural disaster declared by the Secretary between 
     January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2007, under section 321(a) 
     of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 
     1961(a));
       (ii) a major disaster or emergency designated by the 
     President between January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2007, 
     under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
     Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); or
       (iii) a determination of a Farm Service Agency 
     Administrator's Physical Loss Notice if such notice applies 
     to a county included under (ii).
       (b) Livestock Indemnity Payments.--
       (1) Availability of assistance.--There are hereby 
     appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture such sums as are 
     necessary, to remain available until expended, to make 
     livestock indemnity payments to producers on farms that have 
     incurred livestock losses between January 1, 2005 and 
     February 28, 2007, due to a disaster, as determined by the 
     Secretary (including losses due to blizzards that started in 
     2006 and continued into January 2007) in a disaster county. 
     To be eligible for assistance, applicants must meet all 
     eligibility requirements established by the Secretary for the 
     program.
       (2) Election of losses.--If a producer incurred eligible 
     livestock losses in more than one of the 2005, 2006, or 2007 
     calendar years, the producer shall elect to receive payments 
     under this subsection for losses incurred in only one of such 
     calendar years. The producer may not receive payments under 
     this subsection for more than one calendar year.
       (3) Payment rates.--Indemnity payments to a producer on a 
     farm under paragraph (1) shall be made at a rate of not less 
     than 30 percent of the market value of the applicable 
     livestock on the day before the date of death of the 
     livestock, as determined by the Secretary.
       (4) Livestock defined.--In this subsection, the term 
     ``livestock'' means an animal that--
       (A) is specified in clause (i) of section 1416.203(a)(2) of 
     title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (72 Fed. Reg. 6445), or 
     is designated by the Secretary as livestock for purposes of 
     this subsection; and
       (B) meets the requirements of clauses (iii) and (iv) of 
     such section.

[[Page H4872]]

       (5) Definitions.--In this subsection:
       (A) Disaster county.--The term ``disaster county'' means--
       (i) a county included in the geographic area covered by a 
     natural disaster declaration; and
       (ii) each county contiguous to a county described in clause 
     (i).
       (B) Natural disaster declaration.--The term ``natural 
     disaster declaration'' means--
       (i) a natural disaster declared by the Secretary between 
     January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2007 under section 321(a) of 
     the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 
     1961(a));
       (ii) a major disaster or emergency designated by the 
     President between January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2007 under 
     the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
     Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); or
       (iii) a determination of a Farm Service Agency 
     Administrator's Physical Loss Notice if such notice applies 
     to a county included under (ii).

     SEC. 1003. EMERGENCY CONSERVATION PROGRAM.

       There is hereby appropriated to the Secretary of 
     Agriculture $20,000,000, to remain available until expended, 
     to provide assistance under the Emergency Conservation 
     Program under title IV of the Agriculture Credit Act of 1978 
     (16 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) for the cleanup and restoration of 
     farm and agricultural production lands.

     SEC. 1004. PAYMENT LIMITATIONS.

       (a) Reduction in Payments to Reflect Payments for Same or 
     Similar Losses.--The amount of any payment for which a 
     producer is eligible under sections 1001 and 1002 shall be 
     reduced by any amount received by the producer for the same 
     loss or any similar loss under--
       (1) the Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental 
     Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, 
     and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006 (Public Law 109-148; 119 
     Stat. 2680);
       (2) an agricultural disaster assistance provision contained 
     in the announcement of the Secretary on January 26, 2006, or 
     August 29, 2006; or
       (3) the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for 
     Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 
     2006 (Public Law 109-234; 120 Stat. 418).
       (b) Adjusted Gross Income Limitation.--Section 1001D of the 
     Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308-3a) shall apply with 
     respect to assistance provided under sections 1001, 1002, and 
     1003.

     SEC. 1005. ADMINISTRATION.

       (a) Regulations.--The Secretary of Agriculture may 
     promulgate such regulations as are necessary to implement 
     sections 1001 and 1002.
       (b) Procedure.--The promulgation of the implementing 
     regulations and the administration of sections 1001 and 1002 
     shall be made without regard to--
       (1) the notice and comment provisions of section 553 of 
     title 5, United States Code;
       (2) the Statement of Policy of the Secretary of Agriculture 
     effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 13804), relating to 
     notices of proposed rulemaking and public participation in 
     rulemaking; and
       (3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly 
     known as the ``Paperwork Reduction Act'').
       (c) Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking.--In carrying 
     out this section, the Secretary of Agriculture shall use the 
     authority provided under section 808 of title 5, United 
     States Code.
       (d) Use of Commodity Credit Corporation; Limitation.--In 
     implementing sections 1001 and 1002, the Secretary of 
     Agriculture may use the facilities, services, and authorities 
     of the Commodity Credit Corporation. The Corporation shall 
     not make any expenditures to carry out sections 1001 and 1002 
     unless funds have been specifically appropriated for such 
     purpose.

     SEC. 1006. MILK INCOME LOSS CONTRACT PROGRAM.

       Section 1502(c)(3) of the Farm Security and Rural 
     Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 7982(c)(3)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by adding ``and'' at the end;
       (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``August'' and all 
     that follows through the end and inserting ``September 30, 
     2007, 34 percent.''; and
       (3) by striking subparagraph (C).

     SEC. 1007. DAIRY ASSISTANCE.

       There is hereby appropriated $20,000,000 to make payments 
     to dairy producers for dairy production losses in disaster 
     counties, as defined in section 1002 of this title, to remain 
     available until expended.

     SEC. 1008. NONINSURED CROP ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.

       For states in which there is a shortage of claims 
     adjustors, as determined by the Secretary, the Secretary 
     shall permit the use of one claims adjustor certified by the 
     Secretary in carrying out 7 CFR 1437.401.

     SEC. 1009. EMERGENCY GRANTS TO ASSIST LOW-INCOME MIGRANT AND 
                   SEASONAL FARMWORKERS.

       There is hereby appropriated $21,000,000 to carry out 
     section 2281 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade 
     Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5177a), to remain available until 
     expended.

     SEC. 1010. CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM.

       Section 20115 of Public Law 110-5 is amended by striking 
     ``section 726'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``section 726; 
     section 741''.

     SEC. 1011. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.

       There is hereby appropriated $30,000,000 for the ``Farm 
     Service Agency, Salaries and Expenses'', to remain available 
     until September 30, 2008.

     SEC. 1012. CONTRACT WAIVER.

       In carrying out crop disaster and livestock assistance in 
     this title, the Secretary shall require forage producers to 
     have participated in a crop insurance pilot program or the 
     Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program during the crop 
     year for which compensation is received.

     SEC. 1013. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.

       Amounts in this title are designated as emergency 
     requirements pursuant to section 402 of H. Con. Res. 95 
     (109th Congress), and pursuant to section 501 of H. Con. Res. 
     376 (109th Congress) as made applicable to the House of 
     Representatives by section 511(a)(4) of H. Res. 6 (110th 
     Congress).

         TITLE II--EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS FOR WESTERN STATES

                CHAPTER 1--FISHERIES DISASTER ASSISTANCE

                         DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

            National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

                  operations, research, and facilities

       For an additional amount for ``Operations, Research, and 
     Facilities'', $60,400,000, to remain available until 
     September 30, 2008: Provided, That the National Marine 
     Fisheries Service shall cause such amounts to be distributed 
     among eligible recipients of assistance for the commercial 
     fishery failure designated under section 312(a) of the 
     Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 
     U.S.C. 1861a(a)) and declared by the Secretary of Commerce on 
     August 10, 2006.

           CHAPTER 2--WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING AND RURAL SCHOOLS

                       DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

                       Bureau of Land Management

                        wildland fire management

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For an additional amount for ``Wildland Fire Management'', 
     $100,000,000, to remain available until expended, for urgent 
     wildland fire suppression activities: Provided, That such 
     funds shall only become available if funds previously 
     provided for wildland fire suppression will be exhausted 
     imminently and the Secretary of the Interior notifies the 
     House and Senate Committees on Appropriations in writing of 
     the need for these additional funds: Provided further, That 
     such funds are also available for repayment to other 
     appropriations accounts from which funds were transferred for 
     wildfire suppression.

                       DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

                             Forest Service

                        wildland fire management

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For an additional amount for ``Wildland Fire Management'', 
     $400,000,000, to remain available until expended, for urgent 
     wildland fire suppression activities: Provided, That such 
     funds shall only become available if funds provided 
     previously for wildland fire suppression will be exhausted 
     imminently and the Secretary of Agriculture notifies the 
     House and Senate Committees on Appropriations in writing of 
     the need for these additional funds: Provided further, That 
     such funds are also available for repayment to other 
     appropriation accounts from which funds were transferred for 
     wildfire suppression.

                    GENERAL PROVISION, THIS CHAPTER

     SEC. 2201. SECURE RURAL SCHOOLS.

       (a) For fiscal year 2007, payments shall be made from any 
     revenues, fees, penalties, or miscellaneous receipts 
     described in sections 102(b)(3) and 103(b)(2) of the Secure 
     Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 
     (Public Law 106-393; 16 U.S.C. 500 note), not to exceed 
     $100,000,000, and the payments shall be made, to the maximum 
     extent practicable, in the same amounts, for the same 
     purposes, and in the same manner as were made to States and 
     counties in 2006 under that Act.
       (b) There is appropriated $425,000,000, to remain available 
     until December 31, 2007, to be used to cover any shortfall 
     for payments made under this section from funds not otherwise 
     appropriated.
       (c) Titles II and III of Public Law 106-393 are amended, 
     effective September 30, 2006, by striking ``2006'' and 
     ``2007'' each place they appear and inserting ``2007'' and 
     ``2008'', respectively.

                CHAPTER 3--GENERAL PROVISION, THIS TITLE

     SEC. 2301. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.

       Amounts in this title are designated as emergency 
     requirements pursuant to section 402 of H. Con. Res. 95 
     (109th Congress), and pursuant to section 501 of H. Con. Res. 
     376 (109th Congress) as made applicable to the House of 
     Representatives by section 511(a)(4) of H. Res. 6 (110th 
     Congress).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin.


                             General Leave

  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may

[[Page H4873]]

have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on 
H.R. 2207.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 8 minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, in the bill which the President vetoed last week, in 
addition to funding for the troops in Iraq, we provided funding for a 
number of other high-priority purposes. We provided additional funding 
above the President's request for veterans' health care, something 
which the President did not want. We added additional funding to defend 
the country against a potential epidemic from the pandemic flu virus 
that our scientists are concerned about. The President asked for that 
money 3 years ago, but this time around said he didn't want it in the 
bill. The President said he did not want to see the money that we put 
in the bill for homeland security and a variety of other programs.
  It seemed to me the administration took special pleasure in also 
objecting to the fact that we had agricultural disaster funding in the 
bill and that we had the funding in the bill to respond to the court 
decision on western salmon and we also had funding in the bill to deal 
with Western school programs that had been allowed to lapse by the 
previous Congress and several other provisions like that. The President 
said that those programs didn't belong in this bill because they 
weren't emergencies.
  Well, in fact, I think the President had it backwards because what 
the President seemed to suggest is that the only legitimate funding for 
an emergency appropriation would be for the war in Iraq. In fact, the 
war in Iraq should not be funded at all as an emergency appropriation. 
After all, it has been around for more than 4 years, despite the 
President's landing on that aircraft carrier. And the fact is that the 
President, in order to hide the full cost of the war, asked for that 
war to be funded in 11 different slices. Those funds should have been 
provided in regular appropriation bills, not in supplementals. So it is 
the President who has the usual practice figured out just backwards. We 
didn't object to dealing with the Iraqi problem, and we would 
appreciate it if he would not object to dealing with other legitimate 
emergency problems.
  The President seemed to suggest, in his veto message, that we didn't 
have the courage to deal with the agriculture and other related issues 
alone, that we had to slip them in, so to speak, in the Iraq bill. And, 
frankly, that got my dander up. And so now that we are back in the 
second bill, I have insisted that when the House votes on this matter 
tonight that we vote on it separately to demonstrate to the President 
that there is support in both parties, I believe, for dealing with some 
of these issues, especially with the agriculture problem.
  Now, I didn't declare 70 percent of the counties in this country to 
be disaster areas. The President did. The Congress has an obligation 
not to ignore those declarations and act accordingly, and that is what 
we are trying to do. So very simply, we are going to have these votes 
tonight, and I am glad that we are.
  There are two items that are not in the bill that should be in the 
bill. One is spinach. When the President vetoed the bill, his 
administration made a lot of fun of the fact that we had funding for 
spinach in the bill. Well, there is no spinach in my district, but let 
me tell you why we had that funding. Nobody was laughing a year ago 
when people were deathly sick because they had consumed spinach that 
was contaminated with E. coli, and then the Federal Government went to 
spinach growers and asked that they take their products off the shelf 
voluntarily, and when they did that, that cost those spinach growers a 
lot of money. Now, I have heard a lot of conservatives and liberals 
alike in this House complain and cry and whine all over the floor when 
the government engages in an uncompensated taking from a private 
citizen. Well, if you tell an industry that they can't collect for 
their product after they have been asked by the government to take it 
off the market even though 99 percent of that spinach was perfectly 
safe, then what have you done? You have engaged in an uncompensated 
taking. Now, that may not bother many people in a city like Washington, 
D.C., where a lot of people look down their noses at anything rural, 
but the fact is that farmers are entitled and spinach growers are 
entitled to the same kind of consideration any other economic group 
would have in this country.
  The second thing that isn't in here is funding for Great Lakes 
fishery problems. We had several Members of the minority party make fun 
of the bill 2 weeks ago because they claimed we had money in the bill 
for tropical fish. Well, I want to tell you what we had in the bill. 
The Federal Government discovered last year that fisheries in the Great 
Lakes, especially in Lake Michigan, that fish were being found with a 
disease called viral hemorrhagic septicemia. It does to fish what ebola 
does to human beings. It is a bloody problem. And that problem, if left 
unchecked, has the potential to destroy the entire Great Lakes 
fisheries. That is an 8 to $9 billion annual business. So what we tried 
to do was to simply recognize the plight of a few commercial fish 
growers who were told by the government they could not ship their 
product across State lines because it would endanger the entire 
fisheries, and so they complied. The irony was under the law if the 
fish produced by those farmers had been diseased, they could have 
collected from the government, but because those fish were healthy, 
they couldn't. So they were stuck in a catch-22 situation.
  We tried to fund that, and we got laughed off the screen because the 
demogogues in this institution and demogogues on the other end of the 
avenue made fun of a problem that is a very serious environmental 
problem. We have taken that item out of the bill, too, simply because 
there is only so much bowl gravy that you can counter in a political 
debate. So we are left with the bare bones proposition that deals with 
legitimate problems faced by farmers and faced by Western States with 
respect to wildfires and the other problems funded in this bill.
  So I am happy we finally are going to have an opportunity to vote on 
these items standing alone. I urge an ``aye'' vote.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, we are continuing our debate on the emergency 
supplemental with a discussion of a separate measure that includes 
billions of dollars of spending completely unrelated to the global war 
on terror or legitimate emergencies in the gulf coast region.
  This is an extraordinary amount of unauthorized spending, spending 
that is not offset in any way, contained under the emergency 
designation. As the ranking member of the House Appropriations 
Committee, and the committee's former chairman, I believe the House 
must firmly hold the line and reject this unnecessary spending.
  Members on both sides of the aisle can, and will, argue that some of 
this spending is justified. Members can correctly point out the need 
for additional funds to address wildfire suppression or agricultural 
assistance in various regions of the United States. However, I would 
urge that many of the needs addressed in this bill could, and they 
should, be addressed in regular order through the fiscal year 2008 
funding bills.
  Sadly, many items are being designated as emergencies for no other 
reason than to make more room for additional spending under the fiscal 
year 2008 caps, which, incidentally, we still do not have.
  When the new majority assumed power earlier this year, it committed 
to restoring pay-as-you-go, the practice of offsetting spending 
increases with spending decreases. As I mentioned earlier, none of the 
proposed spending included in this package has been offset in any way.
  Lastly, Mr. Speaker, our colleagues should be aware that the 
President has indicated that he will veto this legislation due to the 
excessive nonemergency spending it contains. I urge our colleagues to 
show spending restraint by opposing this package.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

[[Page H4874]]

  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished 
chairwoman of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Ms. DeLauro.

                              {time}  2030

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, with this supplemental appropriations bill, 
we continue to confront urgent business which the 109th Congress left 
unfinished last year and which the President continues to want to leave 
unfinished. Today, that includes an important relief package for 
agricultural disasters which occurred in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
  I do not have to remind my colleagues about so many instances of 
devastation that have struck every corner of our Nation. And the 
President's response to these disasters is, ``You are on your own.'' 
With severe drought in the Midwest, wildfire in the Southwest and 
floods in the Upper Plains, the United States Department of Agriculture 
designated nearly three-quarters of all U.S. counties as primary or 
contiguous disaster areas over the past 2 years. Hardworking farmers 
struggling just to get by, struggling to deal with each disaster's 
painful consequences, struggling to understand their deeply felt impact 
on our businesses, our communities, on our everyday lives. What is the 
President's response? ``You are on your own.''
  These events are described by many as ``slow-motion disasters,'' but 
they are disasters nonetheless. And we cannot turn our backs on those 
who are hit hardest. Indeed, we have a responsibility to look honestly 
at all of the hard choices which have been put off far too long by this 
Congress and our President.
  Outside the gulf region, there has been no disaster assistance in the 
past 2 years, even though natural disasters hit our farmers hard. In 
2000 and 2001, we had disaster assistance bills that cost over $11 
billion in one year and $14 billion in the other. Our proposal is a 
fraction of those.
  While some time has passed since these natural disasters occurred, it 
does not mean that they have ceased to be emergencies, and it does not 
mean that we no longer have an obligation to help those in need.
  What the Democrats tonight are telling those who are struggling in 
the face of these disasters is that you are not alone. We are on your 
side. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, because he is constantly 
talking to me about the challenges of rural schools, it is my pleasure 
to recognize Greg Walden of Oregon for 3 minutes.
  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. I thank the ranking member of the committee, my 
friend and colleague from California.
  Mr. Speaker, tonight I must rise to strongly urge my colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle to help us deal with a very real emergency in 
the West and across the country by supporting this measure to fund 
rural schools and roads, and to help make sure that our farmers and 
ranchers and those who fish get the disaster aid that they have needed 
for some time.
  And I have to forcefully disagree with the statement of 
administration policy issued by this administration which threatens a 
Presidential veto. To say that the closing of jails and schools and 
libraries, as is occurring right now in my district and in others, is 
not somehow an emergency is to simply ignore the reality of what is 
happening in the rural West. It is outrageous. Enough is enough.
  First, the Federal courts and the government shut down the timber 
industry and timber harvest on Federal lands and took away our jobs in 
rural communities. Then the Federal Government quit effectively 
managing those forests. And last year, we again paid the price with 10 
million acres of Federal land that burned at a cost of a billion and a 
half for taxpayers to extinguish those fires. But it gets worse. The 
Federal Government has failed to replant a million acres of Federal 
forest lands, America's forest lands that have burned over the years. 
And now it has broken a hundred-year promise to the rural communities 
who used to depend on the revenues from these forests that now aren't 
even managed.
  And now the President threatens to veto this emergency funding bill 
designed to pay for firefighting, designed to pay for fishermen whose 
season was shut down last year, and to pay for keeping schools open and 
jails open and roads open, and providing disaster aid to farmers and 
ranchers. If we don't do this advanced funding for firefighting, they 
will dip into the accounts of the Forest Service and they won't do the 
very kind of work that needs to be done in the forest to prevent these 
kind of catastrophic fires that we are seeing over and over and over 
again. It is the same process that we decry is occurring in the 
military if we don't properly fund our troops. They will rip into these 
accounts. They will cancel the contracts, and they will set us behind. 
That is what happened to the Forest Service.
  Enough is enough. The President should not veto this bill, and this 
Congress should pass it.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson).
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. I thank the chairman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker and Members, this bill contains emergency disaster 
funding that is needed because of a commercial fishing disaster that 
happened last year and was not dealt with last year. It has devastated 
fishing families and related businesses up and down the California and 
the Oregon coast. Moreover, this disaster was the result of this 
administration's failed and illegal water policy. This water policy 
caused a virtual shutdown of the entire commercial fishing, salmon 
fishing season last year. And their water policy has been unanimously 
ruled arbitrary and capricious and a violation of the Endangered 
Species Act by not one, not two, but three different courts.
  Sadly, fishing families throughout my district and other parts of the 
coast have lost their boats. They have lost their homes. And they can't 
wait, as the ranking member suggested, for the 2008 funding cycle. The 
ones who still have their boats can't afford to buy fuel to go fishing 
if they do get a fishing season this year.
  Marinas throughout my district have gone out of business. The few 
that are left open have had to lay off up to 80 percent of their 
employees. Fishing lodges throughout the coastal area are near 
bankruptcy. And all of this because of a failed water policy and the 
previous majority's failure to deal with this disaster declaration last 
year, a disaster declaration that was made by the Secretary of 
Commerce. These folks can't wait.
  Also, as previously mentioned, this important bill contains rural 
school funding that is critical to school districts throughout rural 
America. And they are entitled to this funding because the Federal 
Government owns the property that would otherwise generate taxes that 
would fund these schools. This funding goes for schools and for the 
road maintenance in these areas.
  I have one county that has 80 percent federally owned property. And 
to talk about rubbing salt on a wound, not only do they get their 
school funding and their road maintenance funding taken away, but they 
are still required to maintain the roads throughout this federally 
owned property. This is an incredibly important bill that needs to be 
passed and should not be vetoed by this administration.
  I urge an ``aye'' vote.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 5 minutes 
to my colleague from the committee, Mike Simpson.
  Mr. SIMPSON. I appreciate the gentleman yielding time, and I 
appreciate the leadership of the ranking member from California on this 
committee.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the difficulties we often have is you are tasked 
if you are a member of the party of the administration to sometimes 
defend the administration. But sometimes the administration, quite 
frankly, does things that are undefendable. If you read the statement 
of administration policy and what they would do and why they would veto 
this bill, I have got to tell you, I believe it is undefendable.
  I want to thank Chairman Obey for recognizing that even in a time of 
war, not all emergencies are war-related, that unanticipated 
circumstances occur that require our attention. Unanticipated floods 
and droughts and hurricanes occur that require our attention. 
Unanticipated wildfires occur that require our attention. Unanticipated 
actions that are taken that

[[Page H4875]]

would impact our county schools and road budgets need to be taken into 
account.
  If you read the administration's statement of administration policy, 
I want to read from it, if I could.
  The Office of Management and Budget, Statement of Administration 
Policy.
  The administration strongly supports efforts to increase 
opportunities for America's farmers and ranchers in rural communities. 
However, H.R. 2207 would allow almost $7 billion in unrequested 
spending that is unjustified and not appropriate for an emergency 
spending bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I will tell you that if you look at the funding in this 
bill, it is exactly what emergency spending is for. As an example, if 
you look at what we have done in the agricultural section of this bill; 
we have had droughts, we have had problems in the agricultural 
community. And while the administration talks about how good the ag 
economy is and how good the 2001 farm bill worked, and that the ag 
economy is up like $16 billion in income this year, the fact is that, 
in isolated cases and in isolated situations, you have disasters, you 
have floods, you have droughts. We have a responsibility to help those 
people. That's what an emergency is. I don't think the administration 
recognizes that.
  When you have wildfires that occur throughout this country that are 
more than we anticipate, and if you will look at the news any given 
night, wildfires are occurring now in California and other places, we 
have to put out those wildfires. If we don't, the costs grow and become 
enormous.
  If you look at the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-
Determination Act, I don't know if most people understand what that is. 
Counties used to get a part of the timber sales to help fund their 
roads and their schools. Timber sales were being reduced so much that 
those funds were drying up and it was affecting those counties that 
were predominantly rural counties and had many public lands in them. 
Mr. Thompson said he has one that is 80 percent Federal land. I've got 
one that is 96 percent Federal land.
  What we did was we put this into place 10 years ago. The problem was 
it said that we will wean the schools off of this and find a way to 
replace those funds. How do you replace those funds if you are a county 
that is 96 percent Federal land? You have no private land for taxes. 
How are they going to find the resources to replace that funding?
  So we did it in the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-
Determination Act. Now, the administration says they have come up with 
a perfectly reasonable alternative to fund this, an offset, if you 
will. They want to sell public lands. They proposed that last year, 
selling nearly 250,000 acres in Idaho. The people of this country stood 
up and rejected that idea. The people of this country do not want to 
willy-nilly sell public lands.
  We have a responsibility, when the Federal Government owns an 
overwhelmingly majority of public lands in a lot of the western States, 
64 percent in Idaho, we have a responsibility to help those counties 
with some of the funds where they don't have the tax base to address 
these needs themselves. Otherwise, you are going to have schools that, 
quite frankly, don't have a budget next year. Is it an emergency? Can 
we wait until 2008? I don't think so. They start school before that, 
and we have to address it.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the fact that the administration is trying 
to address the deficit, but to suggest that these needs are 
nonemergency, that we should be able to anticipate them, I think is 
just wrong.
  I hope my colleagues will vote for this bill. And again, I thank the 
chairman of the committee. I thank the ranking member of the committee 
for the work that they do. It is always difficult when you are trying 
to address both the deficit and the needs of this country, and they do 
a very, very good job of it.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to control the 
remaining time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. DeLAURO. I would like to recognize the gentleman from Minnesota, 
the Chair of the Agriculture Committee (Mr. Peterson) for 2 minutes.
  Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota. I want to thank the gentlelady and Mr. 
Obey and others for working to put together this bill.
  The Agriculture Committee is very interested, obviously, in the 
disaster provisions in this bill. It's something that we've been 
working on for a long time and we've been trying to get accomplished 
the last couple of years.
  In my particular district, we had our agriculture disaster back in 
May of 2005, and the guys are still having a tough time keeping their 
head above water. We've been waiting a long time for this.
  As has been said by other people, this is something that affects just 
about every part of the country. And it is a true emergency because 
this is something that is beyond the control of producers, and it is 
something that we ought to, as a government, be responding to. We do it 
for homeowners and businesses, when we have a hurricane or a flood or a 
tornado or some kind of event like that, with FEMA. We have a process 
where we take care of this. A lot of times we put emergency money into 
that to take care of the disaster, and it is only fit and proper that 
we do the same kind of thing for folks in agriculture.
  We, on the committee, have been working with the ranking member of 
the Agriculture Subcommittee and the full committee on this language. I 
just want people to know that this is the tightest language that has 
ever been written on a disaster bill. It has really been focused in on 
the folks that had the problem.

                              {time}  2045

  One of the most important things, for the first time, and this has 
not been something that has been able to be accomplished in the past, 
we are going to require that people have crop insurance in order for 
them to be able to be paid under this disaster bill. That is a big 
reform, and it gets us a long ways in the right direction. What we are 
hoping to do this year in the farm bill is put in a provision so that 
we can have this covered in the regular order as part of our regular 
farm program.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes 
to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Rehberg), a member of our committee.
  Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I would like to associate myself with Mr. 
Walden and Mr. Simpson when I say the President is dead wrong. In fact, 
he is almost to the level of being cruel, when an administration 
doesn't clearly understand a sense of urgency, when you only have 3 
minutes to talk about something as serious as the lives of family 
members within places like Montana.
  Rural schools, it hits 33 of my counties of the 56. The disaster with 
the farmers and ranchers hits the rest of the State. Virtually our 
entire State has been under a disaster since 2005.
  It is always interesting to me when we debate on the floor the 
seriousness of Hurricane Katrina, or we talk about the hurricanes and 
we talk about floods. Drought sneaks up on you. It occurs during a 
period of years.
  I can tell you in Montana we have seriously had to consider setting 
up crisis counseling for farmers and ranchers because of the 
emotionalism of not being able to pay for your children's food, their 
clothing, their shoes, their college education or even your own 
retirement, because it continually eats away at you.
  It doesn't happen overnight like a flood or a tornado. It creeps up 
on you like a cancer. And to have an administration that doesn't have 
any more sense of urgency to understand that 2005 still has not been 
addressed, 2006 has not been addressed, and now we are in 2007 and we 
are arguing about the fact we want to veto this bill? That's cruel.
  Clearly the administration needs to understand that there are 
emergencies beyond. Now, it's not without some criticism I level on the 
majority party when they tied it to the timelines in the Iraq 
supplemental. That's cruel as well, because essentially it held them 
hostage. And not one farmer or ranch group in Montana came up and said 
I want you to vote for the timelines in the Iraq supplemental because 
we need our money.

[[Page H4876]]

  They were smarter than that. They can't be bribed. They don't want to 
be held hostage. They did not apply pressure. I thought it was unfair 
to tie it together in the first place.
  So we finally come to where we need to be, and I want to thank the 
majority party for recognizing that. I hope they won't tie it again, 
because ultimately this is too important. We are in fact talking about 
lives and families and futures. The future of the State of Montana, it 
is an agricultural State. We need the opportunity to become whole by 
being able to go to the bank and to borrow the money to stay in 
business.
  Please support this bill.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Montana's words are 
eloquent.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\3/4\ minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. 
DeFazio).
  Mr. DeFAZIO. I thank the gentlelady for the time.
  Mr. Speaker, the ranking Republican on the other side said there is 
no other reason for this than to make room for the fiscal year 2008 
spending.
  No, this is the unfinished business of the 109th Congress, the 
Republican Congress led by the Republican President in the White House, 
who allowed county and school payments to lapse without lifting a 
finger. Nothing was done. 780 counties are on the brink of losing 
essential services, closing jails, laying off deputy sheriffs, no rural 
law enforcement, no public health, other essential services 
jeopardized, thousands of jobs. 4,400 rural schools, already 
underfunded, struggling to make ends meet for their kids, are going to 
lose money if these payments aren't renewed. And the President says 
that does not meet any reasonable definition of an emergency.
  Well, I guess if you live in the White House and you ride in 
motorcades protected by the Secret Service and you fly in a private 
747, you're not too worried about cops in rural areas. You're not too 
worried about public health. You get free health care up at Walter 
Reed. You're not too worried about educating the Nation's kids and the 
kids in rural areas. But I am, and I represent that district. This is 
long overdue. This is an emergency.
  And then for them to denigrate the emergency assistance to the 
fishermen? We had to drag the administration kicking and screaming last 
year to finally declare an emergency when they closed down the season 
and people couldn't work and they are losing their boats. Now they say 
it is unwarranted funding for the fishermen.
  How distant from the reality of the American people can you get? 
Twice in one day we have tried to bring this President back to Earth, 
on a new course in Iraq and on the needs of the American people here at 
home.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran).
  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. I thank the distinguished gentleman from 
California for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in support, strong support, of the 
legislation that is before us this evening. In fact, my number one 
agriculture priority for 2007 is the passage of legislation similar to 
what we are addressing this evening.
  We are going to deal with the farm bill later this year, but the 
reality is that many farmers in America and certainly the farmers I 
know in Kansas will not be around to take advantage of the provisions 
of the 2007 farm bill, absent some kind of assistance, due to no fault 
of their own.
  In Kansas, we have struggled through five and six years of drought 
followed by this year's December 31, 2006, winter storms that caused 44 
of Kansas' 105 counties to be declared natural disasters, followed by a 
winter freeze, three nights in April in which the temperatures were in 
the teens and much of what we thought was going to be a wonderful wheat 
harvest is now destroyed due to the cold weather. And as you have all 
seen most recently here just a few nights ago, tornadoes, hail and 
floods have now affected this part as well as the rest of the State of 
Kansas.
  So, Mr. Speaker, if we care about an agricultural economy, this 
disaster assistance is so important. The average age of a farmer today 
in Kansas is 59 years old. There is almost no next generation. If we 
want young family farmers, we have got to make certain that the 
economic opportunities are there.
  People will look to crop insurance. It doesn't work in the 
circumstances that we are talking about, multiyear disasters. Many 
crops, including livestock, are not covered. And we look to the farm 
bill. It is there for purposes of when the price of the commodity that 
the farmer sells is lower than the cost of production. So it is only 
through this type of agricultural assistance that we can see our 
farmers through from day to day.
  If you care about life in rural America, if you care about the future 
of farmers, if you care about the future of the communities they live 
in, this is an important piece of legislation. In fact, you don't have 
to be a farmer to gain benefits from agriculture disaster. This is 
about whether or not in rural America we have people who shop on our 
Main Streets, whether or not we have kids in our schools.
  So, Mr. Speaker, this is an important piece of legislation, and I ask 
my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, to support this 
legislation.
  I thank the majority for allowing it to be brought to the floor 
tonight.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy).
  Mr. POMEROY. I thank the gentlelady for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I represent farm families in desperate need of the 
disaster assistance in this bill, and that is why I am so offended by 
this Statement of Administration Policy threatening veto on this bill. 
Consider some of the words in the veto threat of the President: ``The 
farm economy is strong. Both crop and livestock receipts are forecast 
to be record high in 2007.''
  You know, I don't think they get it. National numbers. National 
averages. These are of no value whatsoever to the individual farm 
family that gets wiped out in a disaster.
  Most of the country on Labor Day of 2005 had a perfectly delightful 
Labor Day weekend. But part of the country got hammered to bits with 
Hurricane Katrina. I represent people living more than 1,000 miles from 
there, but we think we need to help those people. When it comes to the 
North Dakota farmers, who have been devastated, well, they need our 
help too. These are natural disasters certified by the President.
  Take a look at this corn. You've heard of ``knee high by the 4th of 
July''? Well, this was taken in early July. When the wind starts 
blowing, the temperature soars and the rain stops and the drought takes 
hold, the families' income goes away. Family farmers lose their crops. 
Family farmers forced to sell their cattle. Family farmers lose their 
income. And without our help, without our help tonight, family farmers 
are going to lose their farms.
  In North Dakota, this was the third worst drought on record, only 
following the thirties and the fifties. But we are not alone. Look at 
this figure. We had farmers through the great heartland, an area by the 
way providing some of the President's staunchest support, deeply 
hurting from these droughts and in need of this disaster bill.
  We need to send a strong bipartisan signal and send it right now, 
tonight, help is on its way. Please vote for this bill.
  Mr LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
South Dakota (Ms. Herseth Sandlin).
  Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this legislation to 
provide desperately needed disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers 
across this country who are suffering from natural disasters.
  Over the past several years, large swaths of my home State of South 
Dakota have experienced persistent, severe, devastating drought. It has 
been particularly hard on livestock producers in my State. Its 
epicenter has been across central and western South Dakota, some of the 
Nation's prime cattle and sheep grazing land.
  The drought worsened dramatically early last summer. Customary spring 
rains never came. By June, we were seeing temperature records being 
broken weekly and water holes going dry. The landscape was brown. By 
August it was black; bare, parched Earth where we usually have lush 
green grass.

[[Page H4877]]

  Ranchers in my State had two options, purchase and haul feed and 
water at substantial cost to their cattle, or sell or dramatically cull 
their herds. Many of them chose the latter because of the persistence 
of this drought. Livestock auction markets across the region reported 
record sale numbers. Many producers were, in essence, selling their 
factories.
  This is particularly hard on younger ranchers. So many of these 
ranchers now don't have adequate breeding stock to produce the calves 
today that they would have sold this fall. Thus, many of the real 
economic impacts are still to come. Once a ranch family leaves the 
land, they are gone forever. Small towns and local businesses suffer, 
schools and churches suffer, the very fabric of our communities is torn 
apart.
  As devastating as this drought has been to our economy, the lack of 
appreciation for its seriousness among some who don't come from rural 
America has been equally frustrating. Many of my colleagues and I have 
been trying for almost 2 years to get this done. The administration has 
threatened to veto the assistance for the past 2 years through today. 
We filed a discharge petition at the end of the last Congress which 
nearly every Democratic Member and a handful of Republican Members 
signed, but Republican leadership failed to take action.
  Supporters of this necessary relief have been criticized by some for 
trying to attach it to the emergency supplemental. Well, because the 
last Congress couldn't get its work done last year, this is all we 
have. We make no apologies for it. We have been forced to wait until 
today, and suffering U.S. farmers and ranchers have been forced to wait 
until today too.
  The economic and psychological damage that these droughts cause is 
just as real as that caused by hurricanes, tornadoes and floods. This 
bill can alleviate some of that pain. Let's pass it tonight and get 
this assistance out to those throughout rural America, those who are 
quietly suffering on the land.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).
  Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the gentlelady for yielding this precious time.
  Mr. Speaker, I heard our colleagues from Oregon, from Idaho and 
Montana speak about the disasters that are striking their area and the 
need for funding and assistance from this legislation.
  As we speak, there is a 22,000-acre segment of the Boundary Waters 
Canoe Area Wilderness in the Superior National Forest in the heart of 
my district on fire; 470 firefighters are out there trying to put the 
blaze out.
  We need help every bit as much as do the people in Iraq for water and 
sewer and infrastructure investment. We need that help right here at 
home. If we don't have a strong and vibrant economy at home, we can't 
support our troops overseas. We can't support other countries and their 
needs. We have got to rebuild America. We have got to protect our land 
here at home. And this is only today's fire. We had just a year-and-a-
half ago a huge blaze that ripped through the Boundary Areas Canoe 
Area.
  We need this assistance, we need it now, and we need it in this bill.

                              {time}  2100

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take up where my good 
friend from Minnesota left off in terms of dealing with the money that 
is in this legislation that would help us deal with the crisis that is 
occurring in our Nation's forests.
  One of the legacies, unfortunately, of the last Congress where we had 
a meltdown of the budget process is that these issues were left 
unresolved. We have eviscerated the budgets for the Department of the 
Interior, shifting money out of operating budgets for purposes of 
firefighting. This is going to help us move back in the right 
direction.
  One of the other casualties was the county payments program. In the 
last session, the implosion of the budget process where the Republican 
majority and the administration could not follow through, left 4,600 
school districts across the west, including a number in my State in 
Oregon in a lurch.
  This legislation steps up and meets the needs. It is not extraneous. 
I sincerely hope the President changes his tune and withdraws his veto 
threat.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Oregon (Ms. Hooley).
  Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that when we talk about 
Hurricane Katrina, a horrible disaster that affected hundreds of 
thousands of lives, left people homeless; we talk about the recent 
tornado or hurricane wiping away a city, people ask me, particularly 
those from the urban areas, why they should vote for this. What is in 
it for them?
  Well, this is just as much a disaster, but it is a different kind of 
disaster. This has salmon money. We have fishermen who can no longer 
pay for their boat. They can't pay for their crew or housing, and they 
are hurting. That is what supplemental budgets are for.
  We have rural schools laying off teachers, disappearing sheriff 
departments, rural roads not being able to be fixed. This is a bill 
that impacts every single person in this room. This is a disaster. That 
is what supplemental budgets are all about. Please vote ``yes.''
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Doggett).
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlelady.
  When parts of Texas endure an extreme drought, the burden is felt 
most heavily by our farm families. A devastating lack of water left 
many of our counties parched. Sam Berry, a rancher from Lavaca County 
wrote me to say: ``After back-to-back bad seasons and with all my 
reserve hay gone, how much worse could it get''?
  Well, as bad as that drought was down in Texas, it is nothing like 
the drought of understanding for the plight of farmers and ranchers 
here in Washington. They have faced indifference on top of 
indifference.
  Federal disaster assistance dried up. I received similar pleas from 
farmers and ranchers like David Wagner in Lavaca County and others from 
Bastrop County and Caldwell County and Fayette and Colorado counties. 
The last Congress, with $10 billion to burn every month in Iraq, had 
nothing to offer these ranchers here at home. When our new Congress 
finally passed emergency help this March, that help was vetoed by the 
President.
  The bill that we pass today is another attempt to provide much-needed 
assistance to these farmers and ranchers.
  I know that ranching looks mighty easy over in the Oval Office when 
some over there seem to think that clearing out brush in August is 
vacation work. But for those for whom ranching is not a hobby, who have 
found that their fields turned fallow; for those like Pat Peterson of 
Red Rock whom high-priced hay means selling their best livestock, 
disaster endangers a life and a livelihood.
  This spring, Texas has had some relief. But who is to say this wet 
spring will last, and it is not enough to make up for the last two 
really bad seasons that our farmers and ranchers have endured. Helping 
our farmers and ranchers now cannot guarantee them success, but it will 
go a long way in helping restore what has been lost and protect what 
remains.
  I hope the House tonight will approve this bill and that the 
President will finally get behind the relief that his fellow Texans 
need so very much.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston).
  Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I wanted to say, Mr. Speaker, as I listen to this debate tonight, I 
am reminded of my old alley cat, Hercules. When I was growing up in 
Athens, Georgia, I had a mean, tough cat. He was an alley cat who 
basically adopted me. You know, we humans don't really adopt cats. 
Athens, Georgia, kind of a hilly, foothills Appalachian town with ivy 
bank. In the ivy bank, we had lots of cute little chipmunks.
  Hercules, being tough and could be the bully, could be somewhat like 
the majority party in some respects in that he was the alpha cat of the 
neighborhood. He would catch chipmunks at will. He would usually kill 
them and

[[Page H4878]]

eat them, dispensing of them quickly. But every now and then, and it is 
an interesting thing about cats, it is not unique to my cat, but he 
would catch a chipmunk and he would toy with it awhile. He would just 
play with it.
  You would think: Did he have a change of heart? Is he going to let 
this chipmunk go? No, he would just play with it awhile.
  Well, that is what is going on tonight. We are hearing a lot of 
discussion, a lot of administration bashing about how cruel the White 
House is and a lot of lamenting about the Republican Party, and a lot 
of talk about compassion for the farmers and the rural communities and 
schools. There has been talk about the horrors of fire, drought and 
windstorm.
  And yet as we look at the rule that is governing this bill, which 
would be known as H. Res. 387 in the House Calendar No. 59, introduced 
by Ms. Slaughter, of New York, if we turn to page 3, section 4, we read 
the fine print. And it says: ``Sec. 4.(a) In the engrossment of H.R. 
2206, the Clerk shall--
  ``(1) await the disposition of H.R. 2237 and H.R. 2207;
  ``(2) add the respective texts of H.R. 2237 and H.R. 2207, as passed 
by the House, as new matter at the end of H.R. 2206;
  ``(3) confirm the title of H.R. 2206 to reflect the addition of H.R. 
2237 and H.R. 2207, as passed by the House, to the engrossment,'' which 
as the Speaker knows and followed very closely, what this means is this 
is Hercules toying with the chipmunk.
  It means there is not a disaster bill at all. It just means the 
majority party is toying with a disaster bill, because what happens, 
this goes right back to the President attached to the war funding bill.
  Here is my point, Mr. Speaker. If all these things are true, why is 
the majority party toying with a disaster? We are right back where we 
started from. We have just jumped out from the war funding bill only 
temporarily for I guess some purpose of voting here, and I understand 
politics, you can't remove that from the House of Representatives, but 
the reality is we are toying with a disaster bill because we already 
know two things: All the gobbledygook on page 4 that the Clerk shall do 
means this bill gets rejoined with the military funding bill. That is a 
fact.
  Number two, the President has already said he is going to veto the 
military funding bill, and one of the reasons is because of the 
extracurricular, nonmilitary items that are being added to it.
  So what I would say to Hercules, if you were worried about that 
little old chipmunk, you really would let it go. And I would say to the 
majority party, if you really were sincere about disaster relief, you 
would separate it from this rule, this H. Res. 367 introduced by Ms. 
Slaughter of New York and say, you know, we are going to have an up-or-
down vote on a straight, freestanding separate disaster bill so that 
the farmers and ranchers and people out west can get the relief that we 
have heard over and over again on a bipartisan basis that they need so 
badly.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Let me keep it short and sweet, Mr. Speaker. Let me simply point out 
that the items contained in this bill are not new add-ons. They are 
essentially items that clean up and finish last year's unfinished 
business. That is certainly the case with agriculture disaster. It is 
certainly the case with rural schools, a program which the previous 
Congress allowed to lapse. It is certainly the case with western 
wildfire, and it is certainly the case with the western fisheries' 
issues which the Congress of last year should have dealt with but 
didn't.
  I ask for an ``aye'' vote on the bill.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I support this supplemental 
appropriations bill.
  Among other things, it will provide critically important funding for 
farmers and ranchers in southeastern Colorado who were hit hard by 
storms last winter. Thousands of cattle were killed.
  While I have not seen a final total of the damage resulting from this 
winter's storms, it seems evident that they will be even worse than 
those resulting from an October 1997 storm that killed approximately 
30,000 cattle and cost farmers and ranchers an estimated $28 million.
  The struggles that family agriculture producers and small counties 
face are significant and are having a negative impact on the livelihood 
of hundreds of farmers and ranchers and their communities.
  Besides heavy crop and livestock losses and increased production 
costs associated with rapidly escalating input costs, many producers 
also face infrastructure losses that pose serious, long-term challenges 
to economic recovery.
  So, I am pleased that the bill includes financial assistance for our 
beleaguered farmers and ranchers, as well as for many others in other 
parts of the country who need and deserve assistance.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 387, the 
previous question is ordered on the bill, as amended.
  The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
  The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was 
read the third time.


         Motion to Recommit Offered by Mr. Lewis of California

  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to recommit.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is the gentleman opposed to the bill?
  Mr. LEWIS of California. I am opposed to the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion to 
recommit.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mr. Lewis of California moves to recommit the bill, H.R. 
     2207, to the Committee on Appropriations to report the same 
     promptly with an amendment to make the bill deficit neutral.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California is recognized for 5 minutes in support of his motion to 
recommit.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, this is a simple motion to 
recommit that sends the bill back to committee and instructs the 
committee to find offsets.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to 
recommit.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Wisconsin is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, this motion is really quite interesting. What 
it says is that the same folks who want to spend $57 billion on tax 
cuts on millionaires this year, all paid for with borrowed money, the 
same folks who are comfortable with the idea that we have got over a 
trillion dollars in unfunded tax cuts, all paid for with borrowed 
money, the same folks that want us to spend, no questions asked, at 
least $600 billion in a sad, sad war in Iraq, these folks have suddenly 
gotten religion, and they now have a motion that says they would like 
to see this bill be deficit neutral.
  What that mean is they are going to ask the farmers of America to 
bear the full weight of deficit reduction in this bill. This is simply 
a device to kill the bill because instead of asking that the bill be 
reported forthwith, it asks that the bill be reported promptly. That, 
as you know, is code language for killing the bill. I don't think I 
need to say anything further.
  If you want to provide the funding in this bill, you will vote 
against this motion to recommit. If you care about the farmers, if you 
care about the western wildfire problem, if you want to meet our 
obligation to the parts of the country that generally get stiffed and 
ignored, then you vote against the motion to recommit. If you care 
about these folks, you will vote against the motion to recommit.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is 
ordered on the motion to recommit.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to recommit.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the noes appeared to have it.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the 
ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a 
quorum is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.

[[Page H4879]]

  Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XX, the Chair may reduce to 5 minutes 
the minimum time for any electronic vote on the question of passing the 
bill.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 184, 
nays 233, not voting 15, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 335]

                               YEAS--184

     Aderholt
     Akin
     Alexander
     Bachmann
     Bachus
     Baker
     Barrett (SC)
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Biggert
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Boehner
     Bonner
     Bono
     Boustany
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Buchanan
     Burgess
     Burton (IN)
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp (MI)
     Campbell (CA)
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Capito
     Carter
     Castle
     Chabot
     Coble
     Cole (OK)
     Conaway
     Cooper
     Crenshaw
     Cubin
     Culberson
     Davis (KY)
     Davis, David
     Davis, Tom
     Deal (GA)
     Dent
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Doolittle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Ehlers
     English (PA)
     Everett
     Fallin
     Feeney
     Ferguson
     Flake
     Forbes
     Fossella
     Foxx
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gerlach
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gingrey
     Gohmert
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Granger
     Graves
     Hall (TX)
     Hayes
     Heller
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Hill
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Inglis (SC)
     Issa
     Jindal
     Jones (NC)
     Jordan
     Keller
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kline (MN)
     Knollenberg
     Kuhl (NY)
     LaHood
     Lamborn
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lungren, Daniel E.
     Mack
     Manzullo
     Marchant
     McCarthy (CA)
     McCaul (TX)
     McCotter
     McCrery
     McHenry
     McHugh
     McKeon
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Miller, Gary
     Murphy, Patrick
     Murphy, Tim
     Myrick
     Neugebauer
     Nunes
     Paul
     Pearce
     Pence
     Petri
     Pitts
     Platts
     Poe
     Porter
     Price (GA)
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Regula
     Reichert
     Reynolds
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roskam
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Sali
     Saxton
     Schmidt
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shays
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Stearns
     Sullivan
     Tancredo
     Taylor
     Terry
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Turner
     Upton
     Walberg
     Walsh (NY)
     Wamp
     Weldon (FL)
     Weller
     Westmoreland
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                               NAYS--233

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Allen
     Altmire
     Andrews
     Arcuri
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Barrow
     Bean
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Boozman
     Boren
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd (FL)
     Boyda (KS)
     Braley (IA)
     Brown, Corrine
     Butterfield
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardoza
     Carnahan
     Carney
     Carson
     Castor
     Chandler
     Clarke
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Cohen
     Costa
     Costello
     Courtney
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Cummings
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis, Lincoln
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Donnelly
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Ellison
     Ellsworth
     Emanuel
     Emerson
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Farr
     Filner
     Fortenberry
     Frank (MA)
     Giffords
     Gillibrand
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Hall (NY)
     Hare
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Hastings (WA)
     Herseth Sandlin
     Higgins
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hirono
     Hodes
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones (OH)
     Kagen
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind
     Klein (FL)
     Kucinich
     Lampson
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Loebsack
     Lofgren, Zoe
     Lowey
     Lucas
     Lynch
     Mahoney (FL)
     Maloney (NY)
     Markey
     Marshall
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum (MN)
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McIntyre
     McNerney
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Melancon
     Michaud
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, George
     Mitchell
     Mollohan
     Moore (KS)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Murphy (CT)
     Murtha
     Musgrave
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Perlmutter
     Peterson (MN)
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Rehberg
     Renzi
     Reyes
     Rodriguez
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Salazar
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sarbanes
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schwartz
     Scott (GA)
     Scott (VA)
     Serrano
     Sestak
     Shea-Porter
     Sherman
     Shuler
     Simpson
     Sires
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Space
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stupak
     Sutton
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Towns
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Walden (OR)
     Walz (MN)
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Welch (VT)
     Wexler
     Wilson (OH)
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn
     Yarmuth

                             NOT VOTING--15

     Baca
     Blunt
     Brady (PA)
     Clay
     Conyers
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Drake
     Engel
     Fattah
     Hastert
     Johnson, Sam
     McMorris Rodgers
     Peterson (PA)
     Pickering
     Souder

                              {time}  2137

  Mr. MITCHELL and Mr. WELCH changed their vote from ``yea'' to 
``nay.''
  Messrs. LATHAM, SHIMKUS and TAYLOR of Mississippi changed their vote 
from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
  So the motion to recommit was rejected.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  Stated for:
  Mrs. DRAKE. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 335, the Lewis motion to 
recommit H.R. 2207, I am not recorded. Had I been present, I would have 
voted ``yea.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
  Pursuant to clause 10 of rule XX, the yeas and nays are ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 302, 
nays 120, not voting 10, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 336]

                               YEAS--302

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Aderholt
     Alexander
     Allen
     Altmire
     Andrews
     Arcuri
     Baca
     Bachus
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Barrow
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Bishop (UT)
     Blumenauer
     Bonner
     Bono
     Boozman
     Boren
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boustany
     Boyd (FL)
     Boyda (KS)
     Brady (TX)
     Braley (IA)
     Brown, Corrine
     Burton (IN)
     Butterfield
     Buyer
     Camp (MI)
     Cannon
     Capito
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardoza
     Carnahan
     Carney
     Carson
     Carter
     Castor
     Chandler
     Clarke
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Cohen
     Cole (OK)
     Conaway
     Conyers
     Costa
     Costello
     Courtney
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cubin
     Cuellar
     Cummings
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis, Lincoln
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Donnelly
     Doolittle
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Ellison
     Ellsworth
     Emanuel
     Emerson
     English (PA)
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Everett
     Fallin
     Farr
     Filner
     Fortenberry
     Frank (MA)
     Gallegly
     Gerlach
     Giffords
     Gilchrest
     Gillibrand
     Gillmor
     Gohmert
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Graves
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Hall (NY)
     Hall (TX)
     Hare
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Heller
     Herger
     Herseth Sandlin
     Higgins
     Hill
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hirono
     Hodes
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley
     Hoyer
     Hulshof
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Jindal
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones (NC)
     Jones (OH)
     Kagen
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind
     King (IA)
     Kingston
     Klein (FL)
     Kucinich
     Kuhl (NY)
     Lampson
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Latham
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Lipinski
     LoBiondo
     Loebsack
     Lofgren, Zoe
     Lowey
     Lucas
     Lynch
     Mahoney (FL)
     Maloney (NY)
     Markey
     Marshall
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (CA)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCaul (TX)
     McCollum (MN)
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHugh
     McIntyre
     McNerney
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Melancon
     Michaud
     Miller (MI)
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, George
     Mitchell
     Mollohan
     Moore (KS)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Murphy (CT)
     Murtha
     Musgrave
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Neugebauer
     Nunes
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Pearce
     Perlmutter
     Peterson (MN)
     Pickering
     Poe
     Pomeroy
     Porter
     Price (NC)
     Radanovich
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Rehberg
     Reichert
     Renzi
     Reyes
     Reynolds
     Rodriguez
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Salazar
     Sali
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sarbanes
     Saxton
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schwartz
     Scott (GA)
     Scott (VA)
     Serrano
     Sestak
     Shea-Porter
     Sherman
     Shuler
     Simpson
     Sires
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Space
     Spratt
     Stupak
     Sullivan
     Sutton
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tierney
     Towns
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Walden (OR)
     Walsh (NY)

[[Page H4880]]


     Walz (MN)
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Weiner
     Welch (VT)
     Wexler
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wilson (OH)
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn
     Yarmuth

                               NAYS--120

     Akin
     Bachmann
     Baker
     Barrett (SC)
     Bean
     Biggert
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boehner
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Buchanan
     Burgess
     Calvert
     Campbell (CA)
     Cantor
     Castle
     Chabot
     Coble
     Cooper
     Crenshaw
     Culberson
     Davis (KY)
     Davis, David
     Davis, Tom
     Deal (GA)
     Dent
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Drake
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Ehlers
     Feeney
     Ferguson
     Flake
     Forbes
     Fossella
     Foxx
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gingrey
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Granger
     Hensarling
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hunter
     Inglis (SC)
     Issa
     Jordan
     Keller
     King (NY)
     Kirk
     Kline (MN)
     Knollenberg
     LaHood
     Lamborn
     LaTourette
     Lewis (CA)
     Linder
     Lungren, Daniel E.
     Mack
     Manzullo
     Marchant
     McCotter
     McCrery
     McHenry
     McKeon
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller, Gary
     Murphy, Patrick
     Murphy, Tim
     Myrick
     Paul
     Pence
     Petri
     Pitts
     Platts
     Price (GA)
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Ramstad
     Regula
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Roskam
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Schmidt
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shays
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Stark
     Stearns
     Tancredo
     Terry
     Tiberi
     Turner
     Upton
     Walberg
     Wamp
     Waxman
     Weldon (FL)
     Weller
     Westmoreland
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                             NOT VOTING--10

     Brady (PA)
     Clay
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Engel
     Fattah
     Hastert
     Johnson, Sam
     McMorris Rodgers
     Peterson (PA)
     Souder


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). Members are advised there 
are 2 minutes remaining in the vote.

                              {time}  2145

  So the bill was passed.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________