[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 67 (Wednesday, April 25, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H3563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        BRINGING FUTURE FARMERS OF AMERICA INTO THE 21ST CENTURY

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I introduced a 
bill with my colleagues, Congressman Jim Langevin and Congressman  
David Young of Iowa, to modernize the charter of the National FFA 
Organization.
  FFA, formerly called the Future Farmers of America, was founded in 
1928.
  Congress recognized the importance of FFA as an integral part of 
agriculture and, in 1950, granted it a Federal charter.
  The charter provides Federal authority to create an interagency 
working agreement that is focused on strengthening FFA and school-based 
agriculture education.
  It is important to note that only about 100 organizations have 
charters with Federal agencies, only six organizations require the 
respective government agency to select one member for the board of 
directors, and FFA is the only organization that requires a majority of 
its board of directors be chosen by its partner government agency.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5595, the National FFA Organization's Charter 
Amendments Act, makes updates to allow the National FFA to be a self-
governing organization while maintaining its long-held relationship 
with the U.S. Department of Education.
  This amendment brings FFA, a great cornerstone of rural America, into 
the 21st century, and I encourage my colleagues to cosponsor this 
legislation.

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