[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 21397-21398]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1915
   U.S. TROOP READINESS, VETERANS' CARE, KATRINA RECOVERY, AND IRAQ 
              ACCOUNTABILITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT AMENDMENT

  Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the Senate bill (S. 1716) to amend the U.S. Troop Readiness, 
Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability 
Appropriations Act, 2007, to strike a requirement relating to forage 
producers.
  The Clerk read the title of the Senate bill.
  The text of the Senate bill is as follows:

                                S. 1716

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

     SECTION 1. CONTRACT WAIVER.

       The U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, 
     and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 (Public Law 
     110-28; 121 Stat. 112) is amended by striking section 9012.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
South Dakota (Ms. Herseth Sandlin) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Goodlatte) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from South Dakota.
  Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise today in support of S. 1716, legislation that would ensure 
that U.S. livestock producers will be able to utilize the vital 
disaster assistance recently approved by this Congress.
  The effect of this bill is essentially identical to an amendment last 
week by my colleague and friend from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) to the Farm, 
Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act, which I supported and which was 
unanimously accepted.
  This legislation is critical to deliver on the promise we made to 
American livestock producers just this past May. After more than a 
year's effort and despite several veto threats from the President, we 
were successful in passing much-needed disaster assistance through this 
Chamber and enacted into law. Then, several months after the bill's 
passage, the Secretary of Agriculture determined that a certain phrase 
in the bill effectively denies aid to all livestock producers that 
didn't participate in the Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance program 
or a crop insurance pilot program for rangeland.
  I assure my colleagues that this was not the intention of this 
Congress and, regardless of the accuracy of USDA's legal 
interpretation, we need legislative action to fix it. This bill simply 
strikes the one sentence in the disaster bill that is causing the 
problem.
  I appreciate the leadership of the Agriculture Committee in working 
with me to find a solution to this problem, and I am pleased to have 
the opportunity to offer this legislation. I also shared this problem 
with the leadership of the Appropriations Committee to ensure that this 
year's Agriculture appropriations bill contains language to address 
this as well, and I am pleased to report that it does. That would be 
unnecessary, however, if we can pass this stand-alone legislation and 
get it directly to the President. Doing so will solve this problem in 
time to prevent any delays in delivering much-needed assistance to 
American producers. I urge my colleagues to support it.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise today in support of the bill to amend S. 1716, which 
previously passed the other body and is now before the House.
  In May, Congress passed and the President signed U.S. Troop 
Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability 
Appropriations Act, 2007. This law included disaster assistance for 
crop and livestock producers for losses sustained between January 1, 
2005 and February 28, 2007.
  Producers were able to receive payments for losses sustained in only 
one of these years and were required to be in a county that was 
declared a disaster county in that same calendar year. This law also 
contained provisions found in section 9012 requiring that forage 
producers must 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.
  As a result of section 9012, very few livestock producers are 
eligible for the disaster relief passed by Congress because crop 
insurance is more widely used in crop production than in livestock 
production. The amendment before the House will strike section 9012 to 
broaden the eligibility requirements to allow more livestock producers 
that suffered loss to participate than were allowed under the 
previously passed disaster package. The amendment before the House will 
not change direct spending because this amendment reconfirms the 
assumptions made when the Congressional Budget Office scored the 
original bill.
  I believe section 9012 establishes an appropriate incentive for 
producers to manage their risk using the available tools. However, it 
is not reasonable to put this policy in place without warning. To tell 
producers in 2007 that they should have bought crop insurance in 2005 
to get assistance for losses incurred in 2005 is not fair. Livestock 
producers should know, however, that in the future, crop insurance or 
participation in similar risk-management programs will likely be 
required to qualify for future disaster assistance.
  I commend the gentlewoman from South Dakota and others who have 
worked for this legislation. I support the bill to amend S. 1716 and 
urge its adoption.

[[Page 21398]]

  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the distinguished 
ranking member of the full Committee on Agriculture, Mr. Goodlatte, for 
his support of this bill. We have Senate colleagues who we have served 
with here in this body previously who have already been working hard on 
this legislation. I am pleased that we have bipartisan agreement on our 
intention in providing this disaster assistance and certainly 
acknowledge and agree with the gentleman from Virginia's statements as 
it relates to future disaster assistance and the importance of further 
developing the pilot project programs for livestock producers to have 
adequate coverage for their losses.
  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the 
legislation before the House that fixes a drafting error that has kept 
ranchers in Kansas from receiving important disaster assistance. My top 
priority this year has been to see that the agricultural producers in 
my district who have been devastated by extreme weather are given the 
support needed to stay on their feet and continue feeding our nation.
  I was glad to see Congress recognize the importance of delivering 
disaster assistance to our country's hardest hit producers. I was not 
glad to see an error in the bill effectively prohibit ranchers from 
receiving this aid. A provision required ranchers to have participated 
in a particular insurance pilot program. The problem is that this pilot 
program does not exist.
  Absent the fix we are making here today, some producers in Kansas, at 
no fault of their own, will not be in business come winter. In Kansas, 
we have struggled through 5 and 6 years of drought followed by last 
year's strong winter storms in December that caused 44 of Kansas' 105 
counties to be declared natural disasters. And as you have all seen, 
tornadoes, hail and floods have now affected the rest of the State of 
Kansas. In total, 65 of the 69 counties I represent have been declared 
federal disaster areas this year.
  I am grateful we are taking action to allow the intended disaster 
assistance to reach ranchers across the plains. The bill before us, the 
Senate version of a bill I introduced here in the House, will simply 
strike the one sentence in the disaster bill that is causing the 
problem.
  So, Madam Speaker, this is an important piece of legislation, and I 
ask my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, to support this 
bill.
  Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth Sandlin) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 1716.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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