[House Report 118-73]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


118th Congress   }                                      {       Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session     }                                      {       118-73

======================================================================



 
                   BLOCK GRANT ASSISTANCE ACT OF 2023

                                _______
                                

  May 22, 2023.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, from the Committee on Agriculture, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 662]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 662) to amend the Disaster Relief Supplemental 
Appropriations Act, 2023 to improve disaster relief funding for 
agricultural producers, and for other purposes, having 
considered the same, reports favorably thereon without 
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

                           Brief Explanation

    This legislation, as reported out of Committee, provides 
the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to make block grants 
to States and territories in order to distribute certain 
disaster assistance under the Disaster Relief Supplemental 
Appropriations, 2023.

                            Purpose and Need

    Beginning with the enactment of the Bipartisan Budget Act 
of 2018 and via subsequent legislation, Congress has 
appropriated additional funding to the United States Department 
of Agriculture (USDA) to assist producers who suffered 
production losses in calendar years 2017 through 2022 due to 
extreme weather events and natural disasters. Legislation for 
losses in 2017 through 2021 provided explicit discretionary 
authority to the Secretary of Agriculture to deliver assistance 
via block grants to States and territories. This authority was 
omitted from the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations 
Act, 2023 which funded disaster assistance for losses in 
calendar year 2022. Making block grants to States is an option 
USDA has successfully utilized in the past to deliver disaster 
relief.

                           Section-by-Section


Section 1. Short title

    The Block Grant Assistance Act of 2023

Section 2. Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023 
        amendment

    Section 2 amends title I of the Disaster Relief 
Supplemental Appropriations, 2023 to give the Secretary of 
Agriculture the authority to provide for the distribution of 
the disaster assistance made available through division N of 
the Act through the use of block grant agreements with eligible 
States and territories.

                        Committee Consideration


                               I. HEARING

    On March 28, 2023, the Committee on Agriculture convened a 
hearing entitled ``For the purpose of receiving testimony from 
The Honorable Thomas J. Vilsack, Secretary, U.S. Department of 
Agriculture.'' In testimony and in response to questions 
related to supplemental disaster funding, Secretary Vilsack 
noted that the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 
2023 did not include the authority for USDA to provide 
assistance in the form of block grants to states, as had been 
included in previous Acts.

                           II. FULL COMMITTEE

    On May 11, 2023, the Committee on Agriculture met pursuant 
to notice, with a quorum present, to consider H.R. 662, Block 
Grant Assistance Act of 2023. Chairman Thompson made an opening 
statement, as did Ranking Member Scott. Without objection, H.R. 
662 was placed before the Committee for consideration, a first 
reading of the bill was waived, and it was open for amendment 
at any point. The Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, 
Risk Management, and Credit was discharged from further 
consideration of the legislation.
    Representative Kat Cammack of Florida and Representative 
Darren Soto of Florida were both recognized and spoke in 
support of the bill. Representative Jim Costa of California was 
recognized, and engaged in a colloquy with Chairman Thompson 
and Representative Cammack and each pledged to work together on 
this issue in the future. No further discussion occurred, and 
without objection, the Committee considered the bill. There 
being no amendments, a voice vote was conducted and the bill 
was reported favorably from Committee.
    At the conclusion of consideration of the bill, Chairman 
Thompson advised Members that pursuant to the Rules of the 
House, Members had until Monday, May 15, 2023 to file any 
supplemental, dissenting, or minority views with the Committee. 
Without objection, staff was given permission to make any 
necessary technical, clarifying, or conforming changes to 
reflect the intent of the Committee.

                            Committee Votes

    In compliance with clause 3 (b) of rule XIII of the House 
of Representatives, H.R. 662 was reported by voice vote with a 
majority quorum present. There was no request for a recorded 
vote.

                      Committee Oversight Findings

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee on Agriculture's 
oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the 
body of this report.

                           Earmark Statement

    H.R. 662 does not contain any congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in 
clause 9(e), 9(f), or 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of the 
House Representatives.

                    Performance Goals and Objectives

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the objective of 
H.R. 662 is to improve access for producers to disaster funding 
by making block grants to States to deliver the disaster 
relief.

                      Advisory Committee Statement

    No advisory committees within the meaning of section 5(b) 
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act were created by this 
legislation.

                Applicability to the Legislative Branch

    The Committee finds that the legislation does not relate to 
the terms and conditions of employment or access to public 
services or accommodations within the meaning of section 
102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act (Public Law 
104-1).

                       Federal Mandates Statement

    The Committee adopted as its own the estimate of Federal 
mandates prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office pursuant to section 423 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act (Public Law 104-4).

                    Duplication of Federal Programs

    This bill does not establish or reauthorize a program of 
the Federal Government known to be duplicative of another 
Federal program, a program that was included in any report from 
the Government Accountability Office to Congress pursuant to 
section 21 of Public Law 111-139, or a program related to a 
program identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal 
Domestic Assistance.

           Budget Act Compliance (Sections 308, 402, and 423)

    The provisions of clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules 
of the House of Representatives and section 308(a)(1) of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (relating to estimates of new 
budget authority, new spending authority, new credit authority, 
or increased or decreased revenues or tax expenditures) are not 
considered applicable. The estimate and comparison required to 
be prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office 
under clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and sections 402 and 423 of the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974 submitted to the Committee prior to the 
filing of this report are as follows:

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    H.R. 662 would amend title I of the Disaster Relief 
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023 (division N of Public Law 
117-328), to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to use 
block grants to states and territories under the Emergency 
Relief Program (ERP) to provide disaster assistance to 
agricultural producers. Title I of that act provided more than 
$3.7 billion to cover agricultural losses caused by natural 
disasters in calendar year 2022.
    CBO is not aware of any laws, regulations, or other 
directives that prevent the Secretary from using block grants 
to distribute aid through ERP. Furthermore, based on 
information from the Department of Agriculture, CBO expects 
that explicitly allowing the department to use block grants to 
disburse those funds would not affect the timing of outlays. On 
that basis, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 662 would have no 
effect on the federal budget.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Erik J. 
O'Donoghue. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, 
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                             Director, Congressional Budget Office.

         Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

  In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (new matter is 
printed in italics and existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

         DISASTER RELIEF SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2023


   DIVISION N--DISASTER RELIEF SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2023

                                TITLE I


                       DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


                         AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMS


                   Processing, Research and Marketing


                        Office of the Secretary

  For an additional amount for ``Office of the Secretary'', 
$3,741,715,000, to remain available until expended, for 
necessary expenses related to losses of revenue, quality or 
production losses of crops (including milk, on-farm stored 
commodities, crops prevented from planting in 2022, and 
harvested adulterated wine grapes), trees, bushes, and vines, 
as a consequence of droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, 
derechos, excessive heat, tornadoes, winter storms, freeze, 
including a polar vortex, smoke exposure, and excessive 
moisture occurring in calendar year 2022 under such terms and 
conditions as determined by the Secretary: Provided, That of 
the amounts provided under this heading in this Act, the 
Secretary shall use up to $494,500,000 to provide assistance to 
producers of livestock, as determined by the Secretary of 
Agriculture, for losses incurred during calendar year 2022 due 
to drought or wildfires: Provided further, That the amount 
provided under this heading in this Act shall be subject to the 
terms and conditions set forth in the first, second, and fourth 
through twelfth provisos under this heading in title I of the 
Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (division 
B of Public Law 117-43), except that each reference to 2020 or 
2021 in such provisos in such Act shall be deemed to be a 
reference instead to 2022: Provided further, That the Secretary 
of Agriculture may provide assistance for losses described 
under this heading in this Act in the form of block grants to 
eligible States and territories.

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