I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 160

To provide emergency disaster assistance to agricultural producers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 7, 2003

Mr. POMEROY (for himself, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. BOSWELL, and Mr. BALLANCE) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL

To provide emergency disaster assistance to agricultural 

producers.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Agricul5 tural Disaster Assistance Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 

8 508(b)(7) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 

9 1508(b)(7)), the Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in 

10 this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall use such sums as are 
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1 necessary of funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation 

2 to make emergency financial assistance authorized under 

3 this section available to producers on a farm that incurred 

4 qualifying crop losses for the 2001 or 2002 crop due to 

5 damaging weather or related condition, as determined by 

6 the Secretary. 

7 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall make as8 sistance available under this section in the same manner 

9 as provided under section 815 of the Agriculture, Rural 

10 Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Re11 lated Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into 

12 law by Public Law 106–387; 114 Stat. 1549A–55), includ13 ing using the same loss thresholds for the quantity and 

14 quality losses as were used in administering that section. 

15 SEC. 3. LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall use such 

17 sums as are necessary of funds of the Commodity Credit 

18 Corporation as are necessary to make and administer pay19 ments for livestock losses to producers for 2001 and 2002 

20 losses in a county that has received an emergency designa21 tion by the President or the Secretary after January 1, 

22 2001, and January 1, 2002, respectively, of which an 

23 amount determined by the Secretary shall be made avail24 able for the American Indian livestock program under sec25 tion 806 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and 
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1 Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropria2 tions Act, 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106–

3 387; 114 Stat. 1549A–51). 

4 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall make as5 sistance available under this section in the same manner 

6 as provided under section 806 of the Agriculture, Rural 

7 Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Re8 lated Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into 

9 law by Public Law 106–387; 114 Stat. 1549A–51). 

10 SEC. 4. COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION. 

11 The Secretary shall use the funds, facilities, and au12 thorities of the Commodity Credit Corporation to carry 

13 out this Act. 

14 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may promulgate 

16 such regulations as are necessary to implement this Act. 

17 (b) PROCEDURE.—The promulgation of the regula18 tions and administration of this Act shall be made without 

19 regard to—

20 (1) the notice and comment provisions of sec21 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code; 

22 (2) the Statement of Policy of the Secretary of 

23 Agriculture effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 

24 13804), relating to notices of proposed rulemaking 

25 and public participation in rulemaking; and 
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1 (3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 

2 (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

3 Act’’). 

4 (c) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULE5 MAKING.—In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall 

6 use the authority provided under section 808 of title 5, 

7 United States Code. 

8 SEC. 6. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The entire amount made available 

10 under this Act shall be available only to the extent that 

11 the President submits to Congress an official budget re12 quest for a specific dollar amount that includes designa13 tion of the entire amount of the request as an emergency 

14 requirement for the purposes of the Balanced Budget and 

15 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et 

16 seq.). 

17 (b) DESIGNATION.—The entire amount made avail18 able under this section is designated by Congress as an 

19 emergency requirement under section 251(b)(2)(A) or 

20 252(e) of that Act (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(A), 902(e)).

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