Bill 111-HR-2997 — Agriculture / General
Subject: Agriculture and food

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 - Title I: Agricultural Programs - Appropriates FY2010 funds for the following Department of Agriculture (Department) programs and services: (1) Office of the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary); (2) Office of Tribal Relations; (3) Office of the Chief Economist; (4) National Appeals Division; (5) Office of Budget and Program Analysis; (6) Office of Homeland Security; (7) Office of Advocacy and Outreach; (8) Office of the Chief Information Officer; (9) Office of the Chief Financial Officer; (10) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights; (11) Office of Civil Rights; (12) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration; (13) agriculture buildings and facilities and rental payments; (14) hazardous materials management; (15) departmental administration; (16) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations; (17) Office of Communications; (18) Office of the Inspector General; (19) Office of the General Counsel; (20) Office of the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics; (21) Economic Research Service; (22) National Agricultural Statistics Service; (23) Agricultural Research Service; (24) National Institute of Food and Agriculture; (25) Native American Institutions Endowment Fund; (26) extension and integrated activities; (27) Office of the Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs; (28) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; (29) Agricultural Marketing Service; (30) Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration; (31) Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety; (32) Food Safety and Inspection Service; (33) Office of the Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services; (34) Farm Service Agency; (35) state mediation grants; (36) grassroots water protection; (37) dairy indemnity program; (38) Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund Program Account; (39) Risk Management Agency; (40) Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Fund; and (41) Commodity Credit Corporation Fund. Title II: Conservation Programs - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment; and (2) Natural Resources Conservation Service. Title III: Rural Development Programs - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Rural Development; (2) rural development salaries and expenses; (3) Rural Housing Service; (4) Rural Community Facilities Program Account (5) Rural Business-Cooperative Service; (6) rural development loans; (7) rural cooperative grants; (8) rural microenterprise; (9) Rural Energy for America Program; (10) Rural Utilities Service; (11) rural electrification and telecommunications loans; and (12) distance learning, telemedicine, and broadband. Title IV: Domestic Food Programs - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services; and (2) Food and Nutrition Service. Title V: Foreign Assistance and Related Programs - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Foreign Agricultural Service; (2) Public Law 480 (P.L. 480) program title I and title II grants; (3) Commodity Credit Corporation export loans program account; and (4) McGovern-Dole international food for education and child nutrition program grants. Title VI: Related Agencies and Food and Drug Administration - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Food and Drug Administration (FDA); (2) Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC); and (3) Farm Credit Administration. Title VII: General Provisions - Specifies certain uses and limits on or prohibitions against the use of funds appropriated by this Act. (Sec. 703) Authorizes the Secretary to transfer unobligated balances to the Working Capital Fund for plant and capital equipment acquisition. (Sec. 704) Prohibits appropriations under this Act from remaining available for obligation beyond the current fiscal year unless expressly provided for. (Sec. 705) Limits negotiated indirect costs on cooperative agreements between the Department and nonprofit organizations to 10%. (Sec. 708) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act for the Safe Meat and Poultry Inspection Panel. (Sec. 709) Requires that Department agencies reimburse each other for employees detailed for longer than 30 days. (Sec. 712) Prohibits, without congressional notification, funds available under this Act or under previous appropriations Acts from being used through a reprogramming of funds to: (1) eliminate or create a new program; (2) relocate or reorganize an office or employees; (3) privatize federal employee functions; or (4) increase funds or personnel for a project for which funds have been denied or restricted. Prohibits, without congressional notification, funds available under this Act or under previous appropriations Acts from being used through a reprogramming of funds in excess of $500,000 or 10%, whichever is less: (1) to augment an existing program; (2) to reduce by 10% funding or personnel for any existing program; or (3) that results from a reduction in personnel which would result in a change in existing programs. (Sec. 713) Prohibits the use of funds for user fee proposals that fail to provide certain budget impact information. (Sec. 714) Prohibits the use of funds to close or relocate a Rural Development office unless the Secretary determines the cost effectiveness and/or enhancement of program delivery. (Sec. 715) Prohibits funds made available by this Act from being used to close or relocate the FDA Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis in St. Louis, Missouri, outside the city or county limits. (Sec. 716) Appropriates funds for Rural Development program purposes in communities suffering from extreme outmigration that are in Empowerment Zone-designated areas. (Sec. 717) Limits funds made available in FY2010 or preceding fiscal years under P.L. 480 to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) for the release of certain commodities under the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust Act. (Sec. 718) Appropriates funds for a grant to the National Center for Natural Products Research for construction or renovation to carry out the research objectives of the natural products research grant issued by the FDA. (Sec. 719) Makes funds available in the current fiscal year for agricultural management assistance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act and for specified conservation programs under the Food Security Act of 1985 until expended for obligations made in the current fiscal year. (Sec. 720) Prohibits fund use under this Act by any executive branch entity to produce a prepackaged news story for U.S. broadcast or distribution unless it contains audio or text notice that it was produced or funded by such executive entity. (Sec. 721) Limits funds to carry out the environmental quality incentives program under the Food Security Act of 1985. Prohibits the use of CCC funds for dam rehabilitation under the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act. Reduces the maximum amount of FY2010 funds available for domestic food assistance programs under the Act of August 24, 1935, before amounts in excess of such maximum must be transferred to carry out the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. Limits funds to carry out the fresh fruit and vegetable program until October 1, 2010. Rescinds specified unobligated amounts for domestic food assistance programs under the Act of August 24, 1935. (Sec. 722) Makes eligible for economic development and job creation assistance under the Rural Electrification Act in the same manner as a borrower under such Act any former Rural Utilities Service borrower that has repaid or prepaid an insured, direct or guaranteed loan under such Act, or any not-for-profit utility that is eligible to receive an insured or direct loan under such Act. (Sec. 723) Appropriates funds for an agricultural pest facility in Hawaii. (Sec. 724) Appropriates funds to develop and test new food products to improve the nutritional delivery of humanitarian food assistance under the McGovern-Dole and the P.L. 480 (title II) programs. (Sec. 725) Prohibits the Department from using funds under this Act to implement the risk-based inspection program in any location until the Office of Inspector General of the Department has reported to the Food Safety and Inspection Service and appropriate congressional committees regarding the data used in the program's development. (Sec. 726) Directs the Secretary, until receipt of the 2010 decennial Census, to consider: (1) the unincorporated area of Los Osos, California, Imperial, California, and the Harrisville Fire District, Rhode Island, eligible for rural water and waste disposal loans and grants; (2) the unincorporated community of Thermalito in Butte County, California, and Nogales, Arizona, eligible for rural housing loans and grants; and (3) Lumberton, North Carolina, and Sanford, North Carolina eligible for rural community facilities loans and grants. Authorizes the Secretary, until receipt of the 2010 decennial Census, to fund certain rural community facility projects for communities and municipal districts and areas in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island that applied for funding-eligible projects with the appropriate Rural Development field offices prior to August 1, 2009. (Sec. 727) Appropriates funds for the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship Program and the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellowship Program. (Sec. 728) Appropriates funds for: (1) the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection; (2) the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Foods, and Markets; (3) development of a national carbon inventory and accounting system prototype for forestry and agriculture; (4) the International Food Protection Training Institute; and (5) the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention. (Sec. 729) Directs the Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide financial and technical assistance through the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations program to carry out: (1) the Alameda Creek Watershed Project in Alameda County, California; (2) the Hurricane Katrina-Related Watershed Restoration project in Jackson County, Mississippi; (3) the Pidcock-Mill Creeks Watershed project in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; (4) the Farmington River Restoration project in Litchfield County, Connecticut; (5) the Lake Oscawana Management and Restoration project in Putnam County, New York; (6) the Richland Creek Reservoir in Paulding County, Georgia; (7) the Pocasset River Floodplain Management Project in Rhode Island; (8) the East Locust Creek Watershed Plan Revision in Missouri; (9) the Little Otter Creek Watershed project in Missouri; (10) the DuPage County Watershed project in Illinois; (11) the Dunloup Creek Watershed Project in Fayette and Raleigh Counties, West Virginia; (12) the Dry Creek Watershed project in California; and (13) the Upper Clark Fork Watershed project in Montana. (Sec. 730) Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act regarding the program for at-risk school children to: (1) make Connecticut, Nevada, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia program participants; and (2) increase the total number of program states from 10 to 13. (Sec. 731) Prohibits, regarding the specialty crop research initiative, funds from being used to prohibit the provision of certain in-kind support from nonfederal sources. (Sec. 732) Makes unobligated balances for salaries and expenses for the Farm Service Agency and the Rural Development mission area under this Act available for information technology expenses through September 30, 2011. (Sec. 733) Authorizes the Secretary to permit a state agency to use funds provided in this Act to exceed a specified maximum amount of liquid concentrate infant formula when issuing liquid infant formula to participants. (Sec. 734) Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to exclude combat pay from household income in calculating a child's eligibility for free or reduced price meals under the school lunch program. Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require states to exclude combat pay from family income in making eligibility determinations under the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC). (Sec. 735) Appropriates funds to obtain and add to an anhydrous ammonia fertilizer nurse tank a substance to reduce the amount of methamphetamine produced from anhydrous ammonia removed from the nurse tank. (Sec. 736) Prohibits funds under this Act from being used for first-class travel by employees of agencies funded under this Act in contravention of the Federal Travel Regulation System. (Sec. 737) Requires certain agencies providing international food assistance to provide the appropriate congressional committees with specified cost-savings alternatives. (Sec. 738) Appropriates funds to the Kansas Farm Bureau Foundation for workforce development initiatives to address rural out-migration. (Sec. 739) Appropriates funds to the Farm Service Agency for a pilot program to demonstrate the use of new technologies that increase the growth rate of reforested hardwood trees on private non-industrial forests lands, enrolling lands on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. (Sec. 740) Directs the FDA Commissioner (Commissioner) to establish review groups to recommend solutions for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of: (1) rare diseases; and (2) neglected diseases of the developing world. Directs the Commissioner to report to Congress regarding such groups' recommendations. (Sec. 741) Appropriates funds for: (1) direct reimbursement payments for geographically disadvantaged farmers or ranchers; and (2) compensation to durum wheat producers for fungicide costs to control Fusarium head blight (wheat scab). (Sec. 742) Rescinds unobligated amounts for training and education programs under the supplemental nutrition assistance program (formerly known as the food stamp program). (Sec. 743) Prohibits funds under this Act from being used to establish or implement a rule allowing U.S. importation of processed poultry or processed poultry products from the People's Republic of China (PRC) unless the Secretary notifies Congress that the Department will: (1) not provide preferential consideration to PRC applications to export poultry or poultry products to the United States; (2) conduct audits of inspection systems and on-site reviews of slaughter and processing facilities, laboratories and other control operations before any Chinese facilities are certified as eligible to ship poultry or poultry products to the United States; (3) implement an increased level of port of entry re-inspection; (4) establish and conduct an information sharing program with other countries importing processed poultry or processed poultry products from the PRC; (5) make lists of certified export facilities in the PRC and sanitary on-site inspection information publicly available; and (6) report to the appropriate congressional committees. Prohibits funds under this Act from being used to promulgate any proposed or final rule allowing U.S. importation of poultry slaughtered or poultry products produced from poultry slaughtered in the PRC unless such rule is promulgated in accordance with Executive Order 12866. (Sec. 744) Prohibits funds under this Act from being used to inspect horses for slaughter purposes. (Sec. 745) Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act and the Trade Act of 1974 to include multiyear assistance/multiyear production loss coverage under the supplemental agricultural disaster assistance programs. (Sec. 746) Provides that if a school is closed for at least five consecutive days during a pandemic influenza emergency in FY2010 each household containing at least one member who is an eligible child attending such school shall be eligible to receive specified assistance pursuant to a state-approved plan. (Sec. 747) Requires that certain projects intended for nonprofit entities be awarded under an open competition. (Sec. 748) Appropriates funds for purchases of cheese and other dairy products to assist dairy producers who have suffered economic losses. (Sec. 749) Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to: (1) extend the waiver of the use of weighted averages for nutrient analysis of menu items and foods under the school lunch or school breakfast programs through September 30, 2010; (2) extend state food safety inspection audit and reporting requirements, and the requirement that the Secretary audit such reports, through 2010; (3) extend funding for the summer food service program and other year-round feeding programs for children in California through FY2010; (4) extend funding for administrative training for, and related state supervision of, school meal programs through October 1, 2009; and (5) extend funding for the clearinghouse that provides information to nongovernmental groups that assist low-income individuals or communities regarding food assistance and self-help activities through FY2010. Directs the Secretary to: (1) carry out demonstration projects to develop methods of providing access to food for children in urban and rural areas during the summer months; (2) provide for an independent evaluation of such projects; and (3) report annually to the appropriate congressional committees regarding such projects. Provides project funding as of October 1, 2009. Directs the Secretary to provide grants to state agencies administering the national school lunch program with the lowest rates of children certified for free: (1) to improve such rates; and (2) for related administrative assistance. Provides funding as of October 1, 2009. Directs the Secretary, in carrying out the WIC program, to provide performance bonus payments to state agencies that demonstrate: (1) the highest proportion of breastfed infants; or (2) the greatest improvement in proportion of breastfed infants. Provides funding as of October 1, 2009. Directs the Secretary to make payments to state educational agencies for grants to eligible school food authorities for equipment purchases. Provides funding as of October 1, 2009. Provides grants to state agencies administering the child and adult care food program to improve the health and nutrition of children in child care settings. Provides funding as of October 1, 2009.