Date: 1984-05-21
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I am appearing here today in support of H.R. 5221. This bill essentially extends for 4 years. through September 30. 1988. certain II 4200 amendments to the U.S. Grain Inspection Act which were adopted in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 and which otherwise would expire September 30. 1984. The bill was reported by a rollcall vote of 37 ayes to 0 nays. The principal amendment extends the requirement for the col1ection of user fees to cover administrative and supervisory costs related to official grain inspection and weighing. The userfee provision has resulted in a reduction of Federal outlays for the Federal Grain Inspection Service from approximately $24 million in fiscal year 1981 to approximately $6.9 million in the current fiscal year. The latter amount. which is funded by appropriations. represents the costs of services which benefit the general public. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that because of the extension of the userfee authority. the bill will save $15 million in - Government outlays over a 4year period. Another amendment which is extended by the bill is a limitation on the costs which may be incurred in spending for administrative and supervisory expenses of the Federal Grain Inspection Service. Under the amendments adopted in 1981. a cap was placed on such expenses of 35 percent of the total costs incurred for inspection and weighing. with the exception of certain listed items. This cap is raised by H.R. 5221 from 35 percent to 40 percent of the total costs of such activities. The 35percent limitation has been found to limit the effective management of the program. since in recent years there has been a decrease in the volume of grain exported. resulting in an increase of administrative and supervisory costs as a percentage of the total. This has occurred because of the necessity to retain sufficient technically qualified personnel to insure that professional services are available and provided when needed. At the same time. the committee has not wished to eliminate the cap in its entirety. since it has served as an effective limit on the bureaucratic growth of the agency in the last few years. Another provision which has -been extended is the requirement for the establishment of an advisory committee constituted of experts in the industry to advise the Administrator in the implementation of the act. The Committee on Agriculture has found that the work done by this advisory committee has been extremely beneficial. The record produced at the hearing supports the continuation of the advisory committee. There are two new provisions that are included in H.R 5221. The first would authorize the Administrator to invest sums collected under the Federal Grain Inspection Act in insured or collateralized interestbearing accounts or in U.S. Government debt Instruments. The effect of this action is to enable the user fees and associated sums collected by the agency to be handled in a businesslike manner and reduce in the long run the appropriations and user fees that are needed to run the program. A similar provision is contained in existing law with respect to user fees collected under other statutes. Finally. the bill contains a prohibition against the establishment of a new class designated "Red wheat" as recently proposed in the Federal Register. The proposed new classification of wheat was designed to accommodate a new variety of wheat called Arkan. The proposal has created much controversy because of concern that it would disrupt marketing of comparable types of wheat and result in the discounting of some Hard Red Winter wheat. We are pleased to note that the Federal Grain Inspection Service has just issued a press release announcing that it has decided not to establish this new class. Mr. Speaker. I urge Members to join me in supporting this legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.