Appropriations bill FY2005, Agriculture

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005 - Title I: Agricultural Programs - Appropriates FY 2005 funds for the following Department of Agriculture (Department) programs and services: (1) Office of the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary); (2) executive operations; (3) Homeland Security Staff; (4) Office of the Chief Information Officer; (5) Common Computing Environment; (6) Office of the Chief Financial Officer; (7) working capital fund; (8) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights; (9) Office of Civil Rights; (10) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration; (11) agriculture buildings and facilities and rental payments; (12) hazardous materials management; (13) departmental administration; (14) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations; (15) Office of Communications; (16) Office of the Inspector General; (17) Office of the General Counsel; (18) Office of the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics; (19) Economic Research Service; (20) National Agricultural Statistics Service; (21) Agricultural Research Service; (22) Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; (23) Office of the Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs; (24) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; (25) Agricultural Marketing Service; (26) Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration; (27) Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety; (28) Food Safety and Inspection Service; (29) Office of the Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services; (30) Farm Service Agency; (31) Risk Management Agency; (32) Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Fund; and (33) 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 Business-Cooperative Service; and (5) Rural Utilities Service.

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) P.L. 480 program account, title I ocean freight differential grants, and title II grants; (3) McGovern-Dole international food for education and child nutrition program grants; and (4) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) export loans program account.

Title VI: Related Agencies and Food and Drug Administration - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Food and Drug Administration; (2) Commodity Futures Trading Commission; 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. 709) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to pay indirect costs charged against competitive agricultural research, education, or extension grant awards issued by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service that exceed 25 percent of total Federal funds provided under each award.

(Sec. 714) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act for the Safe Meat and Poultry Inspection Panel.

(Sec. 718) Prohibits fund use for the initiative for future agriculture and food systems, with an exception for administration of prior grants and obligations. Cancels FY 2005 initiative funds.

(Sec. 720) Prohibits fund use to relocate a State Rural Development office until cost and operation effectiveness have been determined.

(Sec. 721) Makes additional appropriations for Bill Emerson and Mickey Leland Hunger Fellowships.

(Sec. 722) Provides that any balances and recoveries available to carry out title III of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 may be used to carry out title II of such Act.

(Sec. 723) Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to increase obligated funding for the national sheep industry improvement center revolving fund.

(Sec. 724) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to collect from the lender at the time of issuance a guarantee fee of less than two percent of the principal obligation of guaranteed single-family housing loans administered by the Rural Housing Service.

(Sec. 725) Considers as eligible for rural development mission area assistance: (1) Salinas, California; (2) Watsonville, California; (3) Hollister, California; (4) Ulster, New York; (5) Cleburne County, Alabama; (6) Coachella, California; (7) Casa Grande, Arizona; (8) Creedmoor, North Carolina; (9) Eureka, California; (10) Clarksdale, Mississippi; (11) Vicksburg, Mississippi; (12) Wewahitchka, Florida; (13) Horseshoe Beach, Florida; and (14) Carbondale, Illinois.

(Sec. 726) Directs the Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide financial and technical assistance through the watershed and flood prevention operations program to: (1) the DuPage County, Illinois, Kress Creek Watershed Plan; and (2) Rockhouse Creek Watershed, Leslie County, Kentucky.

(Sec. 727) Prohibits funds under this Act from being transferred to any Federal entity unless authorized by an appropriations Act.

(Sec. 728) Authorizes the Secretary to use up to 20 percent of competitive research funds under this Act for a competitive grants program similar to the initiative for future agriculture and food systems.

(Sec. 729) Prohibits fund use to: (1) carry out CCC-funded rehabilitation of certain dams; (2) carry out the rural strategic investment program under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act; and (3) carry out the rural firefighters and emergency personnel grant program.

(Sec. 732) States that the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration shall not be required to establish obligations and outlays for purchases of interest bearing investments outside of the Treasury under specified circumstances.

(Sec. 733) Authorizes the Secretary to use specified food stamp funds for commodity processing, storage, transporting, and distribution.

(Sec. 734) Limits: (1) wetlands reserve program enrollment acreage for 2005; and (2) funds for the environmental quality incentives program.

(Sec. 736) Authorizes the Secretary to permit Department employees to carry and use firearms for personal protection in remote locations in the performance of their official duties.

(Sec. 737) Prohibits fund use for renewable energy system and energy efficiency improvements assistance.

(Sec. 738) Prohibits fund use for access to broadband telecommunications in rural areas. Cancels specified funds for such use.

(Sec. 739) Prohibits fund use to carry out the value-added market development grant program. Cancels specified funds for such use.

(Sec. 740) Directs the Secretary, with lender consent, to structure the annual fee payment schedule for rural electrification and telephone bond and loan guarantees so as not to exceed an average of 30 basis points per year for the term of the loan in order to ensure fund availability to pay related subsidy costs.

(Sec. 741) Limits fund use for: (1) the conservation security program; (2) the grazing, wildlife habitat incentive, source water protection, and Great Lakes Basin programs; and (3) the farmland protection program.

(Sec. 744) Directs the Secretary to provide assistance to commercial citrus and lime growers in Florida for tree replacement and for lost production for certain trees removed to control citrus canker, and for certified citrus nursery stocks within the citrus canker quarantine areas.

(Sec. 745) Prohibits fund use to carry out the rural business investment program.

(Sec. 746) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act: (1) in violation of PL 105-264 (Travel and Transportation Reform Act of 1998); (2) to revise a proposed rule (July 8, 2003) respecting cost-sharing for animal and plant health emergency programs of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; and (3) without specific congressional authorization, to study or enter into a contract with a private party for competitive sourcing activities relating to rural development or farm loan programs.

(Sec. 749) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative aircraft lease agreements under the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

(Sec. 750) Limits fund use for the bioenergy program.

(Sec. 751) Amends the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Programs Appropriations, 2004 to make Delta Regional Authority grants available for any rural community advancement program purpose.

(Sec. 752) Rescinds specified funds from the: (1) rural housing assistance grant program; and (2) rural housing insurance fund program.

(Sec. 754) Makes specified FY 2002 through 2005 conservation program funds under the Food Security Act of 1985 available until expended.

(Sec. 755) Prohibits funds available under this Act for the Food and Drug Administration to be used to prevent an individual not in the business of importing a prescription drug, wholesalers, or pharmacists from importing a complying prescription drug.

(Sec. 756) Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to include the guarantee fee in the principal obligation determination under the farm housing and farm service buildings loan program.

(Sec. 757) Amends the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 to rename the John Ogonowski Farmer-to-Farmer program as the John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer program.

Title VIII: Additional General Provisions - (Sec. 801) Prohibits funds available under this Act for: (1) the environmental quality incentives program, the wildlife habitat incentive program, the grassland reserve program, or the farmland protection program to be used to provide technical assistance under the conservation reserve program or under the wetlands reserve program; (2) the conservation reserve program to be used to provide technical assistance under the wetlands reserve program; and (3) the wetlands reserve program to be used to provide technical assistance under the conservation reserve program.

(Sec. 802) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to: (1) make tobacco price support or tobacco quota payments; (2) provide agricultural credits or credit guarantees for commodities for use in Iraq in violation of specified credit restrictions under the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978; (3) pay food stamp program administrative costs for operations outside the United States; and (4) restrict to prescription use a contraceptive that has been determined to be safe and effective.

(Sec. 806) Prohibits funds available under this Act to the Department to be used to acquire new information technology systems or significant upgrades without the approval of the Chief Information Officer and the concurrence of the Executive Information Technology Investment Review Board.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov