Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2007

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2007 - Title I: Agricultural Programs - Appropriates FY2007 funds for the following Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs and services: (1) Office of the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary); (2) Chief Economist; (3) National Appeals Division; (4) Office of Budget and Program Analysis; (5) Homeland Security Staff; (6) Office of the Chief Information Officer; (7) Office of the Chief Financial Officer; (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 Community Advancement Program; (3) rural development salaries and expenses; (4) Rural Housing Service; (5) Rural Business-Cooperative Service; and (6) 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) Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (P.L. 480) program account, title I ocean freight differential grants, 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; 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. 706) Prohibits funds under this Act from being used 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 20% of total federal funds provided under each award.

(Sec. 709) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act for the Safe Meat and Poultry Inspection Panel.

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

(Sec. 717) Appropriates funds for the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center.

(Sec. 718) Authorizes the Secretary to use up to 30% of competitive research funds under this Act for a competitive grants program similar to the initiative for future agriculture and food systems.

(Sec. 719) Prohibits fund use for Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC)-funded rehabilitation of certain dams.

(Sec. 720) Prohibits fund use in FY2007 for renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements under provisions of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.

(Sec. 721) Limits funds for the environmental quality incentives program.

(Sec. 722) Prohibits fund use for broadband telecommunications access in rural areas.

(Sec. 723) Limits funds made available in FY2007 or preceding fiscal years under P.L. 480 to reimburse CCC for the release of certain commodities under the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust Act.

(Sec. 724) Limits fund use for the value-added market development grant program.

(Sec. 725) 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. 726) Appropriates funds to the Denali Commission to address solid waste disposal problems which threaten to contaminate rural drinking water supplies.

(Sec. 727) Limits fund use for the grazing, wildlife habitat incentive, source water protection, and Great Lakes Basin programs.

(Sec. 728) Limits fund use for the farmland protection program.

(Sec. 729) Limits fund use for the ground and surface water conservation program.

(Sec. 730) Prohibits funds under this Act from being used 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.

(Sec. 731) Requires that funds made available in the current fiscal year be used to cover only obligations made in such fiscal year for the following Food Security Act of 1985 programs: (1) ground and surface water conservation program; (2) conservation reserve program; (3) wetlands reserve program; (4) conservation security program; (5) farmland protection program; (6) grassland reserve program; (7) environmental quality incentives program; and (8) wildlife habitat incentives program.

Requires that funds made available in FY2004-FY2007 for federal crop insurance education and management assistance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act be used to cover only obligations made in such fiscal years.

Limits fund use for such assistance.

(Sec. 732) Provides that Palmer, Alaska, shall be eligible for a water and waste disposal grant of not more than 75% of the cost of providing water and sewer service to the proposed hospital in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska.

Provides that the construction projects known as the Tri-Valley Community Center addition in Healy, Alaska, the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (to be designated an "essential community facility") in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Allied Health Learning Center skill labs/classrooms shall be eligible for community facilities grants in amounts that are equal to not more than 75% of the total facility costs.

Provides, in the case of a high cost isolated rural area in Alaska that is not connected to a road system, that the maximum level for the single family housing assistance shall be 150% of the median household income level in the nonmetropolitan areas of the state and 115% of all other eligible areas of the state.

Provides that any former Rural Utilities Service borrower that has repaid or prepaid an insured, direct or guaranteed loan under the Rural Electrification Act, or any not-for-profit utility that is eligible to receive an insured or direct loan under such Act, shall be eligible for economic development and job creation assistance under such Act in the same manner as a borrower (under such Act).

(Sec. 733) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make funding and other assistance available through the emergency watershed protection program to repair and prevent damage to nonfederal land in watersheds that have been impaired by fires initiated by the federal government; and (2) waive related cost sharing requirements.

(Sec. 734) Prohibits funds under this Act from being used to require rural status recertification for rural electrification and telecommunication loan program borrowers.

(Sec. 735) Authorizes the Secretary to use any unobligated carryover funds (with an exception) from any Rural Utilities Service program to carry out 911 access improvements.

(Sec. 736) Appropriates additional funds for specialty crop block grants, of which up to 5% may be used for administrative expenses.

(Sec. 737) Authorizes and directs the Secretary to quitclaim to Elkhart, Kansas, all rights, title and interests to a specified tract of land in Morton County, Kansas.

(Sec. 738) Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to revise the definition of "eligible state" for summer food program pilot projects, effective January 1, 2007.

(Sec. 739) Prohibits, without specific congressional authorization, funds under this Act from being used to study or enter into a contract with a private party for competitive sourcing activities relating to rural development or farm loan programs.

(Sec. 740) Rescinds specified amounts of unobligated balances under the Act of August 24, 1935 to encourage exportation and domestic consumption of agricultural products.

(Sec. 741) Prohibits funds made available by this Act from being used to pay administrative costs of a state that authorizes any new for-profit vendor to transact food instruments under WIC if it is expected that more than 50% of the vendor's annual food sale revenues will be derived from supplemental food items obtained with WIC food instruments (except that the Secretary may approve such vendor's authorization if necessary to assure participant access to program benefits).

(Sec. 742) Prohibits, with an exception, funds under this Act from being used to: (1) grant a waiver of a financial conflict of interest requirement under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for any voting member of an FDA advisory committee or panel; or (2) make a certification that the need for an individual's services outweighs the potential for a conflict of interest for any such voting member.

Prohibits funds under this Act from being used to make a new appointment to an FDA advisory committee or panel unless the Commissioner of Food and Drugs submits a semi-annual report to the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Committees on Appropriations of the House and Senate, the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House, and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee of the Senate on the efforts made to identify qualified persons for such appointments with minimal or no potential conflicts of interest.

(Sec. 743) Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to extend farm labor housing eligibility to agricultural (commodity) processing workers.

(Sec. 744) Directs the Secretary, starting in FY2006 [sic], to administer the farm and ranchland protection program exclusively in accordance with specified regulations concerning such program.

(Sec. 745) Considers, until receipt of the 2010 Census: (1) Lake City, Florida, and Parsons, Kansas, rural areas for Rural Utilities Service water and waste water loans and grants; (2) Lansing, Kansas, a rural area for Rural Housing Service programs, and Leavenworth, Kansas, and Lansing, Kansas, as separate geographic entities for Rural Development grants and loans; (3) Vineland, New Jersey, and Millville, New Jersey, and urbanized areas contiguous and adjacent to both cities, (including individuals and entities with projects within these cities and areas) as eligible for all Rural Business Program loans and grants except rural development (intermediary relending) loans authorized by the Food Security Act of 1985 and rural economic development loans and grants authorized by the Rural Electrification Act of 1936; (4) Celina, Ohio, and Ashtabula, Ohio, as eligible for Rural Development grants and loans; (5) the Gooseberry Lake Project, Iowa, as eligible for the Rural Utilities Service water and wastewater loans and grants, including the purchase of land and moving of utilities; and (6) Alamo, Texas, Mercedes, Texas, Weslaco, Texas, and Donna, Texas, as eligible for Rural Development grants and loans.

(Sec. 746) Requires that payment allocations be adjusted as necessary to ensure that each institution participating in the food and education nutrition education program receives a payment of not less than $100,000.

(Sec. 747) Appropriates funds for the National Center for Natural Products Research.

(Sec. 748) Prohibits funds from being used to transfer funds or assess fees in excess of 5% from any Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service program or activity.

(Sec. 749) Appropriates funds to continue the housing demonstration program for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

(Sec. 750) Considers the service areas being acquired by Mid-Kansas Electric Cooperative as eligible for Rural Electrification Act of 1936 financing.

(Sec. 751) Extends authorization of appropriations through FY2011 for education grants to Native Hawaiian- and Alaska Native-serving institutions.

(Sec. 752) Amends the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to revise specified export credit program provisions.

(Sec. 753) Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to extend operating loan eligibility to commercial fishermen.

(Sec. 754) Amends the Farm Security and and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to extend peanut storage and handling cost payments through crop year 2007. Terminates payment authority beginning with crop year 2008.

(Sec. 755) Amends the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 with respect to certain travel-related transactions with Cuba to: (1) include medical goods (currently, limited to agricultural commodities); (2) replace the case-by-case authority with a general license authority; and (3) specify categories of export sale activities.

(Sec. 756) Appropriates additional amounts to respond to the data theft at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and to aid veterans whose personal data has been stolen.

(Sec. 757) Expresses the sense of the Senate that if, by the date of enactment of this Act, Japan does not permit the importation of U.S. beef, additional tariffs on selected Japanese articles should be imposed until Japan permits the importation of U.S. beef.

Title VIII: Emergency Agricultural Disaster Assistance - Emergency Farm Relief Act of 2006 - (Sec. 802) Defines specified terms.

Subtitle A: Agricultural Production Losses - (Sec. 811) Emergency Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2006 - Directs the Secretary to provide emergency financial assistance to eligible agricultural producers (other than sugar cane and sugar beet producers) who have incurred qualifying quantity or quality crop losses for: (1) the 2005 crop due to weather or related conditions (including crop disease, insects, and delayed harvest); and (2) the 2006 crop due to flooding in California, Hawaii, and Vermont that occurred prior to the date of enactment of this Act and for which a petition for a disaster designation petition has been filed with the Secretary not later than such date.

Provides assistance at a lesser payment rate for producers who were eligible to acquire crop insurance but did not do so.

(Sec. 812) Directs the Secretary to provide: (1) payments through the 2002 livestock compensation program to eligible livestock producers in 2005-2006 for losses that occurred prior to the date of enactment of this Act (including wildfire disaster losses in Texas and other states) due to a disaster; (2) livestock indemnity payments to producers who have incurred livestock losses in 2005-2006 for losses that occurred prior to the date of enactment of this Act (including wildfire disaster losses in Texas and other states) due to a disaster, including losses due to hurricanes, floods, anthrax, and wildfires; and (3) payments under the ewe lamb replacement and retention payment program for each qualifying ewe lamb retained or purchased in 2006.

(Sec. 813) Directs the Secretary to provide compensation to eligible owners of flooded crop and grazing land in the Devils Lake basin, and the McHugh, Lake Laretta, and Rose Lake closed drainage areas of North Dakota.

(Sec. 814) Directs the Secretary to provide assistance to: (1) sugar beet producers who suffered 2005 production losses (including quality losses); and (2) sugarcane growers in Hawaii by making a specified payment to a certain agricultural transportation cooperative in Hawaii.

(Sec. 815) Directs the Secretary to indemnify producers who suffered 2005 cattle losses from bovine tuberculosis.

(Sec. 816) States that producer payments under this subtitle shall be reduced by any amount received by the producer for the same loss or any similar loss under: (1) the Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006; (2) an agricultural disaster assistance provision contained in the announcement of the Secretary on January 26, 2006; or (3) the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006.

Subtitle B: Supplemental Nutrition and Agricultural Economic Disaster Assistance - (Sec. 821) Directs the Secretary to make grants to States for: (1) agricultural promotion; and (2) value of production based upon specialty crop and livestock production.

Requires as a condition for grants that a state give fund use priority for specialty crop and livestock support.

Authorizes a state to use grant funds: (1) to supplement state food bank programs or other nutrition assistance programs; (2) to promote the purchase, sale, or consumption of agricultural products; (3) to provide economic assistance to agricultural producers, with priority for specialty crop and livestock support; or (4) for other purposes as determined by the Secretary.

(Sec. 822) Directs the Secretary to make supplemental economic loss payments to: (1) any producer on a farm that received a crop year 2005 direct payment under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002; and (2) any dairy producer who was eligible to receive a 2005 dairy market loss payment under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.

(Sec. 823) Directs the Secretary to use additional funds to carry out emergency measures identified by the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service through the emergency watershed protection program.

Subtitle C: Conservation - (Sec. 831) Authorizes the Secretary, through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, to: (1) provide financial and technical assistance to remove and dispose of debris and animal carcasses that could adversely affect health and safety on non-federal land in a hurricane-affected county; and (2) use direct check-writing practices and electronic transfers to provide financial and technical assistance under the emergency watershed protection program in a hurricane-affected county.

(Sec. 832) Directs the Secretary to use additional funds to carry out emergency measures identified by the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency through the emergency conservation program.

Subtitle D: Farm Service Agency - (Sec. 841) Directs the Secretary to use specified funds to hire additional Farm Service Agency personnel to carry out agricultural disaster and economic assistance programs under this title, and under other agriculture and disaster assistance programs as necessary.

Subtitle E: Miscellaneous - (Sec. 851) Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to provide immunizations to USDA employees involved in direct recovery work in a hurricane-affected county.

(Sec. 852) Authorizes the Secretary to provide assistance in a hurricane-affected county under the emergency conservation program without regard to certain wetland conservation provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985.

(Sec. 853) Directs the Secretary to use CCC funds, facilities, and authorities to carry out this title, to remain available until expended.

Subtitle F: Emergency Designation - (Sec. 861) Designates amounts provided in this title as an emergency requirement.

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