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This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views
on the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and
Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 1999, as reported by the House
Appropriations Committee. Your consideration of the Administration's views
would be appreciated.
The Administration appreciates efforts by the Committee to accommodate the
President's priorities within the 302(b) allocation. The President's FY
1999 Budget proposes levels of discretionary spending for FY 1999 that
conform to the Bipartisan Budget Agreement by providing savings through
user fees and certain mandatory programs to help finance discretionary
spending. In the recently enacted Transportation Equity Act, Congress --
on a broad, bipartisan basis -- took similar action in approving funding
for surface transportation programs paid for with mandatory offsets. We
want to work with the Congress on mutually-agreeable mandatory and other
offsets that could be used to increase high-priority discretionary
programs, including those funded by this bill. In addition, we urge the
Congress to adopt the user fee proposals included in the President's
budget, which would enable over $600 million to be directed to important
initiatives such as those proposed for food safety, nutrition programs,
rural development, and conservation.
Below is a discussion of our specific concerns with the Committee-reported
bill. We look forward to working with you to resolve these concerns as the
bill moves forward.
Civil Rights
The Administration strongly supports the provision made in order in the
rule that waives the statute of limitations for individuals who have
previously filed a discrimination claim against USDA. The President is
personally committed to righting any wrongs committed by USDA employees in
years past, and a great many individuals who were discriminated against
will have no recourse unless the statute of limitations is waived for them.
In a number of areas, the Committee has reduced funds to assist the most
needy farmers and members of the rural community. The Committee has not
provided the requested increase for the Outreach for Socially Disadvantaged
Farmers program, which was a key recommendation of the Civil Rights Action
Team (CRAT) report last year. With the additional $7 million requested,
USDA could support 35 projects to assist 10,000 small family farms and stem
the continuing reduction in the number of minority farmers and ranchers.
Another recommendation in the CRAT report is to increase the amount of farm
ownership loans, a portion of which are targeted to minority and beginning
farmers. The Administration urges the House to shift the $1 million in
unrequested subsidy increase provided in the bill for boll weevil
eradication loans to the farm ownership program, which would permit another
140 limited-resource farmers to finance real estate purchases.
Food Safety Initiative
The Administration is deeply concerned that the Committee has not fully
funded the President's request for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and
USDA activities to enhance food safety, providing only $16.8 million out of
the $101 million the President has requested for these activities, $96
million of which is requested in this bill. American consumers enjoy the
world's safest food supply, but too many Americans get sick, and in some
cases die, from preventable food-borne diseases. The President's budget
increase would expand food safety research, risk assessment capabilities,
education, surveillance activities, and food import inspections. The
Administration wants to work with the Congress to explore user fee options
within FDA and USDA that can be used to offset the cost of the needed
increases in these programs as well as provide funds to further modernize
the meat and poultry inspection system.
Women, Infants, and Children
The Committee bill would freeze funding for the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) at the FY 1998
level of $3.9 billion, $157 million below the President's request. This
would only support a participation level of between 7.3 and 7.4 million
women, infants, and children, and, based on FY 1998 year-end projections,
would mean cutting off over 100,000 needy participants from the program.
The President's request would maintain participation at 7.5 million,
fulfilling the bipartisan commitment to fully fund WIC. The Administration
strongly encourages the House to fund WIC at the President's requested
level.
Arms Export Control Act Modification
The Administration supports section 737, which will ensure that American
farmers can continue to export wheat and other commodities to India and
Pakistan through USDA export assistance programs. As the President
recently announced, in the sanctions the U.S. is applying toward those
countries, we are attempting to minimize the humanitarian impact on their
people. Cutting off the supply of U.S. wheat would only hurt the citizens
of Pakistan and India, as well as American farmers, without furthering the
goal of nuclear nonproliferation.
Rural Development Funding
While the Administration supports the funds provided for the Rural
Community Advancement Program (RCAP), the Administration strongly objects
to the Committee's blocking the mandatory Fund for Rural America from being
used in FY 1999. The Fund provides additional resources for rural
development and innovative agricultural research that are vitally needed to
improve the quality of life in rural America and increase the productivity
of U.S. farmers. The intent of Congress in creating the Fund in 1996 was
to boost the overall Federal investment in these activities, not to offset
discretionary spending in them. Furthermore, Congress recently extended
the authority for the Fund while increasing its resources. The
Administration urges the House to strike this provision. In addition, for
the RCAP program to be adaptable to unique local economic development
needs, as envisioned in its 1996 Farm Bill authorization, the House should
strike the Committee's limitation on the flexibility to transfer funds
among programs and allow the program to be implemented as authorized.
Food and Drug Administration
The Administration strongly urges the Congress to provide the full $1,251
million in resources to fund the program level proposed for FDA in the
President's budget. The Administration is deeply disappointed and
concerned that the Committee has not funded the President's request for
FDA's tobacco enforcement activities. This funding is vital to the
Administration's plan to reduce youth smoking. Congress' failure thus far
to pass comprehensive tobacco legislation should not prevent the Committee
from providing adequate resources for these critical public health
activities. We will work with the Congress to develop the appropriate
means of funding.
Climate Change and Clean Water Initiatives
The Committee has not provided any of the $7 million increase requested for
additional research as part of the Administration's Climate Change
Technology Initiative. These funds would support high-priority research to
reduce emissions of greenhouse gases caused by agricultural practices,
develop improved feedstocks that can be used to generate energy, and
improve techniques to convert agricultural products to biofuels. The
Administration urges the House to provide the necessary funding.
The Committee also has not included the Administration's requested increase
of $23 million for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to
implement the President's Clean Water Action Plan to help State and local
organizations hire watershed coordinators, document baseline conditions,
and target resources to farmers requesting assistance. The Plan, developed
by USDA and EPA, outlines a strategy on how to address water quality
problems, including polluted runoff, in watershed areas across the Nation.
The Administration urges the House to provide these necessary funds to the
NRCS.
Agricultural Research
The Administration strongly objects to the Committee's elimination of the
$120 million in competitively-awarded research funds authorized in the
Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998. These
funds will finance vital investments in food and agriculture genome
research, food safety and technology, human nutrition, and agricultural
biotechnology. At the same time, the Committee bill includes over $50
million in unrequested earmarks for lower-priority research while funding
competitive grants through the National Research Initiative (NRI) at $30
million below the President's request. This systematic rejection of
additional funds for competitive research grants for national and regional
priorities, in favor of earmarked grants for more local or
industry-specific requests, would slow progress toward addressing the most
pressing needs of American agriculture and food consumers, and we urge the
House to reverse this course of action. The House can do so not only by
reducing earmarked grants in the bill, but by reducing the $25 million in
unrequested increases for the Agricultural Research Service's buildings and
facilities program. A task force created by the 1996 Farm Bill to review
the Nation's agricultural research facilities comprehensively is due to
report to Congress next year, and further construction should be minimized
until the Administration and Congress have had the opportunity to review
the report.
Other Issues
The Administration strongly opposes an amendment that may be offered
mandating peer review of "scientific data" supporting final regulations.
The Administration supports the peer review process for rule-making.
However, this amendment is not needed -- peer review is currently
incorporated in the Government-wide rule-making process through public
comment and scientific advisory boards. This amendment as drafted would
impose an additional step in the review process and would cover a large
number of rules, as diverse as meat and poultry inspection rules, country
and product-specific quarantine rules, and the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Services annual fee regulations. This would impose an undue
burden on numerous final rules by requiring substantial personnel and other
resources and could result in significant delays on important public health
and safety rules.
Additional funds are needed for the farm labor housing program to improve
the living conditions many farm labor families endure. The Committee's $20
million in direct loans is more than 35 percent below the Administration's
request and would mean that 230 fewer housing units would be built compared
with the request. In addition, the Committee provides $69 million, or
seven percent, less than requested for single-family housing direct loans,
which would keep 1,300 fewer low-income rural families from achieving the
dream of homeownership and the ability to live in safe, decent, affordable
housing. The Administration urges the House to increase funding to assist
these needy members of our society.
The Committee bill includes a $10 million reduction to the President's
request for the mandatory Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which
purchases commodities for individuals greatly in need of assistance.
Given reported increases in need for food assistance through food banks and
soup kitchens, the Administration is concerned that this reduction from the
authorized level would mean less food will reach the most vulnerable
Americans.
The Administration objects to section 722 of the Committee bill, which
would limit Executive Branch review of USDA responses to congressional
inquiries. Congress expects the Administration to be responsible for
agency activities. This provision erodes that responsibility and is
contrary to the widespread congressional view that more, not less,
accountability is needed for improved management results. The
Administration urges the House to delete the provision.
The Administration strongly objects to the Committee bill's provision that
provides funding for research on nutrition programs only within the
Economic Research Service. It is important that research on nutrition
programs also occur in the context of the program's administration, and the
Administration urges the Committee to provide funding for these activities
within the Food and Nutrition Service, as requested and as included in the
Senate version of the bill.
The Committee has provided only $2 million of the requested $22 million
increase for the Inspector General as part of the Administration's law
enforcement initiative. This USDA initiative would save taxpayers millions
of dollars lost through fraud in the food and nutrition programs, in USDA
disaster, multi-family housing, and other programs, as well as improve the
integrity of USDA programs. The Administration urges the House to increase
funds for this important initiative.
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