{
  "id": "98-201",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "98-201",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 104854,
      "date": "1998-12-21",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:48:08.896941",
      "title": "Appropriations for FY1999: U.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies",
      "summary": "The conference agreement on the FY1999 omnibus appropriations bill ( P.L.\n105-277 / H.R. 4328 ) was signed into law on October 21, 1998. The measure contains\n$55.9 billion in regular FY1999 appropriations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and related\nagencies and $5.9 billion in emergency disaster and economic assistance for agriculture, for a total\nof $61.8 billion. The House and Senate earlier had approved a separate conference agreement for\nFY1999 USDA appropriations ( H.R. 4101 ), but the President vetoed the measure\nbecause its emergency provisions did not authorize an increase in the loan rates, or farm price\nguarantees, for growers of certain crops. \n  Republican leadership strongly opposed any increases in the loan rates, but instead agreed to\nincrease the total level of direct farm assistance from the $4.2 billion provided in the vetoed version\nof  H.R. 4101 , to $5.9 billion in  P.L. 105-277 . A budget emergency was declared for\nthis amount, which by definition requires no budgetary offsets for the new spending. The $5.9 billion\nin emergency funding includes: $3.057 billion in \"market loss\" payments, of which $2.857 billion\nis for grain and cotton farmers and $200 million for dairy farmers; $1.5 billion for 1998 crop loss\npayments; $875 million for farmers affected by multiple years of disasters; $200 million in livestock\nfeed assistance; and $31 million to cover the cost of making or guaranteeing $440 million in\nadditional farm operating loans.\n  The $55.9 billion in regular USDA and related agencies appropriations for FY1999 in  P.L.\n105-277  is about equal to the House-passed level ( H.R. 4101 ), $1.2 billion below the\nSenate-passed level ( S. 2159 ), and $2.1 billion below the Administration request. Of\nthis amount, $42.25 billion is for mandatory programs and $13.69 billion for discretionary spending.\nEven excluding the additional emergency aid spending, total budget authority is significantly higher\nthan the $49.5 billion appropriated in FY1998, mainly because of a change in the formula for\ndetermining how much is required to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) for its\nnet realized losses. In order to stay within the discretionary spending allocation for the bill,  P.L.\n105-277  either limits or eliminates FY1999 funding for several mandatory programs. It prohibits\nthe spending of any of the $60 million authorized for FY1999 for the Fund for Rural America, and\nreduces spending for commodities in the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) by $10\nmillion. The law also concurs with a House provision to prohibit the FY1999 spending ($120\nmillion) for a new mandatory agricultural research program; restrict the amount of acreage that can\nbe enrolled in the Wetlands Reserve Program; and limit payments in the Environmental Quality\nIncentives Program (EQIP). \n   P.L. 105-277  also extends the statutory deadline for federal milk marketing order reform from\nApril 4 to October 9, 1999; waives the statute of limitations on certain civil rights complaints against\nUSDA; modifies eligibility for farm loans; and makes additional changes to trade sanction policy. \nA House provision to prohibit FDA from approving the abortion drug RU-486 was deleted in\nconference on  H.R. 4101 , after the President threatened a veto if the provision was\nincluded.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Economic Policy",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}