[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1309 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1309
To provide emergency assistance to producers that have suffered crop
losses due to disasters.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 20, 2003
Mrs. Lincoln (for herself and Mr. Pryor) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide emergency assistance to producers that have suffered crop
losses due to disasters.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Emergency Agricultural Disaster
Assistance Act of 2003''.
SEC. 2. CROP LOSS ASSISTANCE.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this
Act as the ``Secretary'') shall use such sums as are necessary of the
funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to make emergency financial
assistance available to producers on a farm that have incurred losses
in a 2003 crop due to a disaster, as determined by the Secretary.
(b) Administration.--Subject to subsection (a), the Secretary shall
make assistance available under this section in the same manner as
provided under section 1102 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food
and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999
(7 U.S.C. 1421 note; Public Law 105-277), including using the same loss
thresholds as were used in administering that section.
(c) Qualifying Losses.--Assistance under this section may be made
for losses associated with crops that are, as determined by the
Secretary--
(1) quantity losses;
(2) quality losses; or
(3) severe economic losses due to damaging weather or
related condition.
(d) Crops Covered.--Assistance under this section shall be
applicable to losses for all crops (including losses of trees from
which a crop is harvested, livestock, and fisheries), as determined by
the Secretary, due to disasters.
(e) Crop Insurance.--In carrying out this section, the Secretary
shall not discriminate against or penalize producers on a farm that
have purchased crop insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7
U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).
SEC. 3. COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION.
The Secretary shall use the funds, facilities, and authorities of
the Commodity Credit Corporation to carry out this Act.
SEC. 4. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.
(a) In General.--The entire amount made available under this Act
shall be available only to the extent that the President submits to
Congress an official budget request for a specific dollar amount that
includes designation of the entire amount of the request as an
emergency requirement for the purposes of the Balanced Budget and
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.).
(b) Designation.--The entire amount made available under this Act
is designated by Congress as an emergency requirement under sections
251(b)(2)(A) and 252(e) of that Act (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(A), 902(e)).
SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary may promulgate such regulations as
are necessary to implement this Act.
(b) Procedure.--The promulgation of the regulations and
administration of this Act shall be made without regard to--
(1) the notice and comment provisions of section 553 of
title 5, United States Code;
(2) the Statement of Policy of the Secretary of Agriculture
effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 13804), relating to
notices of proposed rulemaking and public participation in
rulemaking; and
(3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly
known as the ``Paperwork Reduction Act'').
(c) Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking.--In carrying out
this section, the Secretary shall use the authority provided under
section 808 of title 5, United States Code.
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