To authorize early repayment of obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4562) to authorize early repayment of obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H.R. 4562, sponsored by the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith), allows farmers to repay accelerated or lump sums of capital debt owed to the Bureau of Reclamation.

In many cases throughout the West, current Federal law does not allow landowners to make such early repayments on Federal irrigation projects. These outdated Federal hurdles are similar to a bank prohibiting a homeowner from paying his or her mortgage early.

Congressman Smith's bill removes the Federal Bureau of Reclamation repayment prohibition for individual landowners within the Northport Irrigation District. In return for such payments, these farmers will no longer be subject to the acreage limitations and the paperwork requirements in the Reclamation Reform Act.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this bill could generate up to $440,000 in Federal revenue. The bill is based on two recent precedents that passed in both Republican- and Democrat- controlled houses, and today, we should continue those efforts by adopting this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith), also a former member of the Natural Resources Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I urge approval of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Natural Resources Committee for moving this bill and also to the gentleman from Montana for his remarks.

Under Federal reclamation law, irrigation districts which receive water from a Bureau of Reclamation facility must repay their portion of the capital costs of the water project, typically under long-term contracts.

I introduced this bill to provide members of the Northport Irrigation District early repayment authority under their dated reclamation contract. The contract in question is more than 60 years old and continues to subject landowners to burdensome reporting requirements and acreage limitations without generating revenue to the Federal Government.

Allowing producers within the district to pay off their portion of the contract means the government will receive funds perhaps otherwise uncollected and the landowners will be relieved of costly constraints which threaten family-owned operations.

For example, at a Natural Resources Water and Power Subcommittee hearing earlier this year, one member of the irrigation district testified the acreage limitation will prohibit parents who own land in the district from passing down or selling farmland to sons and daughters who also own land in the same district.

As Mr. Daines mentioned, similar legislation has passed under bipartisan majorities and, according to the CBO, could generate as much as $440,000 in Federal revenue.

This is a straightforward bill which would make a big difference to some family farmers in Nebraska.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. HOLT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

H.R. 4562 would authorize landowners served by the Northport Irrigation District to prepay the remaining portion of construction costs allocated to them for the North Platte Project.

In exchange, the landowners who pay will no longer be subject to Federal acreage limitations and other requirements associated with the Reclamation Reform Act.

I believe no one from the minority intends to oppose this legislation.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman is ready to close, I yield back the balance of my time.