WashingtonWatch.com - P.L. 110-161, The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008

• Comment by Karl K. (March 10, 2008, 01:00:00)
  Notice how the Congress sneaked in a provision to amend the Civil Service Retirement system for Customs and Border Protection Officers by amending Section 8331 of Title 5. I'll bet 99% of Congressmen didn't even know what they were voting for; but they managed to gut the feeder of talent & experience that CBPO normally gets from retired prison guards, retired state police and the like. Try to stop the flow of illegal immigrants now without a cadre of experienced people to serve!! Ha, what idiots!...
• Revision by webmaster (February 4, 2008, 01:00:00)
  

  Making appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008.

  Detailed Summary

  Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 - <b>Division A: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008 - </b>Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008 - <b>Title I: Agricultural Programs</b> - Appropriates FY2008 funds for the following Department of Agriculture (Department) programs and services: (1) Office of the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary); (2) Office of the 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 (FSA); (31) Risk Management Agency; (32) Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Fund; and (33) Commodity Credit Corporation Fund.

  <b>Title II: Conservation Programs </b>- Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment; and (2) Natural Resources Conservation Service.

  <b>Title III: Rural Development Programs</b> - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Rural Development; (2) rural development salaries and expenses; (3) Rural Housing Service; (4) Rural Business-Cooperative Service; and (5) Rural Utilities Service.

  <b>Title IV: Domestic Food Programs</b> - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services; and (2) Food and Nutrition Service.

  <b>Title V: Foreign Assistance and Related Programs</b> - 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.

  <b>Title VI: Related Agencies and Food and Drug Administration</b> - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Food and Drug Administration (FDA); (2) Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and (3) Farm Credit Administration.

  <b>Title VII: General Provisions</b> - 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) Directs the Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide financial and technical assistance from specified funds for: (1) the Pocasset River Floodplain Management Project in Rhode Island; (2) the East Locust Creek Watershed Plan Revision in Missouri; (3) the Little Otter Creek Watershed project; and (4) the McDowell Grove Dam Flood Plain/Wetlands Restoration Project in DuPage County, Illinois.

  (Sec. 716) Prohibits funds from being used to relocate a state Rural Development office until cost and operation effectiveness have been determined.

  (Sec. 717) 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. 718) Authorizes the Secretary to use up to 26% of competitive research funds under this Act for a competitive grants program similar to the initiative for future agriculture and food systems.

  (Sec. 719) Limits funds for the environmental quality incentives program.

  (Sec. 720) Limits funds made available in FY2008 or preceding fiscal years under P.L. 480 to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) for the release of certain commodities under the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust Act.

  (Sec. 721) Prohibits fund use for CCC-funded rehabilitation of certain dams.

  (Sec. 722) 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. 723) 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. 724) Appropriates funds to the Denali Commission to address solid waste disposal problems which threaten to contaminate rural drinking water supplies.

  (Sec. 725) States that funds made available in the current fiscal year shall remain available until expended to disburse obligations made in the current 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-FY2008 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, except that FY2008 funds shall be available for new obligations.

  Limits fund use for such assistance.

  (Sec. 726) Prohibits funds under this Act from being used to require rural status recertification for rural electrification and telecommunication loan program borrowers.

  (Sec. 727) Prohibits fund use under this Act by any executive branch entity to produce a prepackaged news story for U.S. broadcast or distribution unless it contains audio or text notice that it was produced or funded by such executive entity.

  (Sec. 728) 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. 729) Authorizes the Secretary to 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. (Waives related cost sharing requirements.)

  (Sec. 730) 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. 731) Rescinds specified amounts of unobligated balances and amounts available under the Act of August 24, 1935 to encourage exportation and domestic consumption of agricultural products.

  (Sec. 732) Sets forth funding allocations for the expanded food nutrition and education program.

  (Sec. 733) Prohibits funds under this Act from being used to allow the U.S. importation of poultry products from the People's Republic of China (PRC).

  (Sec. 734) Appropriates