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Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 4554 - Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 1995

June 13, 1994

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

(House Rules)
(Sponsors: Obey (D), Wisconsin; Durbin (D), Illinois)

This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views on H.R. 4556, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 1995, as reported by the House Appropriations Committee.

The Administration supports House passage of H.R. 4554 as reported by the Committee. The Administration appreciates the Committee's support for the President's investment priorities. In particular, the Administration is pleased with funding provided for the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program.

The Administration has some concerns with the Committee bill, which are discussed below.

Prescription Drug User Fees

The Administration is pleased that the Committee bill would allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to increase its collection of prescription drug user fees to $79 million — up from $54 million in FY 1994. The Administration notes that FDA could collect another $252 million in general user fees if restrictive language were deleted from the bill. Collection of these fees would permit increased funding of Presidential investments and other key items under the Committee's jurisdiction, such as the Federal crop insurance program.

Federal Crop Insurance

The Committee has not funded $213 million for the administrative expense reimbursements from the Department of Agriculture to private crop insurance companies. Without these reimbursements, private companies would not sell or adjust crop insurance policies.

The Committee assumes that the Agriculture Committees would authorize mandatory spending to pay for these expense reimbursements. However, this assumption is not consistent with the Administration's crop insurance reform proposal and would result in additional direct spending of over $200 million in FY 1995 that would be associated with the reform proposal. This would render the reform proposal subject to a point of order under "pay-as-you-go" rules and make crop insurance reform unachievable this year.

The Administration urges the House to fund these administrative expense reimbursements or, alternatively, to provide explicit authority for the mandatory Crop Insurance Fund to make these reimbursements — with a subsequent corresponding downward adjustment in the BEA discretionary caps. Without these changes that are consistent with enactment of the reform proposal, the Committee's action would effectively terminate the crop insurance program in FY 1995.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

The Committee has provided $47 million for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a reduction of 8.5 percent from the President's budget request of $52 million. This agency, the sole Federal regulator of the exchange-traded derivatives markets, has received no appropriation increase in three years despite the fact that: (1) the volume of exchange-traded derivatives traded on U.S. futures exchanges has grown 14 percent a year since FY 1986, and grew 16 percent from FY 1992 to FY 1993 alone; and (2) the CFTC gained heightened responsibilities under the Futures Trading Practices Act of 1992. The Administration urges the House to provide the CFTC with adequate funds with which to oversee these increasingly important and complex markets.

Additional Administration concerns with the Committee-reported bill are contained in the attachment.

Attachment


Attachment
(House Rules)

ADDITIONAL CONCERNS

H.R. 4554 — AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS BILL, FY 1995

(AS REPORTED BY THE HOUSE FULL COMMITTEE)

The Administration looks forward to working with the Congress later in the process on an effort to address the following concerns:

Department of Agriculture

  • Unrequested Funding. The Committee has earmarked unrequested funding ($34 million in budget authority for 31 grants through the Cooperative State Research Service (CSRS)) to land grant universities for construction, repair, or improvement of equipment or facilities at the universities. The Committee has also provided unrequested funding ($30 million in budget authority) for CSRS research grants. These grants would not be competitively awarded and would reduce funding for projects that might be better qualified to receive scarce Federal funds.

    The Committee bill would also fund the Small Watershed Program at $40 million above the President's request and the Rural Electrification Administration (particularly five-percent direct loans to telephone borrowers) at $52 million above the request.

    Finally, the Committee would fund the mandatory programs of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) above the President's request. The Market Promotion Program is funded at $15 million over the request, and the Sunflower Oil Assistance Program and Cottonseed Oil Assistance Program are funded at $27 million over the request.

    The Administration urges the House to redirect funds from these programs to fund, at least partially, restoration of funding for the President's investment proposals and other key items in the request to which the Committee has made reductions.

  • Infoshare. The Administration has requested $90 million for Infoshare, approximately $65 million over the projected FY 1994 program level. Infoshare is the proposed computer system that is a key part of the Department's streamlining plan to improve delivery of services to farm and rural communities while reducing Federal employment. The Committee has recommended no additional funds for Infoshare and, instead, has proposed that Infoshare be funded through other appropriations of the Department and transfers from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). CCC funds may legally be used only to cover the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service share of Infoshare. Therefore, the balance of the funding would have to come from other appropriations.

  • Export Enhancement Program (EEP). The Committee has proposed to reduce EEP funding by $150 million. This unilateral, up-front reduction in subsidies for U.S. farm exports, before concomitant reductions in subsidies by other countries under the Uruguay Round Agreement, would severely hamper U.S. exports, reduce potential savings available to pay for legislation implementing the Agreement, and cause increases in CCC outlays for deficiency payments.

  • National Research Initiative (NRI). The Committee has reduced NRI competitive grants $3 million below the FY 1994 level. The NRI supports basic research addressing the highest priority agricultural and environmental research issues, including food safety, water quality, alternative pest control strategies, biodiversity, and ecosystem management. The grants are awarded competitively based on merit after a vigorous peer-review.

  • Food Stamp Program. The Committee did not fund the $10 million request for Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) work. The Administration objects to language that would preclude the use of funds for "cash-out" demonstrations that have not received final approval from the Secretary by July 1994.

  • Modified Food Stamp Program in Samoa. The Committee has deleted funding for the modified food stamp program in Samoa because it believes the program should be funded under the food stamp program. The Administration does not believe that this program can be funded under the food stamp program without authorizing language, either in the appropriations bill or in substantive legislation.

William J. Clinton, Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 4554 - Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 1995 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/329896

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