| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 118THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 2 |
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| 4 | 4 | | DSESSION H. R. 7920 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act |
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| 6 | 6 | | of 1998 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program |
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| 7 | 7 | | under which the Secretary will award competitive grants to eligible enti- |
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| 8 | 8 | | ties for the purpose of establishing and enhancing farming and ranching |
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| 9 | 9 | | opportunities for veterans. |
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| 10 | 10 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 11 | 11 | | APRIL10, 2024 |
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| 12 | 12 | | Mr. V |
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| 13 | 13 | | ANORDEN(for himself, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, Mr. BACON, and |
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| 14 | 14 | | Mrs. C |
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| 15 | 15 | | HAVEZ-DEREMER) introduced the following bill; which was re- |
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| 16 | 16 | | ferred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee |
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| 17 | 17 | | on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the |
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| 18 | 18 | | Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within |
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| 19 | 19 | | the jurisdiction of the committee concerned |
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| 20 | 20 | | A BILL |
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| 21 | 21 | | To amend the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Edu- |
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| 22 | 22 | | cation Reform Act of 1998 to direct the Secretary of |
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| 23 | 23 | | Agriculture to establish a program under which the Sec- |
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| 24 | 24 | | retary will award competitive grants to eligible entities |
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| 25 | 25 | | for the purpose of establishing and enhancing farming |
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| 26 | 26 | | and ranching opportunities for veterans. |
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| 27 | 27 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 28 | 28 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:08 Apr 19, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7920.IH H7920 |
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| 30 | 30 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | •HR 7920 IH |
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| 32 | 32 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 |
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| 33 | 33 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agriculture Grants for 2 |
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| 34 | 34 | | Veterans Education and Training Services Act’’ or the 3 |
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| 35 | 35 | | ‘‘AG VETS Act’’. 4 |
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| 36 | 36 | | SEC. 2. AGRICULTURE GRANTS FOR VETERAN EDUCATION 5 |
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| 37 | 37 | | AND TRAINING SERVICES. 6 |
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| 38 | 38 | | Title IV of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and 7 |
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| 39 | 39 | | Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7624 et seq.) 8 |
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| 40 | 40 | | is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 |
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| 41 | 41 | | ‘‘SEC. 414. AGRICULTURE GRANTS FOR VETERAN EDU-10 |
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| 42 | 42 | | CATION AND TRAINING SERVICES. 11 |
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| 43 | 43 | | ‘‘(a) I |
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| 44 | 44 | | NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 12 |
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| 45 | 45 | | program under which the Secretary will award competitive 13 |
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| 46 | 46 | | grants to eligible entities for the purpose of establishing 14 |
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| 47 | 47 | | and enhancing farming and ranching opportunities for 15 |
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| 48 | 48 | | veterans (as defined in section 101(2) of title 38, United 16 |
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| 49 | 49 | | States Code). 17 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ‘‘(b) E |
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| 51 | 51 | | LIGIBLEENTITIES.—An entity is eligible for 18 |
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| 52 | 52 | | a grant under this section if such entity is— 19 |
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| 53 | 53 | | ‘‘(1) a cooperative extension service; 20 |
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| 54 | 54 | | ‘‘(2) a land-grant college or university (as de-21 |
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| 55 | 55 | | fined in section 1404 of the National Agricultural 22 |
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| 56 | 56 | | Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 23 |
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| 57 | 57 | | 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103)); 24 |
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| 58 | 58 | | ‘‘(3) a non-land-grant college of agriculture (as 25 |
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| 59 | 59 | | defined in such section); 26 |
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| 62 | 62 | | •HR 7920 IH |
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| 63 | 63 | | ‘‘(4) a Hispanic-serving agricultural college and 1 |
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| 64 | 64 | | university (as defined in such section); 2 |
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| 65 | 65 | | ‘‘(5) a State department of agriculture; 3 |
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| 66 | 66 | | ‘‘(6) a nonprofit organization; 4 |
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| 67 | 67 | | ‘‘(7) a community-based organization; or 5 |
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| 68 | 68 | | ‘‘(8) a combination of 2 or more eligible entities 6 |
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| 69 | 69 | | described in paragraphs (1) through (7). 7 |
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| 70 | 70 | | ‘‘(c) U |
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| 71 | 71 | | SE OFFUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 8 |
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| 72 | 72 | | a grant under this section shall use the funds received 9 |
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| 73 | 73 | | through the grant— 10 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ‘‘(1) to provide training and classroom edu-11 |
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| 75 | 75 | | cation that leads to a comprehensive understanding 12 |
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| 76 | 76 | | of farm and ranch business operations and manage-13 |
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| 77 | 77 | | ment practices; 14 |
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| 78 | 78 | | ‘‘(2) to develop or identify curriculum that vet-15 |
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| 79 | 79 | | eran farmers and ranchers can adopt to help man-16 |
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| 80 | 80 | | age their enterprise; 17 |
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| 81 | 81 | | ‘‘(3) to offer education, workshops, tours, and 18 |
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| 82 | 82 | | instructor-supervised field experiences; or 19 |
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| 83 | 83 | | ‘‘(4) to support any other activity, as identified 20 |
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| 84 | 84 | | by the Secretary, to increase the number of military 21 |
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| 85 | 85 | | veterans pursuing knowledge and skills development 22 |
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| 86 | 86 | | in agriculture. 23 |
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| 87 | 87 | | ‘‘(d) M |
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| 88 | 88 | | ATCHINGFUNDS.—An entity that receives a 24 |
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| 89 | 89 | | grant under this section shall provide non-Federal match-25 |
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| 92 | 92 | | •HR 7920 IH |
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| 93 | 93 | | ing funds for the purposes of carrying out this section in 1 |
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| 94 | 94 | | an amount equal to not less than the amount of the grant. 2 |
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| 95 | 95 | | ‘‘(e) A |
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| 96 | 96 | | UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 3 |
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| 97 | 97 | | are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 4 |
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| 98 | 98 | | $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.’’. 5 |
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| 99 | 99 | | Æ |
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| 101 | 101 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
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