| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 2396 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To unfreeze funding for contracts of the Department of Agriculture, to |
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| 6 | 6 | | prohibit Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Serv- |
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| 7 | 7 | | ice office closures, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | MARCH27, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. V |
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| 11 | 11 | | ASQUEZ(for himself, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. RILEYof New York, and Mr. |
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| 12 | 12 | | M |
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| 13 | 13 | | CGOVERN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- |
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| 14 | 14 | | mittee on Agriculture |
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| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
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| 16 | 16 | | To unfreeze funding for contracts of the Department of |
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| 17 | 17 | | Agriculture, to prohibit Farm Service Agency and Nat- |
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| 18 | 18 | | ural Resources Conservation Service office closures, and |
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| 19 | 19 | | for other purposes. |
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| 20 | 20 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 21 | 21 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 23 | 23 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honor Farmer Con-4 |
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| 24 | 24 | | tracts Act’’. 5 |
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| 25 | 25 | | SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FUNDING AND OF-6 |
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| 26 | 26 | | FICES. 7 |
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| 27 | 27 | | The Secretary of Agriculture shall— 8 |
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| 28 | 28 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:51 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2396.IH H2396 |
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| 29 | 29 | | mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | •HR 2396 IH |
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| 31 | 31 | | (1) immediately after the enactment of this Act, 1 |
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| 32 | 32 | | unfreeze funding for and implement all written 2 |
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| 33 | 33 | | agreements and contracts entered into by the Sec-3 |
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| 34 | 34 | | retary of Agriculture prior to the date of enactment 4 |
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| 35 | 35 | | of this Act; 5 |
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| 36 | 36 | | (2) as rapidly as possible after the enactment of 6 |
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| 37 | 37 | | this Act, pay all past due amounts owed by the Sec-7 |
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| 38 | 38 | | retary of Agriculture under agreements and con-8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | tracts described in paragraph (1); 9 |
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| 40 | 40 | | (3) not cancel any signed agreement or contract 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | with a farmer or an entity providing assistance to 11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | farmers, unless the farmer or entity has failed to 12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | comply with the terms and conditions of the con-13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | tract; and 14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (4) not close any Farm Service Agency county 15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | office, Natural Resources Conservation Service field 16 |
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| 47 | 47 | | office, or Rural Development Local Service Center 17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | without providing written notice and justification to 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | Congress not later than 60 days before the date on 19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | which the applicable office or center is intended to 20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | be closed. 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | Æ |
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| 53 | 53 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:51 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2396.IH H2396 |
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| 54 | 54 | | mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB |
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