| 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. 441 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To improve drought related disaster assistance programs of the Department |
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| 6 | 6 | | of Agriculture, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | JANUARY15, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Ms. L |
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| 10 | 10 | | ETLOWintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the |
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| 11 | 11 | | Committee on Agriculture |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | To improve drought related disaster assistance programs of |
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| 14 | 14 | | the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes. |
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| 15 | 15 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 16 | 16 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 18 | 18 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Drought Assistance 4 |
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| 19 | 19 | | Improvement Act’’. 5 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SEC. 2. LIVESTOCK FORAGE DISASTER PROGRAM. 6 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Section 1501(c)(3)(D)(ii)(I) of the Agricultural Act 7 |
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| 22 | 22 | | of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081(c)(3)(D)(ii)(I)) is amended— 8 |
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| 23 | 23 | | (1) by striking ‘‘at least 8 consecutive’’ and in-9 |
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| 24 | 24 | | serting the following: ‘‘not less than— 10 |
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| 25 | 25 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:51 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H441.IH H441 |
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| 26 | 26 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 27 | 27 | | •HR 441 IH |
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| 28 | 28 | | ‘‘(aa) 4 consecutive weeks 1 |
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| 29 | 29 | | during the normal grazing period 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | for the county, as determined by 3 |
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| 31 | 31 | | the Secretary, shall be eligible to 4 |
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| 32 | 32 | | receive assistance under this 5 |
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| 33 | 33 | | paragraph in an amount equal to 6 |
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| 34 | 34 | | 1 monthly payment using the 7 |
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| 35 | 35 | | monthly payment rate deter-8 |
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| 36 | 36 | | mined under subparagraph (B); 9 |
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| 37 | 37 | | or 10 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ‘‘(bb) 8 consecutive’’; and 11 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (2) in item (bb) (as so designated), by striking 12 |
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| 40 | 40 | | ‘‘1 monthly payment’’ and inserting ‘‘2 monthly pay-13 |
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| 41 | 41 | | ments’’. 14 |
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| 42 | 42 | | SEC. 3. EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR LIVESTOCK, HONEY 15 |
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| 43 | 43 | | BEES, AND FARM-RAISED FISH PROGRAM. 16 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (a) D |
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| 45 | 45 | | OCUMENTATION STANDARDS.—Section 1501(d) 17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081(d)) is 18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | amended— 19 |
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| 48 | 48 | | (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘drought,’’ 20 |
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| 49 | 49 | | after ‘‘adverse weather,’’; 21 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (2) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘adverse 22 |
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| 51 | 51 | | weather or drought,’’ after ‘‘disease,’’; and 23 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (3) by adding at the end the following: 24 |
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| 53 | 53 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:51 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H441.IH H441 |
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| 54 | 54 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 55 | 55 | | •HR 441 IH |
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| 56 | 56 | | ‘‘(5) DOCUMENTATION STANDARDS .—For pur-1 |
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| 57 | 57 | | poses of this subsection, the Secretary, in consulta-2 |
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| 58 | 58 | | tion with eligible producers of farm-raised fish, shall 3 |
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| 59 | 59 | | establish a documentation standard for each of the 4 |
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| 60 | 60 | | following: 5 |
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| 61 | 61 | | ‘‘(A) Collecting data. 6 |
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| 62 | 62 | | ‘‘(B) Production of crawfish, as related to 7 |
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| 63 | 63 | | reductions in harvest. 8 |
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| 64 | 64 | | ‘‘(C) Defining loss conditions due to 9 |
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| 65 | 65 | | drought.’’. 10 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (b) R |
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| 67 | 67 | | EDUCEDCRAWFISHHARVESTELIGIBILITY.— 11 |
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| 68 | 68 | | Subsection 1501(d)(2) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 12 |
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| 69 | 69 | | U.S.C. 9081(d)(2)) is further amended by inserting ‘‘and 13 |
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| 70 | 70 | | loss of crawfish harvest due to adverse weather or 14 |
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| 71 | 71 | | drought’’ after ‘‘cattle tick fever’’. 15 |
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| 72 | 72 | | Æ |
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| 73 | 73 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:51 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H441.IH H441 |
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| 74 | 74 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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