Dick Lugar: “I rise to thank Senator Domenici for all his efforts helping to bring about this historic conference agreement on the…”

“I rise to thank Senator Domenici for all his efforts helping to bring about this historic conference agreement on the fiscal year 2002 budget resolution, H. Con. Res. 83. The agreement's reserve fund for agriculture, Section 213, provides the Agriculture Committee with mandatory spending authority totaling $66.15 billion over fiscal year 2003-2011 in addition to the current law baseline to support the Agriculture Committee's work to formulate a new multi-year farm bill. I want to make certain that there is full agreement and understanding as to how the Budget Committee will interpret the reserve fund for agriculture on a couple of key points. First, I understand that the $66.15 billion in new mandatory spending authority over fiscal year 2003-2011 will be available to support reauthorization, modification, extension, expansion, and innovation concerning any or all titles of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996.”