Political Quotes

“H.R. 2366 is a short bill. It simply transfers the authority to conduct the census of agriculture from the Secretary of Commerce to the Secretary of Agriculture, and eliminates this authority from the Secretary of Commerce as of October 1, 1998. In order to cope with the continuing move to streamline and downsize Federal agencies, it has become apparent that moving the authority to conduct the census of agriculture from the Census Bureau in the Commerce Department to the USDA makes sense from both an administrative and cost-effective point of view. In fact, the fiscal years 1997 and 1998 agriculture appropriations bills have already shifted funding for the census of agriculture to the USDA rather than the Department of Commerce. By moving the authority to conduct the census over to the USDA, it allows the Department of Commerce to free up funds otherwise obligated for this census, eliminates the need for a specific line item in the Commerce Department's appropriation, and locates the census at the agency with the biggest interest in information collected from the census.”