Patrick Leahy: “I want the USDA to follow the bill, and I would read a colloquy. It says: . . . funding for technical assistance will…”

“I want the USDA to follow the bill, and I would read a colloquy. It says: . . . funding for technical assistance will come from the borrowing authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation, and will no longer be affected by section 11 of the CCC Charter Act. For those programs such as the CRP, WRP, and the Grasslands Reserves Program, which involve enrollment based on acreage, the technical assistance funding will come from the annual program outlays apportioned by OMB--again, from the borrowing authority of the CCC. These programs, too, will no longer be affected by section 11 of the CCC Charter Act. That was on the floor from the statement of the distinguished Senator from Iowa as the manager of that bill. I do not know how much clearer I can say it. We are trying to get the Department of Agriculture to follow the law. I know the Senator from Iowa has been a supporter of all of these programs, as I have of the programs that affect his State, not those of us in the East. I am just saying I want the Department of Agriculture to stick to the agreement they made with the conferees at the time we passed the bill, and the only way it seems we can get them to do that is to restate it in this amendment.”