Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998

(On June 25, 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that the Line Item Veto Act (Public Law 104-130) is unconstitutional, thus restoring provisions that had been cancelled as summarized below.)

(On November 20, 1997, the President exercised his line item veto authority with respect to discretionary budget authority for: (1) Biocontrol and Insect Rearing Laboratory, Stoneville, Mississippi; (2) Poisonous Plant Laboratory, Logan, Utah; and (3) special research grants, projects "Dairy, Alaska," "Hydroponic Tomato Production, Ohio," and "Plant Genome Research, Ohio.") (Note: The high degree of specificity of the cancelled items precluded their inclusion in the original law's summary. As a result, the original law's summary and the summary of the law after the item veto are identical. For more information on the specific items vetoed, see the text of the conference report for H.R. 2160, H.Rept. 105-252, and Presidential Cancellation Numbers 97-77 through 97-81.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Agricultural Programs

Title II: Conservation Programs

Title III: Rural Economic and Community Development Programs

Title IV: Domestic Food Programs

Title V: Foreign Assistance and Related Programs

Title VI: Related Agencies and Food and Drug Administration

Title VII: General Provisions

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 - Title I: Agricultural Programs - Appropriates funds for FY 1998 for the following Department of Agriculture programs and services: (1) Office of the Secretary of Agriculture; (2) executive operations (Chief Economist, National Appeals Division, Office of Budget and Program Analyst, and Office of the Chief Information Officer); (3) Office of the Chief Financial Officer; (4) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration; (5) Agriculture buildings and facilities and rental payments; (6) hazardous waste management; (7) departmental administration; (8) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations; (9) Office of Communications; (10) Office of the Inspector General; (11) Office of the General Counsel; (12) Office of the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics; (13) Economic Research Service; (14) National Agricultural Statistics Service; (15) Agricultural Research Service; (16) Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; (17) Native American Institutions Endowment Fund; (18) extension activities; (19) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs; (20) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; (21) Agricultural Marketing Service; (22) Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration; (23) Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety; (24) Food Safety and Inspection Service; (25) Office of the Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services; (26) Farm Service Agency; (27) Risk Management Agency (including set-asides for approved insurance providers); (28) Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Fund; and (29) Commodity Credit Corporation Fund.

Title II: Conservation Programs - Appropriates funds for the: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment; and (2) Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Title III: Rural Economic and Community Development Programs - Appropriates funds for the: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Rural Development; (2) Rural Housing Service; (3) Rural Business-Cooperative Service; and (4) Rural Utilities Service.

Title IV: Domestic Food Programs - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services; (2) child nutrition programs; (3) special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC) (4) food stamp program; and (5) commodity assistance program.

Title V: Foreign Assistance and Related Programs - Appropriates funds for the Foreign Agricultural Service and General Sales Manager.

Title VI: Related Agencies and Food and Drug Administration - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Food and Drug Administration; (2) Farm Credit System Financial Assistance Corporation; (3) Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and (4) Farm Credit Administration.

Title VII: General Provisions - Specifies certain uses and limits on or prohibitions against the use of funds appropriated by this Act.

(Sec. 728) Amends the Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974 to include kudzu.

(Sec. 729) Makes the Martin Luther King area of Pawley's Island, South Carolina, eligible for certain rural housing loans and grants under the Housing Act of 1949.

(Sec. 730) Prohibits funds made available to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under this Act from being used to close or relocate the FDA Division of Drug Analysis in St. Louis, Missouri.

(Sec. 731) Amends the Agricultural Market Transition Act, effective October 1, 1998, with respect to cotton user marketing certificates.

(Sec. 732) Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to conduct an economic evaluation of the effects of the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact and other factors on milk prices.

(Sec. 733) Authorizes the Secretary to use specified disaster reserve grain sale funds for a livestock indemnity program.

(Sec. 734) Prohibits appropriations under this Act to be paid to producers of wild rice grown on Agricultural Market Transition Act acreage unless such payments are reduced for each such planted acre.

(Sec. 735) Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to extend through FY 1998 program authority or authorization of appropriations for: (1) targeted underserved areas; (2) insurance of housing and related facilities loans for elderly persons and families and other low-income persons and families; (3) nonprofit rural rental housing fund set-asides; and (4) loan guarantees for multifamily rural rental housing.