United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1978
Expresses the condemnation by the Congress of the March 11, 1978, attack on Israel by the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the expressed intention of the PLO to continue such attacks and to disrupt the peace efforts between Israel and Egypt. Requests the President to make the disapproval of the Congress known to governments approving the PLO attack. Expresses Congressional approval of the peace efforts between Israel and Egypt. Urges other Middle East countries to join such efforts. Declares negotiation to be the best way to bring peace to the Middle East.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1978
Agriculture Emergency Act - Title I: Agricultural Export Expansion - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish abroad between six and 25 United States Agricultural Trade Offices, for the purpose of developing, maintaining, and expanding international markets for United States agricultural commodities. Changes the title of Agricultural Attaches to Agricultural Counselors, and requires each Counselor to submit to the Secretary an annual report detailing the social, political and economic factors affecting agriculture and agricultural trade in the country or area to which such Counselor is assigned. Establishes in the Department of Agriculture: (1) an Assistant Secretary for Commodity Programs, to perform duties related to agricultural stabilization and conservation; and (2) an Under Secretary for International Affairs to perform duties related to foreign agriculture. Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to direct the Secretary to provide Corporation financing to exporters of agricultural commodities who wish to extend deferred payment terms, not to exceed three years, to foreign buyers in order to meet foreign competition and to make additional export sales. Title II: Agricultural Credit - Subtitle A: Amendments to the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to provide loans to any farm owners or tenants for the purposes of meeting Federal, State, or local requirements for agricultural, animal, or poultry waste pollution abatement and control facilities. Establishes a low-income farm ownership loan program for owners or operators of small or family farms, and extends eligibility for real estate and operating loans to private domestic corporations and partnerships primarily engaged in farming or ranching. Extends eligibility for operating loans to farm cooperatives. Increases the maximum allowable total principal indebtedness for real estate loans which may be outstanding by any one borrower to $200,000, or $300,000 in the case of a guaranteed loan. Removes the $500,000 ceiling from the aggregate principal of loans made using the Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund. Increases the amount of indebtedness which may be outstanding for operating loans for an individual from $50,000 to $100,000, or in the case of a guaranteed loan, $200,000. Authorizes the Secretary to purchase the guaranteed portion of any rural development loan using funds from the Rural Development Insurance Fund and the guaranteed portion of all other loans with funds from the Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund. Replaces the current provision for an up to five-year renewal of an operating loan with a provision for the consolidation or rescheduling of outstanding loans for payment over a period not to exceed seven years from the date of such consolidation or rescheduling. Authorizes the Secretary to make loans and grants, and approve transfers and assumptions under such Act in connection with property securing a loan made, insured, or held by the Secretary notwithstanding the fact an area ceases to be eligible for assistance under the Act. Authorizes the Secretary to provide a procedure for appeal and review of determinations by a county committee that a loan applicant is able to obtain sufficient credit elsewhere to finance his actual needs at reasonable rates and terms. Increases from $15,000 to $25,000 the amount of claims that can be compromised without approval of the Administrator of the Farmers Home Administration. Authorizes the Secretary to grant a moratorium upon the payment by an individual of interest and principal on a loan, upon a showing of temporary inability to continue making payments, beyond the individual's control. Subtitle B: Emergency Agricultural Credit Adjustment Act - Directs the Secretary to insure, guarantee, or make direct loans for the purpose of making payment of principal and interest installments or refinancing, in whole or in part, equipment or operating loans, giving preference to owners or operators of small or family farms. Requires the Secretary to guarantee 100 percent of the principal and interest of any such loan. Limits the total principal balance outstanding on insured or guaranteed loans to $200,000. Allows the total outstanding principal indebtedness of any borrower to reach $150,000 without approval of the senior State official of the Farmers Home Administration. Limits the total principal amount of all outstanding loans under this title during 1978 to $1,500,000,000, and during 1979 to $3,000,000,000. Terminates such program on December 31, 1979. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Extends the Emergency Livestock Credit Act through September 30, 1979. Title III: Wheat, Feed Grains, and Cotton Price Supports, Set-Aside and Release Prices - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to provide for the 1978 and 1979 crops of the following commodities a sliding-scale of established prices, keyed to voluntary five percent increments above the required acreage set-aside level, ranging: (1) for wheat, from $3.00 per bushel for a 20 percent set-aside up to $5.00 per bushel for a 50 percent set-aside; (2) for corn, from $2.10 for a ten percent set-aside up to $3.49 for a 50 percent set-aside; and (3) for upland cotton, from 54 cents per pound for a 20 percent set-aside up to 85 cents per pound for a 50 percent set-aside. Sets the 1979 established price for a 50 percent set-aside of all three commodities at the January, 1979 parity price for the 1979 crops. Prohibits: (1) the Secretary from providing for the redemption of stored wheat and feed grains loans unless the market price for such commodities is not less than parity; (2) the calling of such loans until the market price for wheat and feed grains is at least 105 percent of parity; and (3) the Commodity Credit Corporation from selling its stocks of wheat and feed grains for less than the parity price of such commodities. Title IV: Sugar - Amends the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 to increase the price support for the 1978 through 1980 crops of sugar beets and sugarcane to a minimum of 65 percent of parity, but not less than 17 cents per pound raw sugar equivalent. Title V: Meat Imports - Sets formulae for quotas on the importation of specified meat products as of January 1, 1979. Prohibits the annual importation of specified kinds of cattle in excess of the smaller of either: (1) the average number of such livestock imported during the period January 1, 1973, through December 31, 1977; or (2) 960,000 head. Title VI: National Farmer and Rancher Board - Establishes the National Farmer and Rancher Board, composed of bona fide farmers and ranchers from eight agricultural regions of the United States who shall be elected to such Board by agricultural producers according to specified procedures. Limits the duties of such Board to advising, consulting with, and making written recommendations to the President, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretaries and Administrators of other specified departments and agencies on matters pertaining to the family farm and/or the production and marketing of agricultural commodities. Title VII: Congressional Review of Embargoes or Sale Suspensions - Amends the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 to require notification of Congress of any embargo or suspension of a commercial export sale of specified commodities, and to permit Congress to halt such embargo by adoption of a resolution of disapproval within 60 days after notification. Title VIII: Government Purchases - Declares that it is the sense of Congress that all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of all three branches of the United States Government use their resources and facilities to the maximum extent practicable to purchase agricultural products produced in the United States. Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1964 to exclude from food stamp coverage any food labeled imported. Title IX: Agricultural Tax Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an investment tax credit for buildings and structural components used in the business of farming. Grants an exemption from the excise tax for any trailer or semitrailer used for farming purposes or for transporting horses or livestock, whose gross vehicle weight is 10,000 pounds or less. Entitles aerial applicators to a refund of gasoline and special fuels taxes. Repeals the carryover basis provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1976 which provide that beneficiaries receiving property from a decedent's estate will retain the decedent's basis in the property. Restores prior law which "stepped up" or "stepped down" the property's basis to its market value at the time of death without imposing tax consequences on the appreciation or depreciation the property underwent while held by the decedent. Allows a deduction from income for State estate taxes in the case of income in respect of a decedent. Title X: Natural Gas for Essential Agricultural Purposes - Directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to prohibit curtailment by a natural gas company of natural gas for essential agricultural, food processing, and food packaging purposes for which natural gas is necessary. Requires the Secretary to determine the purposes for which natural gas is necessary. Title XI: Increase Farm Storage Loan Ceiling - Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to increase the farm storage loan ceiling from $50,000 to $100,000. Title XII: Regulatory Reform - Authorizes either House of Congress by resolution to disapprove, in whole or in part, any rule or regulation prescribed by the head of any Federal department or agency. Requires the heads of all Federal departments and agencies to submit a comprehensive review and evaluation of their programs and activities so that the Congress may determine if the merits of each program or activity support its continuation or diminution rather than its termination.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1978
Agricultural Trade Act - Title I: Establishment of United States Agricultural Trade Offices - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish abroad not less than six nor more than 25 United States Agricultural Trade Offices, for the purpose of developing, maintaining, and expanding international markets for United States agricultural commodities. Title II: Intermediate Commercial Credit - Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to require the Corporation to finance, under its export credit sales program, export sales of agricultural commodities out of its own private stocks on credit terms in excess of three years, but not more than ten years. Title III: Reorganization - Establishes in the Department of Agriculture: (1) an Assistant Secretary for Commodity Programs, to perform duties related to agricultural stabilization and conservation; and (2) an Under Secretary for International Affairs to perform duties related to foreign agriculture. Title IV: Agricultural Counselors - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to change the title of Agricultural Attaches to Agricultural Counselors, and to require each Counselor to submit to the Secretary an annual report detailing the social, political and economic factors affecting agriculture and agricultural trade in the country or area to which such Counselor is assigned. Title V: General Provisions - Requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress annual reports on the activities and accomplishments of the Department, especially those of the United States Agricultural Trade Offices, in developing, maintaining, and expanding foreign markets for United States agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1978
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) remove the adjusted gross income limitation on the credit for the elderly; (2) increase the amount of the credit; and (3) provide an annual cost-of-living adjustment for the credit.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1978
Botulism Prevention Act - Prohibits the Secretary of Agriculture, for a two-year period, from issuing any order or regulation: (1) restricting the use of nitrites or nitrates as preservatives in meat products beyond the degree recommended in the final report of the Department of Agriculture's Expert Panel on Nitrates, Nitrites, and Nitrosamines; or (2) requiring labeling on meat products concerning nitrites or nitrates in addition to the requirements in effect on January 1, 1978.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1978
Confers jurisdiction upon Federal district courts to enforce a State child custody order against a parent who, in violation of such order, took the child to another State.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1978
Agricultural Trade Act - Title I: Establishment of United States Agricultural Trade Offices - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish abroad not less than six nor more than 25 United States Agricultural Trade Offices, for the purpose of developing, maintaining, and expanding international markets for United States agricultural commodities. Title II: Intermediate Commercial Credit - Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to require the Corporation to finance, under its export credit sales program, export sales of agricultural commodities out of its own private stocks on credit terms in excess of three years, but not more than ten years. Title III: Reorganization - Establishes in the Department of Agriculture: (1) an Assistant Secretary for Commodity Programs, to perform duties related to agricultural stabilization and conservation; and (2) an Under Secretary for International Affairs to perform duties related to foreign agriculture. Title IV: Agricultural Counselors - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to change the title of Agricultural Attaches to Agricultural Counselors, and to require each Counselor to submit to the Secretary an annual report detailing the social, political and economic factors affecting agriculture and agricultural trade in the country or area to which such Counselor is assigned. Title V: General Provisions - Requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress annual reports on the activities and accomplishments of the Department, especially those of the United States Agricultural Trade Offices, in developing, maintaining, and expanding foreign markets for United States agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1978
Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to establish an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for agricultural research, extension, and teaching in the food and agricultural sciences.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1978
Agricultural Trade Act - Title I: Establishment of United States Agricultural Trade Offices - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish abroad not less than six nor more than 25 United States Agricultural Trade Offices, for the purpose of developing, maintaining, and expanding international markets for United States agricultural commodities. Title II: Intermediate Commercial Credit - Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to require the Corporation to finance, under its export credit sales program, export sales of agricultural commodities out of its own private stocks on credit terms in excess of three years, but not more than ten years. Title III: Reorganization - Establishes in the Department of Agriculture: (1) an Assistant Secretary for Commodity Programs, to perform duties related to agricultural stabilization and conservation; and (2) an Under Secretary for International Affairs to perform duties related to foreign agriculture. Title IV: Agricultural Counselors - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to change the title of Agricultural Attaches to Agricultural Counselors, and to require each Counselor to submit to the Secretary an annual report detailing the social, political and economic factors affecting agriculture and agricultural trade in the country or area to which such Counselor is assigned. Title V: General Provisions - Requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress annual reports on the activities and accomplishments of the Department, especially those of the United States Agricultural Trade Offices, in developing, maintaining, and expanding foreign markets for United States agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 February 1978
Amends the Board for International Broadcasting Act of 1973 to prohibit assistance to Radio Free Europe or Radio Liberty if any Communist country is permitted to use such broadcast facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 February 1978
Expresses United States determination (1) to prevent the aggressive activities of the Soviet Union and Cuba in the Western Hemisphere, (2) to prevent the creation of externally supported Cuban military capability, and (3) to work with the Organization of American States for hemisphere security.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1978
Veterans' and Survivors' Pension Improvement Act - Title I: Amendments to Pension Program for Non-service-connected Disability or Death - Revises the list of specified catagories of payments excluded from the determination of annual income for benefit payment purposes. Requires persons applying for a non-service-connected disability pension to report the income and estate of each spouse and child on account of whom added pension is applied for or received. Sets increased flat pension and aid-and-attendance allowance rates, reduced by the amount of a veteran's annual income, and in specified instances, by the amount of a spouse's or child's income which is reasonably available to or for such veteran. Sets increased flat benefit rates, with similar reductions, for the surviving spouses and children of such veterans. Requires annual adjustments in such pension and benefit rates in conjunction with cost-of-living increases in Social Security benefits. Title II: Miscellaneous Provisions and Effective Dates - Sets the effective dates for provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1978
Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 to restrict the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to determine the justness or reasonableness of any stockyard service rate or charge to only those rates or charges for services at stockyards which have a certain minimum annual sales volume.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1978
Agricultural Trade Act - Title I: Establishment of United States Agricultural Trade Offices - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish abroad not less than six nor more than 25 United States Agricultural Trade Offices, for the purpose of developing, maintaining, and expanding international markets for United States agricultural commodities. Title II: Intermediate Commercial Credit - Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to require the Corporation to finance, under its export credit sales program, export sales of agricultural commodities out of its own private stocks on credit terms in excess of three years, but not more than ten years. Title III: Reorganization - Establishes in the Department of Agriculture: (1) an Assistant Secretary for Commodity Programs, to perform duties related to agricultural stabilization and conservation; and (2) an Under Secretary for International Affairs to perform duties related to foreign agriculture. Title IV: Agricultural Counselors - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to change the title of Agricultural Attaches to Agricultural Counselors, and to require each Counselor to submit to the Secretary an annual report detailing the social, political and economic factors affecting agriculture and agricultural trade in the country or area to which such Counselor is assigned. Title V: General Provisions - Requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress annual reports on the activities and accomplishments of the Department, especially those of the United States Agricultural Trade Offices, in developing, maintaining, and expanding foreign markets for United States agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1978
Agricultural Trade Act - Title I: Establishment of United States Agricultural Trade Offices - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish abroad not less than six nor more than 25 United States Agricultural Trade Offices, for the purpose of developing, maintaining, and expanding international markets for United States agricultural commodities. Title II: Intermediate Commercial Credit - Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to require the Corporation to finance, under its export credit sales program, export sales of agricultural commodities out of its own private stocks on credit terms in excess of three years, but not more than ten years. Title III: Reorganization - Establishes in the Department of Agriculture: (1) an Assistant Secretary for Commodity Programs, to perform duties related to agricultural stabilization and conservation; and (2) an Under Secretary for International Affairs to perform duties related to foreign agriculture. Title IV: Agricultural Counselors - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to change the title of Agricultural Attaches to Agricultural Counselors, and to require each Counselor to submit to the Secretary an annual report detailing the social, political and economic factors affecting agriculture and agricultural trade in the country or area to which such Counselor is assigned. Title V: General Provisions - Requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress annual reports on the activities and accomplishments of the Department, especially those of the United States Agricultural Trade Offices, in developing, maintaining, and expanding foreign markets for United States agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1978
Petitions the President and the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) increase price supports to bring commodity prices up to parity; (2) provide diversion payments for devoting land to conservation practices; (3) implement the critical lands and graze-out programs; (4) prevent Government dumping of surplus grain and dairy products into already depressed markets; (5) re-implement fully the summer-fallow provisions of the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973; and (6) maximize agricultural exports.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1978
Agricultural Trade Act - Title I: Establishment of United States Agricultural Trade Offices - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish abroad not less than 25 United States Agricultural Trade Offices, for the purpose of developing, maintaining, and expanding international markets for United States agricultural commodities. Title II: Intermediate Commercial Credit - Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to require the Corporation to finance, under its export credit sales program, export sales of agricultural commodities out of its own and private stocks on credit terms in excess of three years, but not more than ten years. Title III: Reorganization - Establishes in the Department of Agriculture: (1) an Assistant Secretary for Commodity Programs, to perform duties related to agricultural stabilization and conservation; and (2) an Under Secretary for International Affairs to perform duties related to foreign agriculture. Title IV: Agricultural Counselors - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to change the title of Agricultural Attaches to Agricultural Counselors, and to require each Counselor to submit to the Secretary an annual report detailing the social, political and economic factors affecting agriculture and agricultural trade in the country or area to which such Counselor is assigned. Title V: General Provisions - Requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress annual reports on the activities and accomplishments of the Department, especially those of the United States Agricultural Trade Offices, in developing, maintaining, and expanding foreign markets for United States agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 December 1977
Declares that there be no reduction of customs duties on textile, apparel, or fiber products and that such products be excluded from the current Tokyo Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations in Geneva.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize the Commissioner of the Administration on Aging to make grants to assist older persons adversely affected by a major disaster or emergency declared by the President in accordance with the Disaster Relief Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain individuals to compute the amount of the deduction for retirement savings on the basis of the earned income of their spouses.
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 1977
Establishes the Yorktown Bicentennial Commission to plan and coordinate the commemoration of the bicentennial of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. Requires such Commission to submit annual reports to the Congress. Stipulates that such Commission's existence shall terminate no later than December 31, 1983.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1977
Directs the President of the United States, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Foreign Service, and the Department of State to formulate and implement a plan for the expansion of sales of American agricultural commodities abroad, including increased food-for-peace (Public Law 480) sales as well as private international transfers of food.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1977
Amends the National Trails System Act by requiring the Secretary of the Interior to study the feasibility of designating the Overmountain Men Victory Trail in the States of Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina, as a national scenic trail.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1977
Expresses the sense of the Congress that any right to, title to, or interest in the property of the United States Government agencies in the Panama Canal Zone or any real property and improvements thereon located in the zone should not be conveyed, relinquished, or otherwise disposed of to any foreign government without specific authorization of such conveyance, relinquishment, or other disposition by any Act of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 1977
Exempts disaster payments made in connection with the 1977 crops of wheat, feed grains, upland cotton, and rice from the payment limitations contained in the Agricultural Act of 1970 and the Agricultural Act of 1949.
United States · United States Congress · 7 September 1977
Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to revise procedures for the registration of pesticides with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Authorizes the Administrator to waive certain data requirements of the Act pertaining to the efficacy of a pesticide. Authorizes the Administrator to conditionally register or amend the registration of a pesticide substantially similar to any currently registered pesticide. Authorizes the Administrator to conditionally amend the registration of a pesticide to permit additional uses, and to conditionally register a pesticide containing an active ingredient not contained in any currently registered pesticide for a period reasonably sufficient for the generation and submission of required data. Permits the classification of pesticides prior to registration. Sets forth the procedure for changing the classification of a registered pesticide from restricted to general use. Requires the Administrator to authorize any State to issue an experimental use permit for a pesticide. Permits the Administrator to consider restricting a pesticide's use as an alternative to cancellation. Sets forth the procedure for cancellation of conditional registrations. Revises the trade secrets provision of the Act to require the applicant to clearly mark and submit separately any data which such applicator considers to be trade secrets or commercial or financial information. Requires such applicant to submit an unmarked summary of each compilation of data marked as trade secrets or commercial or financial information. Sets forth revised disclosure procedures. Includes Indian tribes within the provisions of the Act relating to cooperative agreements with the Administrator for training and enforcement programs. Directs the Administrator to exempt certain pesticides from regulations promulgated under the Act. Requires the Administrator to delegate to the States the primary responsibility for the enforcement of pesticide use violations under the Act.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 1977
Amends the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 to eliminate age limitations with respect to the requirement that all personnel actions affecting employees or applicants for employment in Federal agencies, the United States Postal Service, or the District of Columbia government be taken without regard to such employees' or applicants' age.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 1977
Small Business Impact Statement Act - Directs the head of each Federal agency to prepare a small business impact statement in connection with each rule made by such agency unless the agency head, with the approval of the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration determines that such rule will not have a substantial effect on a significant number of small business. Sets forth information which must be present in each small business impact statement. Prescribes steps which each agency head must follow in preparing any small business impact statement including publication of the statement in the Federal Register.
United States · United States Congress · 1 June 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow taxpayers to credit against the income tax specified higher education expenses, including tuition, fees, books, and supplies, incurred by the taxpayer for himself or any other individual. Limits the credit to 100 percent of the first $300 for any individual, 50 percent of the next $300, and 10 percent of the next $400. Limits the credit to expenses incurred by full time students at institutions of vocational and higher education, minus scholarships and veterans' benefits. Limits the total credit allowed the taxpayer to his income tax liability minus the sum of all other credits applied thereto. Disallows any deduction of educational expenses used to determine the amount of the credit allowed by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1977
Amends the Rules of the House of Representatives to transfer the responsibility for investigating Communist and subversive organizations affecting the internal security of the United States to a standing Committee on Internal Security established by this Resolution. Confers upon such committee the responsibility for investigating all organizations within the United States aimed at overthrowing or altering the Government of the United States by force, insurrection or other unlawful means or inciting or employing violence to obstruct the authority of the Federal Government with respect to matters of internal security of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1977
Amends the Small Business Act to reduce the rate of interest on the Small Business Administration's portion of disaster relief loans with respect to major disaster of specified forms occurring on or after April 1, 1977, and prior to June 6, 1977, to three percent per annum. Applies provisions of this Act pertaining to special hardship cases to such disasters. Authorizes the Administration to make cash grants to an individual on a fixed income whose residence was destroyed in a disaster.
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1977
National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act - Title I: Coordination and Planning of Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to coordinate all research, extension, and teaching activity in the food and agricultural sciences conducted or financed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies of the United States Government. Establishes one additional Assistant Secretary of Agriculture to perform such duties as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. Establishes a Joint Council on Food and Agricultural Sciences to foster coordination of the research extension and teaching activities of the Federal Government, the States, colleges and universities, and other public and private institutions and persons involved in the food and agricultural sciences. Establishes within the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering and Technology a Subcommittee on Food and Renewable Resources to review Federal research and development programs relevant to world food and fiber production and distribution, to promote planning and coordination of this research in the Federal Government and to recommend policies and measures concerning food and agricultural science for the consideration of the Council. Requires the Secretary to submit to the President and the Congress an annual report containing an annually updated five-year national agricultural research plan and a review of specified categories of research, extension, and teaching activities of the Department and their relationship to the related activities of other Federal, State and private agencies. Title II: National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Advisory Board - Establishes within the Department of Agriculture a permanent Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching Policy Advisory Board. States that the Board's responsibilities shall include: (1) reviewing programs, policies, plans and goals of food and agricultural research agencies; (2) providing a forum for research-sponsoring agencies to exchange information on programs relating to food and agriculture; (3) reviewing and consulting on national policies, priorities and strategies for food and agricultural research, extension and teaching; and (4) assessing the overall adequacy of and making recommendations to the Secretary regarding the distribution of resources. Title III: Program of Grants for Agricultural Research - Repeals the existing requirement that at least 20 percent of grant funds distributed to the States be used by State agricultural experiment stations for marketing research. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants, in addition to any already made under Federal law, for a period not to exceed five years, on a competitive basis to State agricultural experiment stations, colleges, universities and other research institutions, giving priority to research in those fields of basic and applied research in food and agricultural science promising advances and breakthroughs in new areas of knowledge. Permits a university to receive a competitive grant for a program of basic and/or applied research in human nutrition and issue relating to families. Specifies authorizations and allocations of funds to State agricultural experiment stations for fiscal years 1978 through 1982. Directs the Secretary to make grants to eligible institutions for the construction or improvement of agricultural research facilities. Authorizes the Secretary to cooperate with and assist the States in carrying out programs of animal disease research at eligible institutions. Sets a formula for the allocation of appropriations for such research. Authorizes the Secretary to conduct a program of grants to assist States which do not have an accredited college of veterinary medicine in the construction of such, the employment of faculty, the acquisition of equipment and other necessaries. Amends the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 to direct the Secretary to carry out a comprehensive program of forest and rangeland renewable resources research, keying on management, environmental, protection, utilization and assessment research. Authorizes the Secretary to establish and maintain a system of experiment stations, experimental areas, and other forest and rangeland research facilities. Directs the Secretary to conduct a comprehensive study into the feasibility of extending a permanent funding arrangement for food and agricultural sciences research to 1890 land-grant educational institutions. Directs the Secretary to conduct a comprehensive study of the effects of changing climate and weather on crop and livestock productivity in the United States. Title IV: Program for Agricultural Extension - Directs the Cooperative Extension Service to give increasing attention to education programs for the preservation of the family farm system, human nutrition, energy conservation, forestry and natural resources, and animal diseases. Requires the Secretary to evaluate for the Congress the economic and social consequences of the programs of the Extension Service. Title V: Teaching, Training, and Manpower Development - Transfers the administration of additional appropriations for agricultural colleges from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to the Department of Agriculture. Authorizes the Secretary to make competitive grants to universities for the purpose of carrying out undergraduate and graduate teaching in the food and agricultural sciences. Directs the Secretary to conduct a program of graduate assistantships and post- doctoral research fellowships in such sciences and stipulates criteria for the awarding of such assistantships and fellowships. Establishes within the National Agricultural Library a Board of Regents to determine policy in building the national library network. Title VI: Authorization for Appropriations of Ongoing Agricultural Research Programs - Authorizes the appropriation of specified sums for specified existing and new programs under this Act, for fiscal year 1978 through 1982.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1977
Wheat and Wheat Foods Research and Nutrition Education Act - States that the purpose of this Act is to authorize and enable the creation of an orderly procedure, adequately financed through an assessment and voluntary contributions, for the development and initiation of an effective and continuous coordinated program of research and nutrition education designed to improve and enhance the quality and make the most efficient use of American wheat, processed wheat, and wheat end products to insure an adequate diet for all Americans. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to issue orders to effectuate the declared purpose of this Act. States that such orders shall include provisions: (1) for establishing projects for research and nutrition education for wheat and wheat products; (2) for establishing and carrying on research or studies with respect to the sale, distribution, marketing, and utilization of wheat and wheat products and the creation of new products; and (3) requiring that processors, distributors of processed wheat, and end product manufacturers maintain and make available for inspection such books and records as may be required by an order issued pursuant to this Act. Directs the Secretary to issue orders providing for the establishment of a Wheat Industry Council to: (1) administer and make rules and regulations to effectuate orders issued pursuant to this Act; (2) receive, investigate and report to the Secretary complaints of violations of such orders; and (3) recommend to the Secretary amendments to such orders. States that membership of such Council shall represent wheat producers, processors, end product manufacturers and consumers on an equal basis. Requires each end product manufacturer to pay to such Council an assessment, not to exceed five cents per hundredweight, based on the total number of hundredweights of processed wheat purchased by or transferred to such manufacturer, to be uses for expenditures and expensed incurred by the Council or Secretary under this Act. Exempts from this Act any end product manufacturer who does not purchase more than 2,000 hundredweight of processed wheat per year for use in manufacture. Requires the Secretary to conduct a referendum among end product manufacturers to determine whether the issuance of an order under this Act is favored by such manufacturers. States that no such order shall become effective unless: (1) votes were cast by more than 50 percent of the registered end product manufacturers; and (2) not less than two-thirds of such voting manufacturers approve of such order or by a majority of such manufacturers if such majority manufactured not less than two-thirds of the total processed wheat contained in all end products manufactured by those voting in referendum. Allows end product manufacturers who have reserved the right to seek refunds and who disfavor the programs under this Act to receive from the Council the assessment paid to such Council. Sets forth the procedures for the administrative and judicial review of orders or obligations imposed under this Act. States that any person who willfully violates any order issued under this Act or who fails to remit any required assessment or fee shall be liable to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 per violation. Requires the Secretary to conduct a referendum on request by ten percent or more of the end product manufactures to determine whether such manufacturers favor the suspension or termination of any order. States that such order shall be suspended or terminated if more than 50 percent of the voting manufacturers or manufacturers who produce end products containing more than 50 percent of the total processed wheat contained in all end products manufactured by those voting approve of such action. Authorizes the Secretary to make investigations for the effective carrying out of his or her responsibilities under this Act or to determine whether any person has or is about to violate any of the provisions of this Act. Sets forth the eligibility requirements for any organization wishing to: (1) participate in the nominating of Council members; (2) represent wheat producers, processors, end product manufacturers or consumers; and (3) request the issuance of an order under this Act. Authorizes the appropriation of such funds as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the charitable deduction allowed for expenses incurred in the operation of a motor vehicle shall include the depreciation, operation and maintenance costs allocable to such operation and shall be determined in the same manner as for a business related deduction.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the excise tax, buses purchased by tax exempt organizations or by other persons for exclusive use in furnishing transportation for a State or local government or a tax exempt organization (currently, transportation must be limited to students and employees of schools).
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1977
Permits the Secretary of Agriculture to implement an emergency feed program for assistance in the preservation and maintenance of livestock in any area of the United States including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, where, because of natural catastrophe, the Secretary determines that an emergency exists. Requires that for any person to receive such assistance he: (1) must have suffered a substantial loss in the livestock feed normally produced on his farm for his livestock; (2) must not have sufficient feed for his livestock for the projected period of the emergency; and (3) must make feed purchases in quantities larger than the quantities of feed purchases that he would normally make. Limits reimbursement of eligible persons to 50 percent of the cost of the feed purchased. Directs the Commodity Credit Corporation to administer the program. Establishes civil and criminal penalties for unauthorized disposal of any feed for which a person has been reimbursed under this program. Repeals specified current provisions of The Agricultural Act of 1949 dealing with: (1) distress relief assistance in the preservation and maintenance of foundation herds; (2) limitations on the costs borne by the Commodity Credit Corporation in the administration of distress relief assistance; and (3) civil and criminal penalties for unauthorized disposal of any feed grains furnished under such relief program.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1977
Wheat and Wheat Foods Research and Nutrition Education Act - States that the purpose of this Act is to authorize and enable the creation of an orderly procedure, adequately financed through an assessment and voluntary contributions, for the development and initiation of an effective and continuous coordinated program of research and nutrition education designed to improve and enhance the quality and make the most efficient use of American wheat, processed wheat, and wheat end products to insure an adequate diet for all Americans. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to issue orders to effectuate the declared purpose of this Act. States that such orders shall include provisions: (1) for establishing projects for research and nutrition education for wheat and wheat products; (2) for establishing and carrying on research or studies with respect to the sale, distribution, marketing, and utilization of wheat and wheat products and the creation of new products; and (3) requiring that processors, distributors of processed wheat, and end product manufacturers maintain and make available for inspection such books and records as may be required by an order issued pursuant to this Act. Directs the Secretary to issue orders providing for the establishment of a Wheat Industry Council to: (1) administer and make rules and regulations to effectuate orders issued pursuant to this Act; (2) receive, investigate and report to the Secretary complaints of violations of such orders; and (3) recommend to the Secretary amendments to such orders. States that membership of such Council shall represent wheat producers, processors, end product manufacturers and consumers on an equal basis. Requires each end product manufacturer to pay to such Council an assessment, not to exceed five cents per hundredweight, based on the total number of hundredweights of processed wheat purchased by or transferred to such manufacturer, to be uses for expenditures and expensed incurred by the Council or Secretary under this Act. Exempts from this Act any end product manufacturer who does not purchase more than 2,000 hundredweight of processed wheat per year for use in manufacture. Requires the Secretary to conduct a referendum among end product manufacturers to determine whether the issuance of an order under this Act is favored by such manufacturers. States that no such order shall become effective unless: (1) votes were cast by more than 50 percent of the registered end product manufacturers; and (2) not less than two-thirds of such voting manufacturers approve of such order or by a majority of such manufacturers if such majority manufactured not less than two-thirds of the total processed wheat contained in all end products manufactured by those voting in referendum. Allows end product manufacturers who have reserved the right to seek refunds and who disfavor the programs under this Act to receive from the Council the assessment paid to such Council. Sets forth the procedures for the administrative and judicial review of orders or obligations imposed under this Act. States that any person who willfully violates any order issued under this Act or who fails to remit any required assessment or fee shall be liable to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 per violation. Requires the Secretary to conduct a referendum on request by ten percent or more of the end product manufactures to determine whether such manufacturers favor the suspension or termination of any order. States that such order shall be suspended or terminated if more than 50 percent of the voting manufacturers or manufacturers who produce end products containing more than 50 percent of the total processed wheat contained in all end products manufactured by those voting approve of such action. Authorizes the Secretary to make investigations for the effective carrying out of his or her responsibilities under this Act or to determine whether any person has or is about to violate any of the provisions of this Act. Sets forth the eligibility requirements for any organization wishing to: (1) participate in the nominating of Council members; (2) represent wheat producers, processors, end product manufacturers or consumers; and (3) request the issuance of an order under this Act. Authorizes the appropriation of such funds as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1977
Raises the amount of capital stock of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation authorized by the Federal Crop Insurance Act from $100,000,000 to $400,000,000. Increases the maximum compensation of members of the FCIC Advisory Committee and of members of the Board of Directors who are not otherwise employed by the Government to no greater than the daily rate for GS-18. Eliminates county crop insurance committees and associations of producers from the administration of the insurance program. Makes insurance available to producers of rice as well as of wheat, cotton, grain sorghum, corn, and barley wherever they are grown commercially. Provides for a three-year period during which the Corporation must accept all eligible producers who want insurance; after which it may limit or refuse insurance under adverse circumstances to producers who have not availed themselves of the opportunity to enter the program. Authorizes insurance against prevented planting losses caused by floods. Provides for a 25 percent Federal subsidy of each participant's premium. Removes the $12,000,000 limitation on funds that may be made available by direct appropriation and creates within the United States Treasury a separate revolving fund available, without fiscal year limitation, for administrative and operating expenses of the Corporation and for other purposes. Grants the Corporation discretionary borrowing authority. Authorizes the Government to reimburse the Corporation for the depletion of premium reserves paid in by farmers caused by administrative and operating expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1977
Amends the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 to extend authority to finance agricultural commodity sales and to enter into commodity assistance programs to 1981.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1977
National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to coordinate all research, extension, and teaching activity in the food and agricultural sciences conducted or financed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies of the executive branch of the United States Government. Establishes one additional Assistant Secretary of Agriculture to perform such duties as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. Establishes within the Department of Agriculture a permanent Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Advisory Board. States that the Board's responsibilities shall include: (1) evaluating the economic, environmental and social impacts of research, extension and teaching programs; (2) reviewing programs, policies and goals of food and agricultural research agencies; (3) providing a forum for research-sponsoring agencies to exchange information on programs relating to food and agriculture; (4) recommending national policies, priorities and strategies for food and agricultural research, extension and teaching; (5) reviewing and evaluating agreements and memoranda of understanding between the Department and participating universities; and (6) maintaining a current inventory of agricultural research activities broken down by specified categories. Repeals the existing requirement that at least 20 percent of grant funds distributed to the States be used by State agricultural experiment stations for marketing research. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants, in addition to any already made under Federal law, for periods not to exceed five years, on a competitive basis to State agricultural experiment stations, colleges, universities and other research institutions, giving priority to research in those fields of basic and applied research in food and agriculture science promising advances and breakthroughs in new areas of knowledge. Authorizes five-year grants, limited to one $100,000 grant per institution to land-grant colleges to carry out developmental (mission- oriented) agricultural research which results from sudden breakthroughs in such basic or applied research. Authorizes grants to universities, of at least $100,000, for research in human nutrition and issues relating to families, and supplemental grants to universities agreeing to pay 20 percent of the costs of the research programs approved. Provides that the first $4,000,000 appropriated each fiscal year for research facilities in State agricultural experiment stations shall be apportioned equally among the State stations; and that any amount in excess of $4,000,000 shall be apportioned among them according to a specified formula. States that the Federal contribution to any State agricultural experiment station shall not exceed the amount of non-Federal funds contributed; and requires any such station, as a condition for receiving Federal funds to submit specific proposals for their use. Directs the Secretary to conduct a comprehensive study of the effects of changing climate and weather on crop and livestock productivity in the United States. Directs the Cooperative Extension Service to give increasing attention to education programs for human nutrition, energy conservation, forestry and natural resources management, and animal diseases. Requires the Service to transmit to the Congress, by September 30, 1978, an evaluation of the economic and social consequences of its major programs, for which evaluation no less than $1,500,000 and no more than $2,500,000 of the funds appropriated must be used. Transfers the administration of additional appropriations for agricultural colleges from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to the Department of Agriculture. Authorizes the Secretary to make competitive grants to universities for the purpose of carrying out undergraduate and graduate teaching in the food and agricultural sciences. Directs the Secretary to conduct a program of graduate assistantships in such sciences and stipulates criteria for the awarding of such assistantships. Authorizes the Secretary to cooperate with and assist the States in carrying out programs of animal disease research at eligible institutions. Sets a formula for the allocation of appropriations for such research. Directs the deans of participating accredited veterinary colleges and the director of the State agricultural experiment station to develop a comprehensive animal disease research program for each State based on the research capacity of each eligible institution. Authorizes the Secretary to conduct a program of grants, based on an 80 percent Federal - 20 percent State matching formula, to assist States which do not have an accredited college of veterinary medicine in the construction of such, the employment of faculty, the acquisition of equipment and other necessaries. Stipulates the assurances required of the States for the receipt of Federal funds. Specifies the formula by which funds appropriated shall be distributed to the States for these purposes. Authorizes the Secretary to contract with the National Academy of Sciences, or with another appropriate nonprofit group or association, to conduct studies to assist the Secretary in his evaluation of the programs of research, extension, and teaching in the fields of food and agricultural science. Permits no more than $250,000 of appropriated funds to be spent annually for the actual expenses incurred for the support of such studies. Specifies the appropriations authorized for existing food and agricultural science research and for the new programs authorized and established by this Act.
![Official portrait of Rep. Wampler, William C. [R-VA-9]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/w000121_200.jpg)