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PAG LIN
1 1 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. ___
1 2 BY BARTZ
1 3 A Concurrent Resolution requesting the United States
1 4 government ensure that the Farm Service Agency
1 5 of the United States Department of Agriculture be
1 6 supported and structured in a manner that preserves
1 7 the efficient operation of the agency at the
1 8 community level.
1 9 WHEREAS, the Farm Service Agency of the United
1 10 States Department of Agriculture provides essential
1 11 services to agricultural producers in rural
1 12 communities, including providing loans, providing crop
1 13 insurance, and administering commodity programs; and
1 14 WHEREAS, the Farm Service Agency is one of the most
1 15 efficient and cost-effective agencies in the federal
1 16 government which provides services through county
1 17 offices which with small budgets and a strong
1 18 commitment to service have assisted communities for
1 19 more than sixty years; and
1 20 WHEREAS, the workload for county offices has
1 21 steadily increased, especially since the enactment of
1 22 the federal 1996 Farm Bill and other federal
1 23 legislation which depends upon the vital role of
1 24 county offices to deliver services to producers; and
1 25 WHEREAS, there has been a continuing effort to
1 26 reduce budgets and cut staff in county offices as part
1 27 of an effort to reduce the size and restructure the
1 28 organization of the United States Department of
1 29 Agriculture; and
1 30 WHEREAS, the United States Department of
2 1 Agriculture proposes to close forty to fifty offices
2 2 in this state during the next two-year period as part
2 3 of a process requiring one thousand office closings
2 4 and a total staff reduction of two thousand eight
2 5 hundred fifty in the United States; and
2 6 WHEREAS, the proposal provides for reducing offices
2 7 and staff based on geographic factors rather than on
2 8 an analysis of how to most effectively deliver
2 9 services and meet the needs of producers; and
2 10 WHEREAS, the effect of this proposal will be to
2 11 frustrate a producer's ability to obtain essential
2 12 services in a timely and efficient manner, and which
2 13 will have a negative impact on the economies of rural
2 14 communities; and
2 15 WHEREAS, the President of the United States and the
2 16 United States Congress have expressed a philosophy
2 17 supporting the decentralization of the federal
2 18 government and eliminating waste in centralized
2 19 bureaucratic enclaves rather than at a level where
2 20 services are provided by neighbors; and
2 21 WHEREAS, Congress has expressed a strong commitment
2 22 to the delivery of services by county offices by
2 23 initiating a moratorium which currently prevents the
2 24 implementation of this devastating proposal; NOW
2 25 THEREFORE,
2 26 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, THE HOUSE OF
2 27 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING, That the United States
2 28 Department of Agriculture reexamine its proposal to
2 29 close Farm Service Agency county offices and that the
2 30 Congress of the United States fully support the
3 1 delivery of vital services provided by county offices
3 2 in a manner that preserves the efficient operation of
3 3 the agency at the community level; and
3 4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this
3 5 resolution be sent by the Secretary of the Senate to
3 6 the President of the United States; the Secretary of
3 7 Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture;
3 8 the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the
3 9 United States; the chairman of the United States
3 10 Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
3 11 Forestry; the chairman of the United States House of
3 12 Representatives Committee on Agriculture; and members
3 13 of Iowa's congressional delegation.
3 14 LSB 2456SS 77
3 15 da/jj/8.1
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