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<br />From: NACO W..hlngton Office To: O.n Parker <br /> <br />O.te: &"14185 Time: 20:31:46 <br /> <br />P.ge 1 of 1 <br /> <br />C") <br />~. <br />t'.) <br />o <br /> <br />NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION DISTRICTS <br />CONSERVATIONPARTNERSHIP COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK <br />LEGISLATIVE UPDATE <br /> <br />DATE: June 14, 1995 <br /> <br />RE: APPROPRIATIONS <br /> <br />Today, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee led by Chairman Joe Skeen of New Mexico <br />met and marked up legislation for 1996 agriculture discretionary spending. Contact with the <br />subcommittee members is the focus of our Phase 3 strategy. It appears that we were very successful <br />in making an impact with the subcommittee. In this session of Congress, there has been a gloomy <br />atmosphere in which virtually every budget was threatened to be slashed, when one could measure <br />success by how little they lost, not by how much they gained. In this environment, we fared far better <br />than we might have. <br /> <br />Although we are attempting to gather information before the subcommittee has any official information <br />on paper to distribute, I can tell you that the NRCS Conservation Operations budget was increased <br />from a '95 appropriation of$587 million to a '96 level of $629,986,000. The report language will specify <br />that $5,000,000 of CO funds will be used for the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative and that <br />$300,000 will be used for a rotational grazing initiative. River Basin Surveys and Investigations and <br />Watershed Planning are proposed to be combined in what they referred to as a "block grant" to the <br />Department of$14,000,000. Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations, which includes PL-566, was <br />set at $100,000,000, up from this year's level of $70 million. <br /> <br />Another block grant to the Department of $47,000,000 combined the funding for Resource Conservation <br />& Development, Great Plains Conservation Program, Colorado River Salinity Control Program and the <br />Forestry Incentives Program. The Conservation Reserve Program was set at $1.781 billion, but with <br />no new sign-ups for 1996, The Wetlands Reserve Program was set at an acreage cap of 100,000 new <br />acres and $77,000,000, $7 million of which is needed for technical assistance. The Agriculture <br />Conservation Program (ACP) was set at $75 million. <br /> <br />Here is a stunning example of the Conservation Partnership pulling together and working hard in a <br />tough situation and coming up with a great victory. We still have a long way to go, but we are off to <br />a terrific start. Chairman Skeen said at the beginning of the meeting that the budget left no easy <br />choices, but was balanced between nutrition, conservation and food safety as priorities. He also <br />mentioned that NRCS CO funds were one of the very few increases in the budget, because technical <br />assistance was needed in the field and had been long neglected: I'll be sending out more information <br />as it becomes available. Thanks to all. of you who took the time to visit, call and write to the <br />subcommittee members. We're still in business! <br />