{"format":1,"id":"117-hr-7606","congress":117,"number":"H.R. 7606","kind":"bill","group":"bills","title":"Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act","title_source":"Short Title(s) as Passed House","official_title":"To establish the Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters within the Department of Agriculture.","titles":[{"type":"Official Title as Introduced","title":"To establish the Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters within the Department of Agriculture."},{"type":"Short Titles from RFS (Referred to Senate) bill text","title":"Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act"},{"type":"Display Title","title":"Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act"},{"type":"Short Title(s) as Passed House","title":"Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act"},{"type":"Short Title(s) as Reported to House","title":"Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022"},{"type":"Short Title(s) as Introduced","title":"Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022"}],"outcome":"passed_house","law_number":null,"introduced":"2022-04-27","chambers":{"house":{"status":"roll_call","date":"2022-06-16","vote":{"id":"117-2022-h277","question":"On Passage","title":"Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act","result":"Passed","yea":221,"nay":204,"present":0,"not_voting":4,"source":"https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2022/roll277.xml"}},"senate":{"status":"na","date":null,"vote":null}},"president":{"status":"na","date":null},"vice_president_tie_breaker":null,"latest_action":{"text":"Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.","date":"2022-06-21"},"nominees":null,"amendments":[],"other_votes":[{"chamber":"house","date":"2022-06-16","question":"On Motion to Recommit","title":"Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act","result":"Failed","yea":206,"nay":218,"present":0,"not_voting":5,"kind":"procedural","source":"https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2022/roll276.xml"}],"crs_summary":{"date":"2022-06-16","stage":"Passed House","blocks":[{"k":"h","t":"Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act"},{"k":"p","t":"This bill addresses provisions related to agriculture, food, and fuel, including by providing funds for nutrient management, precision agriculture, and biofuel infrastructure."},{"k":"p","t":"Specifically, the bill provides funding for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to (1) assist agricultural producers with the costs of crop nutrient use or adopting precision agriculture practices, and (2) provide grants to eligible entities (e.g., fueling and distribution facilities) for biofuel infrastructure."},{"k":"p","t":"The bill establishes within USDA the Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters, which must investigate and prosecute violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 by packers and live poultry dealers."},{"k":"p","t":"Additionally, USDA must (1) establish an agriculture and food supply chain task force, and (2) provide assistance to address fertilizer shortages and reduce dependency on foreign sources for fertilizer."},{"k":"p","t":"The bill allows USDA to make loans and grants for livestock and poultry processing."},{"k":"p","t":"Further, the bill incorporates support for precision agriculture into various USDA programs."},{"k":"p","t":"USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service must enter into certain cooperative agreements for establishing supply chain regional resource centers to support small- and medium-sized producers of agricultural products and agricultural businesses."},{"k":"p","t":"The bill also applies the Reid vapor pressure (a measure of gasoline's volatility) requirements that are applicable to gasoline blended with 10% ethanol (E10) to gasoline blended with more than 10% ethanol. Thus, the waiver given to E10 gasoline, which allows an increase in the Reid Vapor Pressure volatility, is extended to gasoline blended with more than 10% ethanol."}],"words":248},"summary":{"main_subject":{"text":"Establishes an Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters in the Department of Agriculture and sets up Department of Agriculture programs for crop nutrient and precision agriculture assistance, supply chain resilience, fertilizer, biofuel infrastructure, livestock and poultry processing, and ethanol fuel rules.","cites":[{"label":"Sec. 101","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-H7C06E585903E435F93B2BEFF7908BEBD"},{"label":"Sec. 201","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-H08E2B83165A544BE89EAF97FD06E633F"},{"label":"Sec. 311","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-H6663F75D767F48398BF4C3799EFB556A"},{"label":"Sec. 401","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-HB09834B5E7F14267A22E47285A6126E9"},{"label":"Sec. 501","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-H3FB39B931B1645F68D58F0AEDC72B9F3"},{"label":"Sec. 701","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-HE5B6FA27C81F4717B51B31E48A65F670"}]},"core_areas":["Competition investigations under the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921","Crop nutrient and precision agriculture payments and conservation program changes","Agriculture and food supply chain resilience and fertilizer supply","Biofuel infrastructure grants","Ethanol fuel Reid vapor pressure rules under the Clean Air Act","Livestock and poultry processing loans and grants"],"what_it_does":[{"text":"Establishes in the Department of Agriculture an Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters, headed by a senior career employee appointed by the Secretary, to investigate and prosecute violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 by packers and live poultry dealers.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 101","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-H7C06E585903E435F93B2BEFF7908BEBD"}},{"text":"Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make payments to producers, through September 30, 2023, to reduce crop nutrient costs or to adopt precision agriculture practices, and authorizes $500,000,000 for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 201","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-H08E2B83165A544BE89EAF97FD06E633F"}},{"text":"Requires the Secretary to support domestic activities through grants, loans and other assistance to address fertilizer shortages and reduce dependency on foreign sources for fertilizer, and authorizes $100,000,000 to remain available until expended.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 311","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-H6663F75D767F48398BF4C3799EFB556A"}},{"text":"Requires the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements to establish not fewer than 6 Supply Chain Regional Resource Centers that support small-sized and medium-sized producers of agricultural products and agricultural businesses.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 321","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-HED5B84463B1745559E4CE5909625AF2C"}},{"text":"Directs the Secretary to provide competitive grants to fueling and distribution facilities for equipment and infrastructure for ethanol blends above 10 percent and biodiesel blends above 5 percent, and authorizes $200,000,000 for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 401","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-HB09834B5E7F14267A22E47285A6126E9"}},{"text":"Allows the Secretary to make or guarantee loans to increase livestock and poultry processing capacity, and authorizes $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2025.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 701","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-HE5B6FA27C81F4717B51B31E48A65F670"}}],"unexpected":[{"category":"place_specific_amount","items":[{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 601","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-HB71D8620B133430DA2555139072F6703"},"heading":"Conservation loan and loan guarantee program","effect":"Sets loan guarantees at 90 percent of the principal amount for loans to socially disadvantaged or beginning farmers and ranchers, and for loans used to buy precision agriculture technology.","amount":null,"quote":"a producer that is a qualified socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher or a beginning farmer or rancher"},{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 701","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-HE5B6FA27C81F4717B51B31E48A65F670"},"heading":"Assistance for new and expanded livestock or poultry processors","effect":"Sets a general loan limit of $50,000,000 but allows up to $100,000,000 for cooperative organizations, and bars loans to entities owned by a foreign entity or by an entity processing over 5 percent of the daily harvest of any species.","amount":null,"quote":"Notwithstanding subsection (b)(3), a loan of not more than $100,000,000 may be made or guaranteed for a cooperative organization under this section."}]},{"category":"selective_carve_out","items":[{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 202","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-HB92D0F05E9694E0AB7E009C76AC397D8"},"heading":"Rule of construction","effect":"States that Title II is not to be construed as a conservation or environmental program within the meaning of section 5(g) of the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act.","amount":null,"quote":"Nothing in this title shall be construed as a conservation or environmental program within the meaning of section 5(g) of the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act (15 U.S.C. 714c(g))."},{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 501","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#toc-H3FB39B931B1645F68D58F0AEDC72B9F3"},"heading":"Ethanol waiver","effect":"Allows a fuel or fuel additive granted a Clean Air Act waiver before January 1, 2017 to be introduced into commerce despite waiver limits on Reid Vapor Pressure, if it meets other applicable Reid Vapor Pressure requirements.","amount":null,"quote":"A fuel or fuel additive that has been granted a waiver under subparagraph (A) prior to January 1, 2017, and meets all the conditions of that waiver"}]},{"category":"process_change","items":[{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 805","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh#HF51C549AE1C544938C2128142E75B8CC"},"heading":"","effect":"Keeps the budgetary effects of Title VIII off the PAYGO scorecards and sets how those effects are classified for budget scorekeeping, notwithstanding certain scorekeeping rules.","amount":null,"quote":"Notwithstanding Rule 3 of the Budget Scorekeeping Guidelines set forth in the joint explanatory statement of the committee of conference accompanying Conference Report 105–217"}]}],"version":{"type":"Engrossed in House","date":"2022-06-16","rule":"passed","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text/eh"},"current":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","approved":"2026-10-15","approved_by":"checks"},"sources":{"congress_gov":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606","text":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7606/text"},"card":{"image":"card/item/117-hr-7606.png","v":"452ef10aba67","alt":"Votes on Record. H.R. 7606, 117th Congress: Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act. House: 221 Yea, 204 Nay. Outcome: Passed House, 16 Jun 2022."}}