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Latest Action: 07/15/2008 - Message on Senate action sent to the House.

Bill Text
A bill to provide needed housing reform and for other purposes. 4/10/2008--Passed Senate amended.    (There are 2 other summaries) Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 - Title I: FHA Modernization Act of 2008 - FHA Modernization Act of 2008 - Subtitle A: Building American Homeownership - Building American Homeownership Act of 2008 - (Sec. 112) Amends the National Housing Act (NHA) to revise mortgage insurance eligibility requirements. Alters the respective formulas to increase the percentages of the maximum principal loan obligations applicable to family residences located in: (1) the United States; and (2) Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, or the Virgin Islands. Prohibits the maximum principal loan obligation from exceeding 100% of the appraised value of the property. (Sec. 113) Increases from 3% to 3.5% of the appraised value of a property the mortgagor's required cash (or equivalent) investment (downpayment). Prohibits any funds for such [...]

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Latest Action: 06/18/2008 - Vetoed by President. (text of veto message: CR H5535)

Bill Text
To provide for the continuation of agricultural and other programs of the Department of Agriculture through fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes. 5/22/2008--Introduced. Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 - Provides for the continuation of agricultural and other programs of the Department of Agriculture through FY2012.Revises agricultural and related programs, including provisions respecting: (1) commodity programs; (2) conservation; (3) trade; (4) nutrition; (5) credit; (6) rural development; (7) research and related matters; (8) forestry; (9) energy; (10) horticulture and organic agriculture; (11) livestock; (12) crop insurance and disaster assistance; (13) socially disadvantaged and limited resource producers; and (14) miscellaneous programs.Directs the President to establish and maintain an importer declaration program with respect to the importation of softwood lumber and softwood lumber products.Establishes the Bill Emerson National Hunger [...]

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Latest Action: 06/20/2008 - Signed by President.

Bill Text
A bill to encourage the donation of excess food to nonprofit organizations that provide assistance to food-insecure people in the United States in contracts entered into by executive agencies for the provision, service, or sale of food. 6/20/2008--Public Law.    (There are 3 other summaries) (This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the Senate on May 22, 2008. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Federal Food Donation Act of 2008 - Requires the Federal Acquisition Regulation to be revised to require all government contracts above $25,000 for the provision, service, or sale of food in the United States, or for the lease or rental of federal property to a private entity for events at which food is provided in the United States, to include clauses that: (1) encourage the donation of excess, apparently wholesome food to nonprofit organizations that provide assistance to people with inconsistent access to sufficient, [...]

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Latest Action: 05/22/2008 - Veto message received in Senate. Ordered held at the desk.

Bill Text
To provide for the continuation of agricultural programs through fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes.

5/22/2007--Introduced.

Farm Bill Extension Act of 2007 - Extends and revises agricultural and related programs respecting: (1) commodities; (2) sugar; (3) dairy; (4) conservation; (5) exports and trade assistance; (6) food stamps and nutrition; (7) agricultural credit; (8) rural development; (9) rural electrification; (10) agricultural research; (11) forestry; (12) energy; (13) specialty crops; and (14) livestock.

Latest Action: 06/05/2008 - Considered as unfinished business. (consideration: CR H5016-5017)

Bill Text
To amend chapter 69 of title 31, United States Code, to provide full payments under such chapter to units of general local government in which entitlement land is located, to provide transitional payments during fiscal years 2008 through 2012 to those States and counties previously entitled to payments under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, and for other purposes. 12/19/2007--Reported to House amended, Part I.    (There is 1 other summary) Public Land Communities Transition Act of 2007 - (Sec. 2) Authorizes appropriations for FY2008-FY2011 for the making of payments to units of general local government in which entitlement lands are located. Provides for 80% funding in FY2008, 90% funding in FY2009, and the making of full payments in FY2010 and FY2011. (Sec. 3) Sets forth provisions for the making of transition payments for FY2008-FY2011 to eligible states, U.S. territories, and counties previously receiving [...]

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Latest Action: 07/18/2008 - House Committee on Agriculture Granted an extension for further consideration ending not later than Aug. 1, 2008.

Bill Text
To provide for the protection of paleontological resources on Federal lands, and for other purposes. 1/18/2007--Introduced. Paleontological Resources Preservation Act - Directs the the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) to: (1) manage and protect paleontological resources on federal land, using scientific principles and expertise; and (2) develop plans for inventorying, monitoring, and deriving the scientific and educational use of such resources. Directs the Secretary to establish a program to increase public awareness about such resources. Prohibits a person from collecting a paleontological resource from federal land without a permit issued under this Act by the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to allow casual collecting of a reasonable amount of common invertebrate and plant paleontological resources for non-commercial personal uses without a permit on certain federal lands. Recognizes as valid permits issued before [...]

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Latest Action: 06/11/2008 - Indefinitely postponed by Senate by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S5530)

Bill Text
A bill to authorize certain programs and activities in the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, and the Department of Energy, and to amend the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003, and for other purposes. 10/17/2007--Introduced. Natural Resource Projects and Programs Authorization Act of 2007 - Authorizes specified programs and activities in the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, and the Department of Energy concerning, among other things, national monuments, conservation areas, resource protection, historic sites, national trails, national heritage areas, and the clean coal power initiative. Makes amendments to various public laws, including the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act, the National Trails System Act, the Steel Industry American Heritage Area Act of 1996, the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor [...]

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Latest Action: 10/03/2007 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Bill Text
A joint resolution to disapprove a final rule of the Secretary of Agriculture relating to the importation of cattle and beef.

10/3/2007--Introduced.

Disapproves the rule submitted by the Secretary of Agriculture relating to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, minimal-risk regions, and importation of live bovines and bovine products, and states that such rule shall have no force or effect.

Latest Action: 03/02/2007 - Referred to the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management.

Bill Text
To require the prompt issuance by the Secretary of Agriculture of regulations to restore integrity to the payment limitation requirements applicable to commodity payments and benefits, to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse related to the receipt of commodity payments and benefits, and for other purposes.

1/4/2007--Introduced.

Farm Programs Payment Limitation Integrity Act - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to promulgate regulations to establish measurable standards to prevent the use of separate entities to exceed commodity payment limitations and to provide payments only to active farmers.

Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to provide that if the Secretary determines that a person has committed fraud in connection with the adoption of a scheme or device to evade payment limitations such person shall be ineligible for farm program payments in the crop year for which the scheme or device was adopted and the succeeding five crop years.

Latest Action: 09/04/2007 - Received in the House.

Bill Text
A bill to improve the disaster loan program of the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes. 8/3/2007--Passed Senate amended.    (There are 2 other summaries) Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act of 2007 - (Sec. 3) Extends through October 31, 2007, under the same terms and conditions, the authorization for any program, authority, or provision, including any pilot program, that is currently authorized through February 2, 2007, under the Small Business Act or the Small Business Investment Act of 1958. Title I: Disaster Planning and Response - (Sec. 101) Amends the Small Business Act to authorize the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to make loans to nonprofit organizations: (1) located or operating in an area affected by a natural or other disaster; or (2) providing services to persons who have evacuated from any such area. (Sec. 102) Increases from $1.5 million to $2 million [...]

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