DIVISION A—AGRICULTURE, RURAL DE-
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VELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMIN-
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ISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES
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APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2018
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TITLE I
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AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMS
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P
ROCESSING
, R
ESEARCH AND
M
ARKETING
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O
FFICE OF THE
S
ECRETARY
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(INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS)
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For necessary expenses of the Office of the Secretary,
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$46,532,000, of which not to exceed $5,051,000 shall be
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available for the immediate Office of the Secretary; not
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to exceed $800,000 shall be available for the Office of the
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Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development:
Pro-
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vided
, That funds made available by this Act to an agency
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in the Rural Development mission area for salaries and
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expenses are available to fund up to one administrative
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support staff for the Office; not to exceed $1,496,000 shall
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be available for the Office of Homeland Security; not to
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exceed $4,711,000 shall be available for the Office of Part-
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nerships and Public Engagement; not to exceed
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$23,105,000 shall be available for the Office of the Assist-
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ant Secretary for Administration, of which $22,301,000
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shall be available for Departmental Administration to pro-
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vide for necessary expenses for management support ser
services to offices of the Department and for general adminis-
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tration, security, repairs and alterations, and other mis-
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cellaneous supplies and expenses not otherwise provided
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for and necessary for the practical and efficient work of
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the Department:
Provided further
, That funds made avail-
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able by this Act to an agency in the Administration mis-
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sion area for salaries and expenses are available to fund
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up to one administrative support staff for the Office; not
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to exceed $3,869,000 shall be available for the Office of
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Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations to carry
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out the programs funded by this Act, including programs
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involving intergovernmental affairs and liaison within the
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executive branch; and not to exceed $7,500,000 shall be
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available for the Office of Communications:
Provided fur-
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ther
, That the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to
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transfer funds appropriated for any office of the Office
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of the Secretary to any other office of the Office of the
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Secretary:
Provided further
, That no appropriation for any
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office shall be increased or decreased by more than 5 per-
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cent:
Provided further
, That not to exceed $11,000 of the
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amount made available under this paragraph for the im-
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mediate Office of the Secretary shall be available for offi-
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cial reception and representation expenses, not otherwise
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provided for, as determined by the Secretary:
Provided
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further
, That the amount made available under this head-
Seriously. Do you remember when your English teacher assigned you to write an X page essay. We figured out there was no way she had enough time to read them all so we started padding the pages. I suspect— it’s just a suspicion mind you that each congress critter was asked to submit x number of pages for the bill and since there wasn’t “things” that were really need they either padded their pages with gibberish or gave project code names like “yak herding”!
Time to expose the slackers! We get ten people to each read 200 pages or twenty people to read a hundred and do a “book report” on our findings!
Gonna sleep on it!