H.R. 6363: Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024

Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024

This act provides continuing FY2024 appropriations for federal agencies. The act also extends several expiring programs and authorities, including programs authorized by the 2018 farm bill and several public health programs.

DIVISION A--FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024

Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2024

(Sec. 101) This section provides continuing FY2024 appropriations for federal agencies and extends several expiring programs and authorities.

It is known as a continuing resolution (CR) and prevents a government shutdown that would otherwise occur if the FY2024 appropriations bills have not been enacted when the existing CR expires on November 17, 2023.

The CR provides funding through January 19, 2024, for agencies and programs that were funded in the following four FY2023 appropriations acts:

• the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023;
• the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023;
• the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023; and
• the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023.

For most other federal agencies and programs, the CR provides funding through February 2, 2024.

The CR generally funds most programs and activities at the FY2023 levels with several exceptions that provide funding flexibility and additional appropriations for various programs. For example, the CR includes exceptions for:

• the Navy's procurement of one Columbia Class Submarine,
• activities of the U.S. Secret Service that are related to National Special Security Events and the 2024 Presidential Campaign, and
• activities of the Department of Education that are necessary to ensure the continuation of student loan servicing activities.

This section also extends several expiring programs and authorities, including

• the U.S. Parole Commission,
• the authority for the Department of Defense (DOD) to provide physical protection and personal security for certain former or retired DOD officials who face serious and credible threats arising from duties performed while employed by DOD,
• restrictions on firearms that are undetectable by walk-through metal detectors and X-ray machines commonly used at airports,
• limits on pay increases for the Vice President and certain senior political appointees,
• the exemption from the Antideficiency Act for the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, and
• the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.

This section provides appropriations for a payment to Katherine Anne Feinstein, the beneficiary of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein.

DIVISION B--OTHER MATTERS

TITLE I--EXTENSIONS AND OTHER MATTERS

(Sec. 101) This section extends provisions that provide grants and other financial assistance to the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

(Sec. 102) This section extends programs authorized by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (commonly known as the 2018 farm bill) until the later of (1) September 30, 2024, or (2) the date specified in the provision of the act.

This section extends and amends Department of Agriculture (USDA) commodity programs, including by

• extending various programs for covered commodities, a loan commodity, sugarcane, or sugar beets for the 2024 crop year;
• extending the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program through December 31, 2024;
• limiting the 25% premium discount for the DMC program in 2024 to participating dairy operations that received the discount in 2023;
• allowing Dairy Forward Pricing Program contracts to be extended through September 30, 2027 (currently September 30, 2026);
• extending the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments through the 2024 crop year for a covered commodity;
• extending the suspension of permanent price support authorities for the 2024 crop year for covered commodities, cotton, and sugar and through December 31, 2024, for milk; and
• extending the suspension of provisions related to corn and wheat marketing quotas for wheat planted for harvest in calendar year 2024.

This section reauthorizes, and extends funding for, the Grassroots Source Water Protection Program (SWPP) for FY2024. The SWPP is a joint project with the Farm Service Agency and the National Rural Water Association (a nonprofit water and wastewater utility membership organization), which is designed to help prevent pollution of surface and ground water that is used as the primary source of drinking water by rural residents.

This section reauthorizes, and extends funding for, the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program through FY2024. The program provides funding to help state and tribal governments encourage landowners to allow public access to their land for hunting, fishing, and other wildlife-dependent recreation.

This section reauthorizes, and extends funding for, the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program through FY2024. The program responds to the threat feral swine pose to agriculture, native ecosystems, and human and animal health.

This section extends the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust through FY2024 to allow for eligible commodities to remain in the trust until September 30, 2024. The program makes funds available to provide emergency food assistance to developing countries.

This section extends the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) through FY2024. TEFAP provides food commodities (and cash support for storage and distribution costs) through states to local emergency feeding organizations (e.g., food banks).

This section reauthorizes, and extends funding for, the Rural Economic Development Loan & Grant Program through FY2024 to provide funding for rural projects through local utility organizations.

This section provides specified funds for scholarships for students at 1890 Institutions and extends the annual grant limitation by one year. This National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) program provides grants to 1890 Institutions (i.e., historically Black colleges and universities that belong to the U.S. land-grant university system) for awarding scholarships to students who intend to pursue a career in the food and agricultural sciences.

This section also

• reauthorizes, and extends funding for, the Urban, Indoor, and other Emerging Agricultural Production Research, Education, and Extension Initiative for FY2024, a NIFA competitive grant program;
• provides specified funds for the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, a nonprofit corporation established to advance the research mission of USDA by supporting research activities focused on key problems of national and international significance; and
• extends through FY2024 a provision that prohibits USDA from declaring the Grazinglands Research Laboratory in El Reno, Oklahoma, to be excess or surplus federal property, or otherwise conveying or transferring the property.

This section reauthorizes, and extends funding for, the biobased markets program (i.e., BioPreferred Program) through FY2024 to promote biobased products through (1) mandatory purchasing requirements for federal agencies and their contractors, and (2) a voluntary labeling initiative for biobased products.

This section reauthorizes, and extends funding for, the bioenergy program for advanced biofuels (i.e., Advanced Biofuel Payment Program) through FY2024. The program provides payments to fuel producers to support and expand production of advanced biofuels (i.e., not derived from corn starch).

This section extends through the 2024 crop the Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP) for Bioenergy Producers, which allows the Commodity Credit Corporation to purchase surplus sugar from processors for resale to ethanol producers for ethanol fuel. Further, this section extends through September 1, 2024, requirements for USDA to provide notice to eligible entities and bioenergy producers of the quantity of eligible commodities that must be made available for purchase and sale for the crop year.

This section extends the authority and funding through FY2024 for USDA to collect and report data on the production and marketing of organic agricultural products.

This section reauthorizes, and extends funding through FY2024 for, modernization and improvement of international trade technology systems and data collection for imports of organically produced agricultural products.

This section reauthorizes, and extends funding for, the Organic Certification Cost Share Program for FY2024. The program provides cost-share assistance to producers and handlers of agricultural products who are obtaining or renewing their certification under the National Organic Program.

This section reauthorizes, and extends funding for, the multiple crop and pesticide use survey of farmers through FY2024. The USDA Office of Pest Management Policy conducts this survey to collect data for risk assessment modeling and mitigation for an active ingredient.

This section also extends

• the Pima Agriculture Cotton Trust Fund through December 31, 2024, which provides assistance to reduce the economic injury to domestic manufacturers resulting from tariffs on cotton fabric that are higher than tariffs on certain apparel articles made of cotton fabric;
• the Agriculture Wool Apparel Manufacturers Trust Fund through December 31, 2024, which provides assistance to reduce the economic injury to domestic manufacturers resulting from tariffs on wool fabric that are higher than tariffs on certain apparel articles made of wool fabric;
• the Wool Research and Promotion Program through FY2024, which provides grants to assist U.S. wool producers with improving the quality of wool and with developing and promoting the wool market;
• the Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Development Trust Fund through FY2024, which funds a program that aims to bring together scientists to find scientifically sound and financially sustainable solutions to Huanglongbing (i.e., citrus greening, a bacterial disease spread by an insect that feeds on citrus); and
• the Sheep Production & Marketing Grant Program through FY2024, which seeks to strengthen and enhance the production and marketing of sheep and sheep products in the United States.

This section specifies that the extension of farm bill programs does not apply to certain mandatory funding that was provided for (1) the Farm Service Agency to implement USDA commodity programs, and (2) certain payments under the Conservation Reserve Program for forest management thinning and transition contracts.

This section extends various reporting requirements authorized by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.

This section rescinds specified funds that were provided to USDA for the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program, which provides loan guarantees to assist in the development of new and emerging technologies for the development of advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals, and biobased product manufacturing.

This section, with limited exceptions, must be applied and administered as if it had been enacted on September 30, 2023.

TITLE II--HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Subtitle A--Public Health Extenders

(Sec. 201) This section extends through January 19, 2024, funding for the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program, the Community Health Center Fund, and the National Health Services Corps. (The program supports education and training of medical students in primary care residency programs in community-based ambulatory patient care centers. The fund supports (1) grants for outpatient health care facilities that serve medically underserved populations; and (2) the National Health Service Corps, which provides scholarships and student loan repayment awards to health care providers who agree to work in areas with health care provider shortages.)

(Sec. 202) This section extends funding through January 19, 2024, for the Special Diabetes Program for Type I Diabetes and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians. (The Special Diabetes Program for Type I Diabetes supports research on the prevention and cure of Type I diabetes, and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians supports diabetes treatment and prevention for tribal populations.)

(Sec. 203) This section extends through January 19, 2024, the authority that allows states and tribes to request the temporary reassignment of state and local health department personnel who are funded through certain federal programs to immediately address a public health emergency.

It also extends through January 19, 2024, provisions that prohibit the disclosure of information about Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) programs that could compromise national security (e.g., information regarding biomedical threats).

The section extends provisions that authorize HHS to engage with developers of medical countermeasures, and that provide for related antitrust exemptions, for the purpose of furthering product development.

Additionally, the section extends through January 19, 2024, the National Advisory Committee on Children and Disasters, the National Advisory Committee on Seniors and Disasters, and the National Advisory Committee on Individuals with Disabilities and Disasters.

It also extends through January 19, 2024, the authority of HHS to directly appoint candidates to positions within the National Disaster Medical System if HHS determines the number of personnel in the system is insufficient to address a public health emergency or potential public health emergency.

(The National Disaster Medical System is a partnership between HHS, the Department of Defense, and other federal departments that responds to public health and other emergencies, including by deploying medical response teams.)

Subtitle B--Medicaid

(Sec. 301) This section delays reductions to Medicaid disproportionate-share hospital (DSH) allotments until January 20, 2024. (DSHs are hospitals that receive additional payments under Medicaid for treating a large share of low-income patients.)

(Sec. 302) This section reduces the amount of funding available to the Medicaid Improvement Fund for activities relating to mechanized claims systems beginning in FY2028.

Subtitle C--Human Services

(Sec. 401) This section funds through January 19, 2024, programs that support child welfare services and activities. Specifically, it funds the (1) Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Service Program, which provides grants to states and Indian tribes to support preventive interventions and other activities to keep families together; and (2) the MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program, which supports efforts to prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their families, improve quality of care and services to children and their families, and ensure permanent living arrangements for children (e.g., parental reunification or adoption).

(Sec. 402) This section extends funding through January 19, 2024, for the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education Program. This program supports projects to implement sexual risk avoidance education that teaches participants to voluntarily refrain from nonmarital sexual activities.

(Sec. 403) This section extends funding through January 19, 2024, for the Personal Responsibility Education Program. This program provides grants to states to educate young people about abstinence and contraception for prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. The program also supports pregnant and parenting youth.

Subtitle D--Medicare

(Sec. 501) This section extends through January 19, 2024, certain minimum adjustments to the work geographic index with respect to payments for physician services under Medicare.

(Sec. 502) This section delays until 2025 certain laboratory reporting requirements that are used to determine payment rates for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests under Medicare, as well as related payment reductions.

(Sec. 503) This section increases funding for the Medicare Improvement Fund.

TITLE III--MISCELLANEOUS EXTENSIONS

(Sec. 601) This section extends through February 3, 2024, the authority of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to take certain actions to mitigate a credible threat to certain facilities or assets from an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). These include certain facilities that are located in the United States and identified as high-risk and a potential target for unlawful UAS activity.

TITLE IV--BUDGETARY EFFECTS

(Sec. 701) This section exempts the budgetary effects of this division from (1) the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (PAYGO Act), (2) the Senate PAYGO rule, and (3) certain budget scorekeeping rules.