October 28, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 170 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF THE McINTIRE-STENNIS ACT DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA EQUALITY 
                                  ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 28, 2019

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I rise to introduce the McIntire-
Stennis Act District of Columbia Equality Act, which would amend the 
McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Act (Act) to make the District of 
Columbia eligible for funding. The District is treated as a state under 
federal programs, with a few exceptions, most of them simply oversights 
or failures to update. This legislation would rectify the exception in 
this Act, ensuring equitable treatment for the District and allowing 
the District to benefit from the funding opportunities available under 
the Act.
  The Act provides U.S. states and territories with formula funds to 
support state-designated institutions' cooperative forestry research 
programs. The Act defines ``State'' to include Puerto Rico, the Virgin 
Islands and Guam. The District's notable, but faulty, absence from this 
definition makes it ineligible for grant funds that would support 
research at the District's state-supported university, the University 
of the District of Columbia's (UDC) College of Agriculture, Urban 
Stability, and Environmental Science, a program that complements the 
city's ongoing forestry efforts. UDC is the nation's only urban land-
grant university.
  We appreciate that Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam are 
included under the definition of ``State,'' even though, unlike the 
District of Columbia, their residents do not pay federal income taxes. 
It would be particularly troubling if the District, whose residents pay 
the highest amount per capita in federal taxes, which support farm and 
other federal programs, were to continue to be excluded.
  It has been argued that the District should be excluded because of 
its lack of local timber production. However, the Act says, ``[i]n 
making such apportionments, consideration shall be given to pertinent 
factors including'' local timber production. Proximity to timber is, 
therefore, only one in a non-exclusive list of factors that are part of 
the larger analysis regarding the apportionments. Excluding the 
District from the definition of ``State'' merely because it is not 
located in an area with a timber industry runs counter to the intent of 
the Act. While timber production can be a factor in determining the 
amount of state allocations, there is no reason that the District 
should be excluded from the Act.
  We believe, therefore, that the omission of the District must have 
been the result of an oversight during the original drafting of the 
Act. However, as you can imagine, this omission has serious 
consequences for the District, rendering UDC ineligible for these 
formula grant funds. Passage of this bill would allow students and 
researchers in the nation's capital to take part in this important 
forestry program.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.

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