Senate: Insular Areas
Instructions for completing the forms and submitting the files required by the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, prior to the March 16 deadline:
1. Three documents sent by the Subcommittee to all Senate offices must be printed and returned with a letter signed by your Senator to Renan Snowden in SD-119: (a) FY08 member request chart.xls; (b) Member Request Form.doc; and (c) Talking Points.doc.
2. These same files must also be emailed to Dianne Preece at
3. To assist Senate offices in supporting NASULGC’s request, we have attached to this coversheet a document that includes both the required “Member Request Form” and “Talking Points” documents. To complete the documents, simply:
• Fill in information specific to your office wherever you see: <insert>
4. Complete the spreadsheet with the following information:
• State <insert your state
• Member <insert your Senator’s name
• Agency/Account CSREES (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service)
• Priority <insert your priority number
• Project Name Resident Instruction Grants—Insular Areas
• FY07 Level $495,000
• FY08 Pres Budget $495,000
• FY08 Request $700,000
• Staff Contact <insert your name
5. This document is available electronically at:
www.nasulgc-bac.com/forms/senate/Insular.doc
SENATE AGRICULTURE APPROPRIATIONS
FISCAL YEAR 2008
REQUEST FORM
Member: <insert>
Staff Contact: <insert>
Project Name: Resident Instruction Grants—Insular Areas
Priority: <insert>
1. Authorization:
7 U.S.C. 3363; Section 7501 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.
2. Item Summary:
Please state the goal of the item:
Provide an FY 2008 program funding level of $700,000 for this CSREES program which addresses the critical agricultural research needs of the land-grant universities in the Insular Areas (U.S. territories and Puerto Rico).
Why is it necessary?
The program provides competitively awarded grants to meet the unique needs of this underserved set of universities. The program helps land-grant universities in the Insular Areas develop education and training programs while working in collaboration with leading universities on the mainland.
Why are you requesting this item?
To provide a much needed increase in competitive grants aimed at solving the unique problems in the U.S. Insular Areas.
Generally state how this item will be carried out:
Funds are distributed by CSREES to eligible institutions through competitively awarded grants.
What is the expected duration of this activity?
This is a successful, ongoing federal program with an indefinite duration.
How will we measure success, failures, and completion of this activity?
Success, failure, and completion are closely monitored by CSREES, OMB, and the Senate Appropriations Committee through various mechanisms, including the CSREES Plan of Work (POW) and Current Research Information System (CRIS) reporting requirements and the OMB Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART).
3. Federal Mission:
This program is included within the President’s FY 2008 Budget Request.
4. Eligibility:
Eligibility is limited to Land-Grant Institutions in the Insular Areas.
5. Distribution of Funds:
Funds are distributed directly by CSREES to eligible institutions through a competitive process.
6. Matching Funds:
There is no matching fund requirement for this program.
7. Competitive Funds:
This is a competitive program.
8. Project History:
This program has been funded for many years through the Agriculture Appropriations bill and CSREES. Many years of data have already been provided by the agency to the Subcommittee. The last five years of funding history are included in this table:
Fiscal Year / $ Amount2007 / 495,000
2006 / 495,000
2005 / 496,000
2004 / 0
2003 / 0
9. Bill Language:
None Requested.
10. Report Language:
None Requested.
MEMBER REQUEST REQUIREMENTS
AGRICULTURE APPROPRIATIONS
FISCAL YEAR 2008
TALKING POINTS
Member: <insert>
Staff Contact: <insert>
Project Name: Resident Instruction Grants—Insular Areas
Agency/Account: Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
Priority: <insert>
Talking Points:
• The purpose of this program is to promote and strengthen the ability of Insular Area Institutions to carry out teaching and education programs within a broadly defined area of food and agricultural sciences-related disciplines.
• By strengthening institutional educational capacities in instruction and curriculum, and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning, this program also helps Insular Area Institutions meet their unique needs. This program also assists Insular Area Institutions to make more efficient use of existing educational funds by providing resources for partnerships between faculties at Insular Area and mainland institutions.
• Food and agricultural sciences are defined to include programs in agriculture, food and fiber, renewable natural resources, forestry, aquaculture, veterinary medicine, family and consumer sciences, home economics, nutrition and dietetics, rural human ecology, rural economic and community development, and other higher education activities and fields of study related to the production, processing, marketing, distribution, conservation, utilization, consumption, research, and development of food and agriculturally-related products and services.
• Grants are used to: (1) strengthen institutional education capacities, including libraries, curriculum, faculty, scientific instrumentation, instruction delivery systems, and student recruitment and retention, in order to respond to identified State, regional, national, or international education needs in the food and agriculture sciences; (2) to attract and support undergraduate and graduate students in order to educate them in identified areas of national need in the food and agricultural sciences; (3) to facilitate cooperative initiatives between two or more Insular Area Institutions, or between Insular Area Institutions and units of State Government or organizations in the private sector, to maximize the development and use of resources such as faculty, facilities, and equipment to improve food and agricultural sciences teaching programs; and (4) to conduct undergraduate scholarship programs to assist in meeting national needs for training food and agricultural scientists.