PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 29, 2017
This bill amends the Agricultural Act of 2014 to modify two Department of Agriculture (USDA) disaster assistance programs: (1) the Livestock Forage Program (LFP), and (2) the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP).
(The LFP makes payments to eligible livestock producers who have suffered certain grazing losses due to a drought or a fire. The LIP provides payments to eligible livestock producers on farms that incurred livestock deaths in excess of the normal mortality due to adverse weather or attacks by animals reintroduced into the wild by the federal government or protected by federal law.)
The bill modifies the LIP to specify that livestock death losses due to disease in livestock that has been exacerbated by adverse weather are eligible for payments if a licensed veterinarian verifies that the adverse weather created conditions contributing to the livestock death. USDA must determine eligibility for the payments without regard to any management practice, vaccine protocol, or lack of vaccination by the producer relating to the disease.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
With respect to the LFP, the bill modifies the payment schedule to: (1) allow a one-month payment when a county reaches the severe drought category for four consecutive weeks (eight weeks under current law), and (2) allow an additional monthly payment when the county reaches eight weeks in the severe drought category.
The bill also amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to revise the rules regarding the eligibility of national grasslands for grazing leases and permits.
People & committees
Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] · R–SD
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Apr 7, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1479 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1479 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1479 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1479 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.