Authorization of appropriations and allotments of grants

There are authorized to be appropriated for the purposes of sections 361a to 361i of this title such sums as Congress may from time to time determine to be necessary. Any sums made available by the Congress in addition to those provided for in subsection (b) of this section for State agricultural experiment station work shall be distributed as follows: Except as provided in paragraph (4), no allotment shall be made to a State under subsection (b) or (c), and no payments from the allotment shall be made to a State, in excess of the amount that the State makes available out of non-Federal funds for agricultural research and for the establishment and maintenance of facilities for the performance of the research. If a State fails to comply with the requirement to provide matching funds for a fiscal year under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Agriculture shall withhold from payment to the State for that fiscal year an amount equal to the difference between— The Secretary of Agriculture shall reapportion amounts withheld under paragraph (2) for a fiscal year among the States satisfying the matching requirement for that fiscal year. Any reapportionment of funds under this paragraph shall be subject to the matching requirement specified in paragraph (1). Effective beginning for fiscal year 2003, in lieu of the matching funds requirement of paragraph (1), the insular areas of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands of the United States and the District of Columbia shall provide matching funds from non-Federal sources in an amount equal to not less than 50 percent of the formula funds distributed by the Secretary to each of the insular areas, respectively, and the District of Columbia under this section. The Secretary may waive the matching fund requirement of subparagraph (A) for any fiscal year if the Secretary determines that the government of the insular area or the District of Columbia will be unlikely to meet the matching requirement for the fiscal year. “Administration” as used in this section shall include participation in planning and coordinating cooperative regional research as defined in subsection (c)(3). In making payments to States, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to adjust any such payment to the nearest dollar. If in any year the amount made available by a State from its own funds (including any revenue-sharing funds) to a State agricultural experiment station is reduced because of an increase in the allotment made available under sections 361a to 361i of this title, the allotment to the State agricultural experiment station from the appropriation in the next succeeding fiscal year shall be reduced in an equivalent amount. The Secretary shall reapportion the amount of such reduction to other States for use by their agricultural experiment stations. Research carried out under subsection (c)(3) shall be subject to scientific peer review. The review of a project conducted under this subsection shall be considered to satisfy the merit review requirements of section 7613(e) of this title. Not less than the applicable percentage specified under paragraph (2) of the Federal formula funds that are paid under sections 361a to 361i of this title and subsections (b) and (c) of section 343 of this title to colleges and universities eligible to receive funds under the Act of July 2, 1862 (12 Stat. 503, chapter 130; 7 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), during a fiscal year shall be expended for activities that integrate cooperative research and extension (referred to in this subsection as “integrated activities”). Of the Federal formula funds that were paid to each State for fiscal year 1997 under sections 361a to 361i of this title and subsections (b) and (c) of section 343 of this title, the Secretary of Agriculture shall determine the percentage that the State expended for integrated activities. Of the Federal formula funds that are paid to each State for fiscal year 2000 and each subsequent fiscal year under sections 361a to 361i of this title and subsections (b) and (c) of section 343 of this title, the State shall expend for the fiscal year for integrated activities a percentage that is at least equal to the lesser of— The Secretary of Agriculture may reduce the minimum percentage required to be expended by a State for integrated activities under subparagraph (B) in a case of hardship, infeasibility, or other similar circumstance beyond the control of the State, as determined by the Secretary. This subsection does not apply to funds provided— Federal formula funds described in paragraph (1) that are used by a State for a fiscal year for integrated activities in accordance with paragraph (2)(B) may also be used to satisfy the multistate activities requirements of subsection (c)(3) of this section and section 343(h) of this title for the same fiscal year.