WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa today released a Government Accountability Office report showing that additional changes are needed to the eligibility requirements for being "actively involved" in farming.  The GAO also wrote in the report that the legislative language in the Senate passed farm bill would be an appropriate fix to the agency's findings.  The report can be found on Grassley's website, grassley.senate.gov.

"The report shows that there is still far too much subterfuge of the actively engaged law.  For instance, taxpayers are footing the bill for farm payments to 11 active managers of one farm, who supposedly provide significant management experience, yet perform no labor," Grassley said.  "The loophole has been allowed to stand for too long.  It's time to close it once and for all and put the issue to rest so we can maintain a safety net for the farmers who really need it."

Grassley said that the conferees to the farm bill should take notice of the report and take a hands off approach to the provisions in both the House and Senate bills

"This is just one more reason that my payment limits provisions included in the Senate and House bills -- placing a hard cap on farm payments and closing loopholes that allow non-farmers to game the system -- should stay untouched," Grassley said.

The report reviewed the Farm Service Agency's compliance reviews of farming operation members' claimed contributions of active personal management and personal labor.  The GAO report also examines the Farm Service Agency's state offices' timeliness in completing and reporting compliance reviews and the results.

Specifically, GAO recommended, "Congress should consider modifying the definition of significant contributions of management activities, either as it did in recent deliberations on reauthorizing the farm bill or in other ways designed to make contributions more clear and objective."

The legislative language in the farm bill mirrors Grassley's Farm Program Integrity Act of 2013. The bill would define clearly the scope of people who are able to qualify as actively engaged by only providing management for the farming operation.  The allows only one off-farm manager, which will help the Department of Agriculture crack down on the general partnerships that have multiple non-farmers trying to qualify for farm payments by exploiting the management loophole.

Here are several highlights of the report.  The report can also be found here.

• Farm Service Agency officials consistently said current 'actively engaged' regulations are too vague to enforce in a meaningful way.

• Farms organized as general partnerships receive the most in payments and have the highest percentage of members receiving payments based on 'active personal management only.'  General partnerships with 11 or more individual members received 84 percent of their farm payments based on members contributing 'active personal management only.'

• Operations that have members determined out of compliance at the local level for not being able to demonstrate adequate knowledge to contribute 'active personal management' have appealed the decisions to the state and federal levels and won because they have time to prepare the individual in question.  In one instance, an individual was still allowed to receive farm payments after failing two interviews with state and local USDA officials.  The individual finally persuaded a national official in the third attempt that they had adequate knowledge of the farming operation.

• A farm in the Midwest which received roughly $400,000 in payments for 2012 was organized as a general partnership with six corporations and 11 individual members of the same family who ranged in age from 18-88.  Publicly available data indicated two of the individuals, including the 88 year-old, lived in South Florida and claimed 'active personal management only' for eligibility purposes.

September 23, 2013/Moline, IL - Two local businesses, Audibel Hi-Tech Hearing Care and Dr. Kevin Smith P.C. are breaking ground on a new facility in the Valley View Drive Corridor of Moline, Illinois. Both businesses, currently neighbors at the Hamilton Heights Medical Building, are joining forces to build their own 4,000 square foot medical center. The official groundbreaking took place on the morning of September 23^rd, and construction will begin within the next few weeks.

James Hanerhoff, Audioprosthologist and President of Audibel Hi-Tech Hearing, is looking forward to this expansion. "It will offer both Dr. Smith and I the space we need to better serve our patients.  Both of our practices have the same goal; providing the best possible care based upon individual needs. This new facility will expand upon our abilities to accomplish that goal."

The building will be located at on the corner of Valley View Drive and 36th Avenue/Harvest Drive. Construction will be completed by Daxon Construction and is expected to be completed March-April of 2014.

"I've worked next door to Audibel for years and am looking forward to our practices expanding into the new facility," says Dr. Kevin Smith. "This is a great opportunity for both of us and the land allows us to build a facility that will suit both of our needs perfectly."

Both practices provide care based upon the highest professional standards in their specialty. To learn more about Dr. Smith, please visit www.drsmithdpm.com or call 309-762-7919. For Audibel Hi-Tech Hearing Care, visit www.audibelhi-techhearing.com or call 309-764-3065.

About Dr. Smith -- A Quad-City native, Dr. Kevin Smith, D.P.M. graduated from Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine in Chicago, Illinois in 1997. Following an internship at North Chicago Veterans Administration Medical Center, he received surgical training through Catholic Health Partners, which is affiliated with Northwestern School of Medicine in Chicago.  Dr. Smith's primary research has been published in the Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery and Foot and Ankle International.

About James Hanerhoff, BC-HIS, ACA - A native of Central Illinois, Mr. Hanerhoff received his Hearing Instrument Specialists license from the Illinois Department of Public Health in Springfield in 2000.  While working as part of the Hearing Care Team at Tri-County Hearing in Peoria, IL he continued with advanced training while attending the American Academy of Audioprosthology through the International Hearing Society, Livonia, MI.  He received his Audioprosthologist designation in 2003 by the American Council on Education, followed by his national Board certification from N.B.C.H.S., Farmington Hills, MI in 2007.

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Quad City International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) presents a FREE Seminar on October 14, 2013

The Quad City International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) will be presenting a FREE Seminar on Monday, October 14, 2013 at the WIU River Campus, 3300 River Drive in Moline, Illinois.  The speaker will be Dave Drewelow, Head Coach, ActionCOACH Heartland and he will be presenting "Becoming a Person of Influence" (Based on John C. Maxwell's Book).

Networking/Gathering begins at 5:30 PM, Dinner at 6:00 PM (reservation is required - meal cost is $8.00) and the speaker will begin at 6:30 PM. Following the presentation, a short chapter business meeting will be held.

To register, please contact Chris Brown by 11:00 AM by Friday, October 11, 2013 at 309.371.9587 or email her at MC-Brown@wiu.edu.

For more information, go to our website at www.iaap-quadcity.org/quadcity/meetingsevents. 

IAAP is the world's largest international association of administrative professionals. IAAP offers professional development, leadership training and networking opportunities for administrative professionals. IAAP is a non-profit, volunteer association.

Joining a professional organization demonstrates your commitment to your career. Work is most rewarding when we do it with enthusiasm and give it our best. Through IAAP you will gain knowledge, confidence and contacts that will help you advance professionally. IAAP works to build a professional image of administrative professionals in the workplace.

IAAP membership is open to all persons working in the administrative field, along with business educators, students, firms and educational institutions. There is no test of sponsorship required. Through IAAP qualified professionals can test for the certification rating, the benchmark of excellence in the administrative profession.

For more information please contact Kathy Riley at (309) 489-6122.

A Shutdown Would Slam Middle-Class Families and Small Businesses

A shutdown could delay financial support for Iowa's small businesses. In FY2012, the SBA's flagship 7(a) and 504 loans programs approved 53,847 applications and supported 571,383 jobs, for an average of just over 1,000 applications per week. A shut down would put a stop to this critical source of small business credit until the government resumes operation. According to the SBA, Iowa is home to 61,633 small businesses. [Small Business Administration FY14 Budget Justification; SBA]

A shutdown could delay military pay and hurt military families in Iowa. The Department of Defense estimates that during a shutdown nearly half of the civilian workforce would be sent home without pay, while the rest would continue to work for delayed pay, impacting the 1,603 civilian workers in Iowa. 12,480 servicemembers in Iowa would remain on duty, but would see their pay delayed if the shutdown extends for more than 10 days. Military members, veterans, retirees, and their families are on pace to redeem more than $100 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits this year and many service members, especially the most junior, live paycheck to paycheck. [Military.com, 9/20/13; Huffington Post, 6/19/13; DoD]

A shutdown could put 9,000 federal employees in Iowa out of work. Federal employees around the country would potentially be furloughed in the event of a government shutdown. These workers may see reductions in their pay from the time they were forced to stay home because the government was shuttered. [Census; Washington Post, 9/23/13]

Possible Additional Consequences of a Government Shutdown

Many federal agencies are still attempting to determine exactly how a shutdown would impact their programs and operations. The following are consequences of previous government shutdowns that may or may not come to pass in a future shutdown.

Social Security checks for new seniors. Although checks for current Social Security benefits would still go out during a shutdown, applications for new benefits would be delayed and services for seniors could be significantly curtailed. As a result of furloughs and service cuts during the last shutdown, 112,000 claims for Social Security and disability benefits were not be taken, 212,000 applications for Social Security Numbers were not taken, and 800,000 callers were denied service on the Social Security Administration's 800  number. In 2012, 600,699 people received Social Security benefits in Iowa. [SSA History; SAA, 2012]

Veterans benefits. New veterans' educational, compensation and pension benefits processing could be delayed. During the 1995-96 shutdowns, more than 400,000 veterans saw their disability benefits and pension claims delayed, while educational benefits were delayed for 170,000 veterans. Iowa has 233,815 veterans. [Army Times, 2/3/11; CNN, 1/4/96; VA]