HR-5150-119
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H3883)
Sponsored by April McClain Delaney (D-MD)
What it does
This bill would make it unlawful for the Farm Service Agency (FSA) or its employees to share personal information submitted by farm loan applicants or payment recipients with "special government employees" (such as outside consultants or advisors temporarily serving the federal government) or with employees detailed to the FSA from other federal agencies. Exceptions would allow disclosure of data in statistical or aggregate form that cannot identify individuals, or with the explicit, voluntary consent of the person who provided the information. Violations would carry penalties of up to a $10,000 fine, up to one year in prison, or both.
Who benefits
Farm loan applicants and recipients of FSA payments — including individual farmers, ranchers, and agricultural businesses — who would have stronger legal protections over their personal and financial data. Rural communities broadly, where farming operations are often closely tied to personal finances and business identity. Agricultural advocacy organizations that have sought stronger data privacy protections for their members. Farmers who may be wary of their financial information being accessed by personnel outside the normal FSA chain of command.
Who is hurt
Special government employees and detailed federal workers who currently may have access to FSA borrower data as part of their duties would lose that access. Federal agencies that detail employees to the FSA and rely on cross-agency data sharing for program oversight, fraud detection, or efficiency reviews could face operational limitations. Taxpayers who benefit from inter-agency oversight mechanisms designed to detect fraud or improper payments in FSA programs could see those mechanisms weakened. Researchers or analysts working in a temporary government capacity who use FSA data for program evaluation would be restricted.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that farmers and agricultural borrowers share sensitive personal and financial information with the FSA under the expectation that it will be used only for the purposes for which it was submitted, and that allowing access by temporary or detailed personnel — who may have different accountability standards — undermines that trust. They contend that the bill closes a specific gap in existing privacy law by extending clear statutory protections to a category of workers not fully covered by current FSA data-sharing rules, and that criminal penalties are necessary to deter unauthorized disclosure of information that could harm farmers' financial standing or competitive position.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that restricting data access for detailed employees and special government employees could impair legitimate oversight functions — such as audits, fraud investigations, and program efficiency reviews — that depend on cross-agency collaboration and access to borrower records. They contend that existing federal privacy law, including the Privacy Act of 1974, already provides substantial protections for this data, and that adding categorical criminal prohibitions without nuanced exceptions for oversight and law enforcement purposes could create gaps that bad actors exploit while hampering the government's ability to protect the integrity of FSA loan programs.
Constitutional context
No significant constitutional tension is present. Congress has broad authority under the Commerce Clause (Art. I, §8, cl. 3) and the Necessary and Proper Clause to regulate federal agency data practices. This bill modifies an existing statutory framework (the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act) and imposes restrictions on federal employees' conduct — a well-established exercise of congressional authority over the executive branch.
Checks and balances
Congress gains authority by setting explicit statutory limits on FSA data sharing; the executive branch (USDA/FSA) must comply, and federal courts would enforce criminal penalties for violations, providing a judicial check on both agency employees and any personnel who improperly access data.
Historical precedent
The Privacy Act of 1974 established baseline federal protections for personal information held by federal agencies, including restrictions on disclosure, but did not create program-specific criminal penalties of this type for agricultural borrower data.