K. Conaway

Mr. CONAWAY

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, I couldn't disagree more. The savings that are touted by the folks who are in favor of this amendment will not be shared with consumers. They will be kept by these multinational corporations and, yes, the small sugar users across this country. So prices will not go down. There are no tax dollars involved, despite the rhetoric to the contrary, except for 1 year out of 16, because this program worked. This program was not changed in 2014 because it works. It doesn't cost the taxpayers money, sugar prices are not distorted, and the manufacturers will not be able to support the one instance where they have lowered the cost of their product when sugar prices did in fact drop as a result of the unfair, unlevel playing field, unlevel competition around this world. If we could talk the rest of the world into going to a free market, to a level playing field, then I would agree completely with my colleagues who support this amendment. We are not there. We are not even headed there. We need to defeat this amendment, protect those hardworking farmers out there across this country. Say ``no'' to Foxx. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, H.R. 2 includes a substantive, enforceable supportive work requirement for work-capable individuals 18 to 59. Waivers and exemptions were tightened to assure little abuse in a system currently rife with loopholes and gimmicks. We have also heard from our conservative stakeholders that workfare is an important tool for EP participants. Based on their feedback and explicit examples of where this has been implemented correctly, this amendment includes establishment of that. It is simply good policy to send unexpended funds back to the Treasury. This amendment does that. Our colleagues on the other side said we did not count veteran- specific workforce development programs as a part of H.R. 2. Well, in addition to the provisions of H.R. 2 that has permitted State-based veteran workforce programs to count toward the work requirement, this amendment expands to include programs for veterans run by the Department of Labor and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr. Chairman, that would have been a terrific amendment for my colleagues to have offered in committee or on this floor, and we would have accepted it. They chose to stay on the sidelines. I have a great food bank in my district, West Texas Food Bank. Its chief executive related how important it was to provide a 1-year certification period for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program for seniors, a program currently serving seniors. This makes sense and allows seniors easier access to this important program. It is engagements like this that is what our process is all about, and we have amended our bill through this manager's amendment to include those. Mr. Chair, we also have changes in here that strengthen our framework for coordinating between USDA on FCA, on important operations, broadband work that is going on across jurisdictions. We want those two agencies to work together to better utilize the funding to make sure that rural America gets that broadband support that we really need. That is included in here as well. It also allows that communities will have a better opportunity to work for themselves rather than fighting the current bureaucracy here in Washington, D.C. This amendment also includes a variety of technical amendments, corrections to the bill, that you would normally have in a manager's amendment, and I ask my colleagues to support the manager's amendment. Mr. Chair, with that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Crawford), the subcommittee chairman.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, I am ready to close.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, the gentlewoman just previously mentioned the increase in fruits and vegetables being eaten by children in school. I would point out that our bill includes $1.2 billion in incentives to help moms and dads out there who are on SNAP to buy fruits and vegetables and dairy to get a bigger bang for their buck and thereby hopefully increasing those commodities. Mr. Chair, we have a good bill here, the base bill. This simply makes it better. With that, I urge adoption of the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas), the former chairman of the committee.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Peterson).

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Crawford).

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, we have got a clear-cut choice: you either want American producers to produce American food or you don't. That is what this is simply about. When I think about the farm bill, you can love it or hate the safety net we have in place, but it works--as the chairman said, the lowest cost price food in the developed world. Here is why that is important. Half of America works paycheck to paycheck. Their food budget is where they flex. Their rent doesn't change. Their house payment doesn't change. Their car payment doesn't change. But if something comes up in the middle of the month, it is coming out of that food budget. I don't want to make that mom's job any tougher than it already is by raising the cost of food arbitrarily, capriciously, by ignoring the vast amount of competition around this world that is fundamentally unfair. If we could go to that utopia that my friend from California would like to get us to, fantastic, but we can't do that. They barely could do it in New Zealand, for goodness' sake. We could not do that against the rest of the world. I would argue that U.S. production is a bit more complicated than whatever New Zealand might or might not be doing. We have got to compete in a world global market against foreign treasuries that are spending stunningly more money than we are. China spent $100 billion on three products in 1 year to subsidize their products. Now, did that send the wrong signal to those folks? Yes, it did. We farmers and our rice farmers and our other producers have to compete against the prices that are depressed like that. We can't go against the rest of the world. If the rest of the world will go to a level playing field, I have got not one farmer out there who would say: No, no, no, we want to keep it in place. They want to compete in the cash market. That is where they want to make their money. This amendment would strip them of the ability to do that. We would go to foreign-imported food coming at us with standards that are not remotely close to ours, labor that is not closely protected the way ours is. Let's defeat this McClintock amendment, show the American farmer and rancher out there, who works as hard as anybody in this world, who thinks a 20-hour workweek is something they do in their second or third job in order to keep the farm going, let's show them that we support them. Let's show them that we have got their back. A ``yes'' vote for McClintock says: Never mind, we don't care about you. A ``no'' vote on McClintock says exactly the message we want to send, and I am hopeful this is a stunningly large vote so that American producers out there, who are some of the hardest working, best people on the face of the Earth, can understand that this Congress understands the unfair foreign competition that they are competing with. Vote ``no'' on McClintock. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for bringing up this important issue. I agree with the gentleman from Alabama that our farmers and ranchers should not be competing with the Federal Government for viable cropland. H.R. 2 makes many changes to the CRP program, such as capping the rental rate payment to 80 percent of the county average and stepping this percentage down for subsequent reenrollments of the same tract. I understand, however, the gentleman's concerns with the increase in enrolled acres, and I commit to working with the gentleman and his staff on this issue during the coming conference report, should we get there.

Mr. CONAWAY. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Faso has my commitment to work with him to address the Farm Bureau's concerns to get them to the point that they are okay with this. I support the gentleman's amendment under those terms.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. CONAWAY

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the gentleman's amendment. This actually is America at her best. It is taking American expertise, going people-to-people across this world, and sharing the great techniques we are developing here. And while that might make those host countries a little more competitive with our production of agriculture here in America, it is the right thing to do. Mr. Chair, I support the amendment, and I appreciate Mr. Fortenberry's dedication not only to this specific issue but his broader work across the international arena that he has shown his expertise in.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, it is with great reluctance that I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. If it were limited to just to Alaska, then that might be one thing, but the underlying language is too broad. It would allow this to happen across the United States, and I have some concerns about food safety with respect to that. I understand what he is trying to get at, and I agree with the intent in making that, but I reluctantly disagree, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. CONAWAY

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that during further consideration of H.R. 2 in the Committee of the Whole pursuant to House Resolution 900, amendment No. 7 printed in House Report 115-679 may be considered out of sequence.

Mr. CONAWAY

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. CONAWAY

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CONAWAY

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2.