Rosa DeLauro

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. First of all, I want to thank the gentlelady for her comments. I think we have worked very hard in this bill, in fact, to increase the opportunity for nutrition. I would be happy to work with the gentlelady from Texas. We have $2 million in the bill for the Hunger Center and will look forward to working with you as we move forward to try to increase those funds.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I might just add to the count of amendments, lest it be forgotten on Tuesday night, that I accepted both the Gingrey and the McHenry amendments. So that is 14 Republican amendments that have been allowed for debate and discussion. I'm saddened by the path that we've taken to find our way here today, but I must also say that, yes, I'm glad. I'm glad that we've arrived here today because this Agriculture appropriations bill is a good bill, it's a fair bill, and it has the potential to do so much for people and for our communities who are in such need. And, yes, in fact, over the last several months it has been a product of hard work, of honest partnership, of an ongoing collaboration over a number of weeks from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I'm sorry that I don't see the ranking member of this subcommittee, Mr. Kingston, on the floor. Mr. Kingston can attest to the kind of work we have done together to produce and to craft a very solid piece of legislation that, in fact, will make a difference in people's lives. And we should not forget how much that we have put into this bill and why. At the subcommittee level, the full committee level, even, as I said, this past Tuesday, this bill has been a bipartisan process, giving every single member of the subcommittee and of the full committee the opportunity to engage, to propose amendments, to ask for a vote if they wanted to. It has been a totally open process. As a matter of fact, in the full committee there was not even one vote called because there was such a sense of agreement on every single amendment and the process that we went through in that committee. For that, I stand here very proud as the Chair of this subcommittee, and the first time that I have served as the Chair of this committee, we produced a bill that has such support. I defy any of the other 11 subcommittees to have that same kind of bipartisanship that we had. This bill is too important. There's critical responsibilities. And maybe people don't view this bill as that important, but speak to rural America, speak to people who care about what's happening in nutrition, speak to people who care about conservation in this country. That is what is in this bill, renewable sources of energy. To let it be filibustered, to play political games, to let that take precedent over this bill is what's happened. The minority shut down this process. The minority's tactics, 4 hours, 4 hours, and I appreciate the minority leader's disappointment with SCHIP, but on Tuesday night SCHIP was not the legislation that we were discussing. Four hours. Those tactics, tied to other legislation, have stood in the way of this process, even as the American people, in fact, do insist that we get to work fulfilling our obligations to consumers who want safe drugs and food. It's good to see the gentleman from Georgia on the floor because Jack Kingston and I have worked very well together, as I said, to produce a good bill, one of which I stand here proudly to support and to carry on with today. Our priorities have been to have safe drugs and food, farmers who rely on fair and functioning markets, children who need healthy food to meet their potential, and rural communities who need opportunities to thrive. And our priority has been to move with swift purpose, clear direction on several key goals: strengthening rural America, protecting the public health, improving nutrition for more Americans, transforming our energy future, supporting conservation, investing in research and enhancing oversight. The bill provides discretionary resources of $18.8 billion. It is $1 billion above 2007, $987.4 million above the budget request, and to be sure and to make it very clear, 95 percent of the increase over the budget request, $940 million, is used to restore funding that was eliminated or cut in the President's budget, to acknowledge that we have, in fact, the obligation to meet the needs of hundreds of our communities and millions of Americans. It is about strengthening rural America. And what we do in terms of facilitating growth, softening the impact of population loss, this bill includes $728.8 million to support community facilities, water and waste disposal systems, and business grants to protect our public health. We provide $1.7 billion for the FDA, $62 million over the budget request, the first step in a fundamental food safety transformation at FDA. We include $39.8 billion for food stamps, a program to meet increased participation and to ensure rising food prices. We fund the Women, Infants and Children program above the President's request. We step up to priorities like investing in research, which many of you have requested in earmarks in this bill, and conservation; and when it comes to transforming energy, this budget includes bioenergy, renewable energy research, $1.2 billion, including loans and grants in rural areas of this country. I'm proud of the bill. I'm proud of its priorities and the goals that we set out to accomplish. We have obligations here, and that is to discuss and to recognize what our roles are and what we do here in order to meet the needs of the American public, not to interrupt for 4 hours for political gain or for whatever is annoying you that day, to disrupt the process, shut it down. And we're going to move forward, we're going to discuss this bill, we're going to pass the bill and achieve the goals. You choose delay. We choose to proceed to go forward in a responsible way. I urge my colleagues to support this rule.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. I reiterate: These are FDA-approved drugs from FDA-approved facilities. Let's set the record straight. The Congress has been misled by the pharmaceutical industry. They have stood in the way of keeping safe and affordable prescription drugs out of the hands of consumers. They are now misleading us in this campaign to scare the American public on the issue of drug importation. Prescription drugs can be imported into the United States safely. It has been done for decades. Reimportation needs to stay on the table. It needs to stay in this bill. The drug companies have repeatedly demonstrated the influence that they have gained within the FDA and the Bush administration. It is time for the Congress and the American people to demonstrate that we are not easily swayed. Oppose this amendment.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, how much time is left?

Ms. DeLAURO. I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston).

Ms. DeLAURO. Does the gentleman from Georgia have any additional speakers?

Ms. DeLAURO. We have no other speakers.

Ms. DeLAURO. How much time is left, Mr. Chairman?

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, in closing, I just want to say I think we need to be very excited about this bill. We set out to accomplish several goals, including strengthening rural America, having the opportunity to protect our public health, improving nutrition for more Americans, and we tried to be concerned particularly about rural areas. But we're looking at 40 percent of the children in rural areas who are dependent on food stamps. We look to transforming our energy future to $1.2 billion in loans and grants, particularly in rural areas, supporting conservation, investing in research, which keeps our agriculture on the cutting edge and, finally, enhancing oversight. Most importantly, what I believe about this bill is it brings our Nation back to its most fundamental principles and that is the strength of our communities. We have an obligation to keep these things and to get them right, and I'm assuming we will take that responsibility today.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, we have no additional speakers on our side except for myself in terms of closing. So, if the gentleman from Georgia would close, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson).

Ms. DeLAURO. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. I yield an additional 1 minute for both, not each, but for both Mr. Crowley and Mr. Fossella to address this issue.

Ms. DeLAURO. I would be happy to work with the gentleman.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson).

Ms. DeLAURO. If the gentlewoman would yield, I assure the gentlewoman that we will work together on correcting the inequity.

Ms. DeLAURO

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

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that, during further consideration of H.R. 3161 pursuant to House Resolution 581 and House Resolution 599, the Chair may reduce to 2 minutes the minimum time for electronic voting under clause 6 of rule XVIII and clauses 8 and 9 of rule XX.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, we all pay the price when 46 million Americans, 9 million of them children, have no health insurance. We all have a responsibility, a moral responsibility to make sure that our most vulnerable get the health care coverage they need. The State Children's Health Insurance Program is perhaps the best social policy success story of the last decade. At a time when most Americans want to see this program reach more of the 6 million children who are eligible but still uninsured, the administration's proposal would result in hundreds of thousands of children losing their coverage. That is the wrong direction and the wrong choice for our country. The Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act will take us in the right direction, reaching children most in need, while improving Medicare for 44 million seniors and people with disabilities. This is about embracing our Nation's most serious challenge, a challenge the Federal government has the ability, the capacity, the resources and the moral obligation to help us meet. We all have a stake in solving this crisis. No one, not even the President, should be able to undermine the great promise of a healthy future for our kids.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Point of order.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Ms. DeLAURO. Point of order.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Chairman, the gentlewoman's remarks need to be confined to the Agriculture appropriations bill. The amendment has been accepted, in case the gentlewoman did not know that.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his concern and his compassion and his indefatigable work on the issue of making sure that those in our Nation who are hungry are able to get the food that they need in order to be able to sustain themselves. I also want to say a thank-you to my colleague from California for his kind words and working with him on the farm bill. Madam Speaker, I look forward to debating this bill and discussing our priorities. We are going to cover a lot of ground today with a wide ranging portfolio to accomplish quite a lot. This appropriation covers many subjects. But what runs through every element of this bill is the common thread of our Nation assuming responsibility again for the things we are supposed to get right: keeping our country safe and healthy, preserving and strengthening our rural traditional communities, and thinking about problems that we have on the horizon, like energy, and not just thinking about today's problems. I want to say thank you to Chairman Obey for his leadership and to our ranking member, Congressman Kingston, a partner in this effort. I believe together we have crafted a strong and bipartisan, responsible bill. Our top priority has always been to move with a clear purpose in a direction towards several key goals: strengthening rural America; protecting public health; improving nutrition for more Americans; transforming our energy future; supporting conservation; investing in research; and finally, enhancing oversight. Our bill provides total discretionary resources of $18.8 billion, $1 billion or 5.7 percent above 2007 and $987.4 million or 5.5 percent above the budget request. To be sure, a full 95 percent of the increase above the budget request, or $940 million, is used to restore funding that was either eliminated or cut in the President's budget, to acknowledge and to meet our obligation to hundreds of communities and millions of Americans. When it comes to strengthening rural America, our first goal, our efforts have been critical to try to facilitate growth and to soften the impact of population loss in rural America. This bill provides $23.1 million in grants to rural areas for critical community facilities such as health care, education, public safety, day-care facilities. It also provides increases in the community facility loan programs. It provides $10 million more than the President requested for distance learning telemedicine grants, and it includes $728.8 million to support community facilities, water and waste disposal systems, and business grants. We also make significant investments in rural housing: $212.2 million to fund $5.1 billion in affordable loans to provide housing to low- income and moderate-income families in rural areas, providing approximately 38,000 single-family homeownership opportunities. On our second priority, protecting public health, the subcommittee stepped up from spinach and seafood to peanut butter and pet food. This has shown that our food safety system is dangerously inadequate and that we must transform the way we meet our obligation to protect the public health. So the bill provides $1.7 billion for the Food and Drug Administration, $128.5 million over 2007, $62 million over the budget request, and the first step in a fundamental transformation in the regulation of food safety at the FDA. The bill directs the FDA to submit a plan to begin changing its approach to food safety when it submits the fiscal year 2009 budget, giving the committee time to review the plan before the funds to implement it become available on July 1, 2008. We can help with additional resources, but there's also a need to have a corresponding commitment from management to perform its duties. Funds are provided specifically to begin a critical transformation in food safety regulation, enhanced drug safety functions, review direct- to-consumer ads and review generic drugs. Our next goal was improving nutrition, and I am proud of the progress we made on this issue. With the farm bill last week, this bill includes $39.8 billion for the Food Stamp program to meet increased participation and ensure rising food prices do not diminish families' purchasing power. The bill also provides record funding for two fundamental food security programs which our country's most vulnerable population: the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, the WIC program, and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. These efforts go hand-in-hand with ongoing initiatives. $957.7 million for nutrition programs to confront our Nation's obesity, instilling better eating habits in our children, giving them the tools and choices to avoid diabetes and other dangerous health conditions. It includes record funding of $68.5 million for the expanded Food and Nutrition Education program; $26 million to expand the fresh fruit and vegetables and the Simplified Summer Food Program to all States; and $10 million for specialty crops, yes, for fruits and vegetables. And when it comes to other key objectives, transforming our energy future, supporting conservation and investing in research, we step up with this bill. This legislation strengthens bioenergy and renewable energy research $1.2 billion, including loans and grants in rural areas. It restores many of the conservation programs slated for elimination in the President's request, including grazing lands, conservation initiatives, the Wildlife Habitat Program, watershed rehabilitation; and provides $979.4 million to continue assistance to landowners for conservation efforts on private land. And yes, with regard to research, $178 million for cooperative State research education and extension service, and $108.9 million of that is for research and education. Overall, we have increased research. Finally, the bill is dedicated to enhanced oversight. We share the concern about fraud, waste and abuse, and we have key language in here which would allow the risk management agencies to use up to $11.2 million in mandatory crop insurance funds to strengthen its ability to oversee the program by maintaining and upgrading IT systems and other methods of detecting dubious claims. I'm proud of the bill, its priorities and the goals that we set out to accomplish. I will continue to discuss some of the obligations of this bill later today, and the Congress has chosen to highlight and return to after many long years of inaction and silence. I'll continue to discuss and recognize the values and the priorities that my colleagues and I have sought to uphold, to strengthen and to honor with this bill. I urge my colleagues to support the rule.