Rosa DeLauro

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).

Ms. DeLAURO. I thank my friend from Vermont for his leadership and my friend from Connecticut. I applaud his continued efforts to help the dairy industry. I look forward to working with you.

Ms. DeLAURO. I thank the gentleman for his efforts on behalf of the dairy industry. Over the past year, dairy farmers across the country have been challenged like never before. I support efforts to provide increased relief to these farmers. I thank you, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Welch, Chairman Peterson, and other Members for their efforts. I am committed to helping struggling dairy farmers and their families in Connecticut and across the country.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I just would say to my colleague that I sympathize with the difficulties and the disaster that has befallen your district, and I would urge you to speak to the authorizing committee and Mr. Peterson in the Agriculture Committee for this effort. With that, let me just yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney).

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I'm delighted to present the 2010 Agriculture-FDA appropriations bill. I want to thank the ranking member, Congressman Kingston, for his collaboration and his input over the last few months. I thank both the minority and majority staff as well for their tireless work. Lastly, and especially not least, a special thank you to Chairman Obey for his counsel and for the resources he provided to make this bill possible and for his leadership and vision to ensure that we can continue to get things done and achieve our goals. We stand today at a turning point. Today, we're talking about people's lives--struck hard by an economy in chaos, facing shrinking services and struggling with rising prices and unemployment. I believe the administration's budget demonstrates that it is interested, after years of underinvestment in the Federal Government's capabilities, in protecting public health, supporting American agriculture, strengthening rural communities, and conserving the environment. This bill proposes new investments in these priorities and the agencies that can help us meet them, while making specific and sensible budget cuts where feasible. As in recent years, the bill focuses on several key areas, such as: Protecting public health; bolstering food nutrition programs; investing in rural communities; supporting agriculture research; strengthening animal health and marketing programs; and conserving our natural resources. The fiscal year 2010 Agriculture-FDA appropriations bill provides for almost $23 billion in funding. It is an 11 percent increase over 2009 levels, the vast majority of which went toward three program areas: The WIC program, the FDA, and International Food Aid. Additionally, in order to make these important investments, to use the resources available to it wisely, the bill proposes a number of cuts totaling more than $735 million. To protect the public health, the bill provides a substantial increase for the Food and Drug Administration to support a total discretionary funding level of almost $3 billion, or a 15 percent increase--almost $373 million. That is to hire additional inspectors, conduct more inspections of domestic and foreign food and medical products. And, as many of us know, the FDA has been underfunded for far too long. This is not only a matter of public health and consumer safety, it is a matter of national and economic security. Not all of the dangers that threaten the health and safety of American families can be found in airports, border checkpoints, or harbor containers. Sometimes they lurk in our refrigerators and on our kitchen table. From E. coli in cookie dough to salmonella in peanut butter, we have seen very real threats posed by food contamination in recent years. And we just cannot afford to neglect our food safety system any longer. The FDA's primary responsibility is to the American people to ensure the safety of the food they eat, the drugs they take, and the medical devices they rely on. With this increased funding, they will have the resources and manpower they need to keep us safe. In addition, the bill fully funds the administration's request for the Food Safety and Inspection Service at the USDA, the Department of Agriculture. It puts in over $1 billion dollars for FSIS for the first time in history. In terms of conservation, the committee makes a significant investment in USDA's natural resource conservation programs. The bill appropriates a total of $980 million for this purpose--a $73 million increase over the administration's request. The bill rejects the administration's cuts to the Natural Resources Conservation Service's farm bill conservation programs, which include the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, and the Wildlife Incentives Program. It restores funding for other valuable programs, including the Resource Conservation and Development Program and the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations Program. In the area of nutrition, the bill works to improve nutrition and help those hit the hardest by the current economic crisis. Food costs and participation in WIC continue to increase at dramatic rates. And the bill provides $7.5 billion for WIC to serve our Nation's vulnerable populations--10 percent above last year--to support participation of 10.1 million people. WIC is a program that we simply cannot afford to underfund any longer, particularly given the gravity of the current economic climate. Our fundamental responsibility as legislators and as leaders, to say nothing of basic morality and fairness, demand that we do everything we can to help Americans suffering right now from poverty and malnutrition. In the area of international food aid, the bill expands America's traditional commitment to international food aid by providing an increase of $464 million to the P.L. 480 Title II Grants Program. We also provide an additional $99.5 million to the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. In the area of rural development, the bill creates new opportunities for growth and development in the Nation's small town economies by increasing funding for water and wastewater infrastructure grants by $73 million; provides $8.7 billion for housing; $541 million for community facilities; and $9.3 billion for the rural utility programs. In research, the bill makes significant investments in agricultural research: $1.2 billion for the Agricultural Research Service; nearly $1.2 billion for the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service. That money is allocated to such programs as the Hatch Act, Evans-Allen, the new competitive Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, Smith Lever, the 1890 programs, and the Veterinary of Medical Services Act. With continuing volatility in the futures market, the bill provides the administration's request for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC, $160.6 million--$14.6 million and 10 percent above 2009--in order to better secure the markets from improper speculation. Just yesterday the CFTC moved to stem heavy speculative trading in the oil, natural gas and energy markets. With this increased funding, the Commission will be better poised to ensure market integrity for all honest brokers. In closing, I look forward to working with all of you today as we work to craft responsible agriculture legislation that alleviates short-term suffering, encourages long-term growth, invests in our future and reflects our priorities as a Nation. Let me take a moment to say thank you to our staff who have worked diligently to help put this bill together. The subcommittee majority staff: Martha Foley, our clerk; Leslie Barrack; Matthew Smith; and Kerstin Millius have worked closely with David Gibbons on the minority staff. In addition, Brian Ronholm and Letty Mederos on my staff and Merritt Myers from Mr. Kingston's staff all have worked very, very hard to bring this bill to the floor this evening. I hope the Congress will seize this opportunity to help American farmers and families in these tough times and get us moving again on the path to recovery. I urge you to support this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Baca).

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2997.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. With the continued volatility in the futures markets, the bill provides the administration's request for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, $160.6 million, $14.6 million over 2009. Finally, the bill includes language which has been carried since fiscal year 2008 which prohibits the use of funds in the bill to establish or implement a rule allowing the importation of processed poultry products from China. When USDA determined that the Chinese food system was ``equivalent'' to ours, it used a flawed process in making that determination and placed trade considerations above public health. Recognizing that, as well as the many problems that have been identified with the Chinese food safety system, it is important that the language remain in the bill. In closing, I thank the Rules Committee for considering this important bill. I am proud of the work we have done. I urge my colleagues to support this rule.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and appreciate him yielding me this time. I want to say thank you to the ranking member of the subcommittee, Mr. Kingston, for his collaboration and input over the last few months. Our staffs have worked together effectively, and together we have crafted what I believe to be a very strong bipartisan bill. In addition, I think this Agriculture-FDA Appropriations bill is a smarter, better piece of legislation thanks to the hard work of both the subcommittee and the full committee. We have looked at many, many different amendments that have come up over the course of the process of writing the bill, and together we have honed it into some very effective and worthy legislation. We have had an open process throughout the subcommittee and committee markups. I believe this rule sets in motion what has been a fair process. I understand that close to 100 amendments were submitted to the committee. Clearly, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have had an opportunity to speak their minds on these issues and have their amendments considered and made in order. As it has in recent years, the bill focuses on several key areas, such as: protecting public health; bolstering food nutrition; investing in rural communities; supporting agricultural research; strengthening animal health and marketing programs; and conserving our natural resources. The bill provides for $22.9 billion in funding, an 11 percent increase over the 2009 levels, the vast majority of which went toward three program areas: the WIC program, FDA, and International Food Aid. Additionally, in order to make these important investments and use the resources available to it wisely, the bill proposes a number of cuts totaling more than $735 million. We protect the public health by providing a substantial increase for the Food and Drug Administration, almost $373 million, 15 percent above 2009, in an effort to hire additional inspectors and conduct more food and medical products inspection. In addition, the bill provides over $1 billion for the Food, Safety and Inspection Service at the USDA. Conservation. We know that conserving our natural resources, cleaner water, reduced soil erosion and more wildlife habitat is critical. The bill makes a significant investment in USDA's natural resource conservation programs by appropriating $980 million. The bill rejects the administration's cuts to the Natural Resources Conservation Service's farm bill conservation programs, including the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, and the Wildlife Incentives Program. In addition, the bill restores funding for other valuable programs, including the Resource Conservation and Development Program, and the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations Program as well. With regard to nutrition, to help those who are hit hardest by the economic crisis, the bill provides $681 million, a 10 percent increase for WIC, to serve our Nation's vulnerable populations and to support participation of 10.1 million people. The bill also includes record funding of $180 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, or CSFP, and expands assistance to six new States: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Delaware, Utah, New Jersey, and Georgia. International Food Aid. The bill expands America's traditional commitment to International Food Aid by providing an increase of $464 million, a 27 percent increase, to P.L. 480, the United States' primary International Food Aid program. We also provided an additional $99.5 million to the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, doubling that number from 2009. In terms of rural development, the bill creates opportunities for growth and development of the Nation's small town economies. It increases funding for water and wastewater infrastructure by $73 million. There is $8.7 billion for housing, $541 million for community facilities, and $9.3 billion for the rural utility programs. Increased funding for agriculture. There are significant investments in agriculture research: $1.2 billion for the Agricultural Research Service and $1.2 billion for the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. That funding increases the opportunity for key programs such as the Hatch Act, Evans-Allen, the new competitive Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, Smith Lever, the 1890 programs, and the Veterinary Medical Services Act.

Ms. DeLAURO

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

Ms. DeLAURO. Well, I was just saying that the process on the economic recovery package, the application process is underway. It began at the beginning of this month. That money is going out. The demand is up for broadband. Let's give rural America a fighting chance.

Ms. DeLAURO. I thank the gentleman. You know, I think this is truly about the economic revitalization of a part of the country that has been so sorely lacking, and the application process--

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, rural broadband connects people and communities, gives them access to information on everything from health and housing and education to public safety and economic development. It also gives people access to opportunity. As the Internet continues to grow and develop, and as it plays a larger and larger role in driving our 21st century economy, we simply cannot afford to let rural areas languish behind the rest of the country. An earlier generation of leaders used Federal investment to help wire rural areas for electricity. What we are trying to do is give citizens in rural areas the tools they need to compete and excel in this economy. By prohibiting funds from being used to administer or pay the salary of personnel who would administer USDA's broadband loans, the gentleman's amendment would gut this critical program at a time when we need to redouble our efforts in this area. Let's be clear. In proposing to stop the administration of loans, the gentleman is also asking Congress to stop critical oversight and monitoring of existing borrowers, functions that the government cannot afford to lose, especially if we are to ensure that taxpayers' dollars are well spent. No one can deny the need to expand access. The United States is currently 15th in the world in providing broadband service. Only 38 percent of those living in rural America now have broadband at home, compared to 55 percent of all adult Americans. In rural communities, 24 percent of dial-up users said broadband wasn't available where they lived, more than 7 times those in cities. This is not a partisan issue. There is unanimous support for increased broadband service to rural communities. Few people disagree. Expanding broadband is the type of Federal program that cannot only connect rural areas to the global community, but also generate great growth in rural America and pay very big dividends for our Nation. The bill makes important investments in rural broadband, provides $418 million for broadband loans and grants. It includes an appropriation of $81.6 million, an increase above $18 million of the amount available for 2009. It includes distance learning. The funding is there for distance learning and telemedicine grants, for broadband telecommunications loan subsidy. This is an investment that requires national leadership, which is why we included a significant amount in the recovery program. It was $2.5 billion to rural utility services and more than $7 billion in total. There is already a substantial demand for the funding. The funding increases in this legislation help to build on the investment that was made in the Recovery Act, and it will help us to realize a strong economic return. For every dollar invested in broadband, the economy sees a tenfold return on that investment. As the Farm Bureau noted regarding new investments in broadband, the $7.2 billion allocated for broadband will help rural communities participate in a recovering economy, while modernizing rural education and health care. It creates an economic opportunity for rural Americans, allows farmers and ranchers to take advantage of the technology to help them remain profitable and competitive. I do not think this is the time to be gutting this program, particularly given the delicate state of our economic recovery. We need to do everything we can right now to promote rather than stifle economic innovation in small towns. I urge my colleagues to oppose the Kingston amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.

Ms. DeLAURO. Very quickly, I just want to tell the gentleman from Georgia that I will join him in urging a ``no'' vote on this amendment.

Ms. DeLAURO. Will the gentleman yield?

Ms. DeLAURO. The funding, just to address that, enables those who have worked on the project to continue their successes. Look, I do not pretend to be a scientist, and I would not pretend to tell the scientists how to pursue their research. Quite frankly, coming from the subcommittee in which I serve on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, where we do provide funding for the National Institutes of Health, we do not--again, I'm not a scientist. We do not tell them how, where, and what to focus the resources on or a particular illness. As is often the case, research will uncover other discoveries. Look, I will give you a very good example. There is research that has been done with Taxol, which is at the NIH, which was presumed to be effective in helping women who were suffering fourth-stage ovarian cancer, which is a time when it is almost irreversible. But as researchers began to develop research on Taxol, they began to find that its properties were also useful for breast cancer and other types of cancers. So what research does is it opens up a whole variety of avenues, and that is where discoveries are made. I think we should leave these kinds of efforts to the scientists. This project is producing, and it will continue to produce with the aid of this funding, peer-reviewed research. My colleague and I believe this will be of great benefit. Once again, as I say, we have been very open. There has been a great deal of scrutiny that has gone into this process this year. There have been new requirements that Chairman Obey put into practice to continue our efforts to ensure that the appropriations process is open, that it is transparent, and that it is worthy of the public's trust. In terms of vetting each request with the agency under whose jurisdiction the earmark would fall, there has been public disclosure on Members' Web sites, and the committee made earmark lists available after the subcommittee consideration on the bill on June 11, nearly 4 weeks ago. And as indicated in our report, the funding earmarks in the Agriculture appropriations bill in 2008, 2009, were well below 2006.

Ms. DeLAURO. How much time remains, Mr. Chairman?

Ms. DeLAURO. Although the gentleman could not be here tonight, he has provided me with the following information: This amendment seeks to eliminate funding for a research project at the Environmental Management and Byproduct Utilization Laboratory at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. This amendment would deprive taxpayers of the expertise acquired by Federal researchers and scientists. I just want to reiterate here. These are Federal employees at a federally owned research center. The effort is to study the potential reuses of one industrial byproduct--sand used in metal casting. The experts have enabled us through research currently being reviewed by their peers to discover ways to deal with the over 7 million tons of foundry sands that are estimated to be disposed of in our landfills annually. I think we need to continue to use their expertise. There is considerable need for ongoing funding to study the beneficial uses of other industrial byproducts in agriculture. This includes discovering ways to prevent phosphorous from reaching our waterways, to improve soil characteristics and in sequestering carbon. The research also helps us to find ways to create new products from direct agricultural waste materials. Scientists, for example, as I understand this, have found a way to take carotene from chicken feathers, an example of a poultry byproduct to make high-quality biodegradable plastics for the horticultural industry. Finding these new uses not only would benefit American agricultural producers, it assists the American public and the environment by avoiding increasingly expensive options of sending these materials to a landfill. We need to allow these funds to be flexible as opposed to being directed at one specific material. For example, foundry sands. Since we cannot always be aware in advance of potential new beneficial uses of various industrially and agriculturally derived materials. I ask my colleagues to join me in opposing this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chair, I rise to claim time in opposition to this amendment.

Ms. DeLAURO. My colleague Mr. Ellsworth talked about this project and has defended it more than adequately. But considering the openness and the scrutiny that has gone into the process this year, I would urge my colleagues to defeat this amendment and continue the good efforts of the proposal that Mr. Ellsworth has made and the whole issue of specialty crops. I share that interest in specialty crops coming from the State of Connecticut where, in fact, that is what we do; and the importance of the research in that area is critical. Support his effort, and oppose the gentleman from California's amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. How much time do I have?

Ms. DeLAURO. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana. (Mr. ELLSWORTH asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)