Herb Kohl

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I have concerns about the way this amendment is worded. It may have serious consequences on disaster funding. I am prepared to have a voice vote on this issue.

Mr. KOHL. I accept a voice vote.

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, we yield back our time.

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I object.

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I object. We have a good number of amendments already pending, and we have a list of amendments already in order to be made pending. Until we are able to dispense or dispose of some of these pending amendments, I must object.

Mr. KOHL. I yield back our time.

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. KOHL. I object.

Mr. KOHL. I object to amendment No. 859 presented by my colleague from Ohio, the guardrail amendment. However, I wish to inform him that we are trying to work out our differences so we can move forward. For the moment I object to the amendment.

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I appreciate the amendment offered by Senator Collins. I understand her concerns about how proposed changes in nutrition standards may affect producers in her State. This issue does relate to child health, so we need to be careful what we do. I have been working with the Senator on this issue, and I think we have made good progress. I hope we will be able soon to have language where we can come to an agreement. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that at 4:35 p.m., the Senate proceed to votes in relation to the following amendments: Cornyn No. 775, as modified with the changes that are at the desk; and McCain No. 740; that the time until 4:35 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; that no amendments or points of order be in order prior to the votes other than budget points of order; and that there be 2 minutes equally divided between the two votes; further, after the votes in relation to those amendments, the following Senators be recognized to offer the amendments listed: Vitter No. 769, Collins No. 804, Sanders No. 816, and Landrieu No. 781.

Mr. KOHL. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask unanimous consent that the time in the quorum call be divided equally between both sides.

Mr. KOHL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. KOHL. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the Cornyn amendment.

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the four amendments listed in the previous order and the following amendments from Senator Coburn, No. 791 and No. 792, be the only amendments in order to be offered this evening.

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now recess until 2:15 p.m., as provided for under the previous order.

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I wish to recognize the 100th anniversary of Palmyra State Bank. I am honored to have the opportunity to celebrate this extraordinary milestone. The Bank of Palmyra, founded in 1893, was the first lending institution to be established in the town of Palmyra, followed soon after by the chartering of the Farmers State Bank in 1911. In 1931, following the turmoil of the Great Depression, the town's two banks merged to form the Palmyra State Bank. For over a century, Palmyra State Bank has dedicated itself to providing its customers with the highest quality banking services. As a locally owned institution, Palmyra State Bank has been a tremendous asset in helping promote economic growth throughout the community and the region. Even in the face of today's difficult economic times, Palmyra State Bank continues to flourish and has achieved a well-earned reputation for providing their customers with financial security and highly personalized service. As you know, I have long held both personal and professional admiration for independent banks that are focused on strengthening communities in both the best and worst economic times. For more than 100 years, Palmyra State Bank has done just that and embodied the importance of building strong local connections. It is for this commitment to providing every customer with the highest quality banking services, and for this bank's crucial role in community development, that I am proud to recognize 100 years of service that Palmyra State Bank has provided to the people of the State of Wisconsin.

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I am pleased today to support the 2012 Agriculture appropriations bill. This is a very austere measure. Almost every category of funding is lower than last year and much lower than the year before. Setting aside disaster and security items that we dealt with in debt limit negotiations, discretionary spending in this bill is $200 million below 2011. Compared to 2010, it is $3.2 billion lower. That is equal to a 15- percent reduction compared to 2010. In total, discretionary spending is $20.046 billion. That figure includes nearly $300 million in disaster for hurricanes, tornados, floods, droughts, and other natural disasters. All together, discretionary spending is nearly $2 billion below the President's request and is consistent with our 302(b) allocation. To achieve savings and develop a balanced bill, Senator Blunt and I had to set priorities. Among them was a goal to protect public health and safety, including food safety. We made sure these activities are protected. We provided more than $1 billion for the Food Safety and Inspection Service so they can maintain current levels of inspection for meat and poultry. The bill includes almost $2.2 billion for the FDA, which is an increase of $50 million. Most of this increase is for food safety, and FDA is the only agency or office funded by this bill at a higher level than last year. An equally high priority is protecting the most vulnerable Americans from hunger. The WIC Program, which historically accounts for more than one-third of all discretionary spending in this bill, is funded at almost $6.6 billion. According to USDA, this level will support current participation levels. We also protected other domestic feeding programs, including the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which is a lifeline for many elderly Americans. We believe it is especially important during these tough times to maintain nutrition program participation, and we have done so in this bill. Another priority worthy of protection is agricultural research. Without continued investment, food production in this country and around the globe will not be able to keep up with challenges posed by growing populations, climate change, invasive pests, and other threats. According to the Economic Research Service, global demand for food will grow 70 to 100 percent by 2050. To meet that demand, our production capacity will have to increase, and these increases will not happen without sustained emphasis on agricultural research. Senator Blunt and I have worked hard to protect these investments often at the expense of other USDA programs. One of the most important discussions in Congress today revolves around job creation. This bill includes more than $2 billion for rural development loans and grants. These programs help launch and grow small businesses. They help rural communities build water and sewer lines which, of course, are essential to economic development. They help improve small town fire stations and health care clinics. They support rural housing. These projects are important, and Senator Blunt and I have provided funding to help protect and create jobs in rural America. Two of our programs, PL-480 and the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program, fall within the security category of discretionary spending and play a very important role in fighting world hunger. Right now, the Horn of Africa is under a state of declared famine, and the lives of millions of men, women, and children are at grave risk. Food aid is all that stands between life and death for these people, and I am glad to report that we are able to provide a slight increase in PL-480 above last year. However, we must closely monitor events in Africa and elsewhere since the funding levels for these programs in this bill remain below the 2010 levels. This bill funds the priorities I have described above as well as conservation, marketing, trade, and many others important to the American people. In spite of the challenges we face, I believe Senator Blunt and I have provided the proper balance for the programs in this bill. I thank him for his help and his guidance. This is his first year as the ranking member of this subcommittee, and he has been very helpful. As I said at the outset, this bill is very austere. The choices we made were difficult, but I strongly believe they were the correct ones. I urge every Senator to support this bill. I hope we can conclude floor action in a timely manner so we can proceed to conference with the House and send the bill to the President. USDA and FDA are now operating on a continuing resolution. We need to provide them with final spending levels for this fiscal year as soon as we can. Procedurally, we will be considering two appropriations bills in addition to Agriculture: the Commerce-Justice-Science and the Transportation-HUD bills. Any Senator who has amendments to these bills should work with us to assure that the appropriate chairman and ranking member can be on the floor to respond to amendments that fall under their jurisdiction. The discretionary programs and activities of USDA and FDA that are supported by this bill include high priority responsibilities entrusted to the Federal Government and its partners to protect human health and safety, contribute to economic recovery, and achieve policy objectives strongly supported by the American people. The ability to provide for these measures is made difficult by growing pressure on available levels of discretionary spending as a consequence of the overall public debate on Federal spending, revenues, and size of the Federal debt. While clearly a part of this overall discussion, the committee notes that discretionary spending has not in recent years been a significant cause to the rising debt of the nation. In fact, since 2001, when the U.S. government had a budget surplus of $128 billion, the increase in non security domestic spending, when adjusted for inflation and population growth, has been zero. Too often, the USDA programs funded by this bill are confused with farm subsidies and other mandatory spending more properly associated with multi-year farm bills. In contrast, this bill provides annual funding for programs familiar to all Americans such as protecting food safety through the Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration, which also plays a vital role in maintaining the safety of the Nation's blood supply and availability of safe and effective medical drugs, biologics, and other components of our health system. This bill also provides funding to fight against the introduction and spread of noxious or infectious and often invasive pests and disease that threaten our plant and animal health environments, as well as funding for many other missions of dire importance to the American people. As our economy witnesses increasing shifts of manufacturing capacity, and associated jobs, to foreign shores, we must never lose sight that the one area of production which must be protected as inherently domestic is that of our food supply. That does not mean that certain foods need not appropriately rely on import and export markets, but it does mean that we must never surrender our ability to adequately and safely feed our own people. Without adequate levels of research, development, and regulatory resources, that threat of surrender will be ever present and our natural resource base will remain always at risk. Accordingly and in the context of overall pressures on spending and the competing priorities that the Committee faces, this bill as reported provides the proper amount of emphasis on agricultural, rural development, and other programs and activities funded by the bill. It is consistent with the subcommittee's allocation for fiscal year 2012. The bill provides appropriations to support personnel levels for every agency of the Department of Agriculture except for the Forest Service. The jurisdiction of USDA programs touches on subjects as far ranging as molecular science relating to an exotic plant disease to providing housing and nutrition assistance to elderly citizens. The men and women who carry out these programs are dedicated and play an important role in providing many of the most vital of services to the American people. In general, the funding for the salaries and expenses of these agencies has been reduced by 5 percent below last fiscal year. These reductions will require the Department to seek greater efficiencies in operations and to manage resources in a manner that will result in the mildest impact on program delivery and the personnel of USDA. In spite of an abundance of rhetoric denouncing the presence of government in our lives, it goes without saying that government plays a vital role in assuring the American people a strong sense of security which comes in many forms. One of the most important areas of security is the inherent ability to provide sufficient supplies of food and fiber. These supplies rely on continuing advances in science and, quite frankly, the importance of research in the areas of agricultural science will become a growing priority for us, and the world, in the decades immediately before us. As mentioned above, a recent report of USDA's Economic Research Service outlined the importance of sound investments in agricultural research and the grim prospects in the near future if we ignore the warning signs of combined population growth and declining production capacity. Highlights of that report state the following: By 2050, global agricultural demand is projected to grow by 70-100 percent due to population growth, energy demands, and higher incomes in developing countries. Meeting this demand from existing agricultural resources will require raising global agricultural total factor productivity, TFP, by a similar level. Maintaining the U.S. contribution to global food supply would also require a similar rise in U.S. agricultural TFP. Total factor productivity, TFP, the broadest measure of productivity. It compares the total output of a sector to the total land, labor, capital, and material inputs used to produce that output. Increases in TFP imply more output is forthcoming from a given level of inputs, or, equivalently, fewer inputs are required to produce the same output. Growth in TFP is considered to be an indicator of the rate of technical change in a sector. TFP growth in U.S. agriculture is predicated on long-term investments in public agricultural research and development, R&D. Productivity growth also springs from agricultural extension, farmer education, rural inrrastructure, private agricultural R&D, and technology transfers, but the force of these factors is compounded by public agricultural research. The rate of TFP growth, and therefore output growth, of U.S. agriculture has averaged about 1.5 percent annually over the past 50 years. Stagnant, inflation-adjusted, funding for public agricultural research since the 1980s may be causing agricultural growth to slow down, although statistical analyses of productivity growth trends are inconclusive. ERS simulations indicate that if U.S. public agricultural R&D spending remains constant, in nominal terms, until 2050, the annual rate of agricultural TFP growth will fall to under 0.75 percent and U.S. agricultural output will increase by only 40 percent by 2050. Under this scenario, raising output beyond this level would require bringing more land, labor, capital, materials, and other resources into production. Additional public agricultural R&D spending would raise U.S. agricultural productivity and output growth. Raising R&D spending by 3.73 percent annually, offsetting the historical rate of inflation in research costs, would increase U.S agricultural output by 73 percent by 2050. Raising R&D spending by 4.73 percent per year, 1-percent annual growth in inflation-adjusted spending, would increase output by 83 percent by 2050. For these reasons, Senator Blunt and I determined that funding for agricultural research remains a priority and we simply cannot take the risk of jeopardizing our agricultural production capacity. Today, we see visions of famine in the Horn of Africa. As hard as it is for us today to imagine famine ever touching this country, the sudden emergence of exotic plant or animal diseases coupled with dramatic shifts in weather patterns could disrupt our food production capacity in ways we would otherwise not imagine with repercussions that would sound throughout our economy.

Mr. KOHL. I send an amendment to the desk.

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. KOHL. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. KOHL

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following staff be granted the privileges of the floor during consideration of H.R. 2112: Galen Fountain, Jessica Frederick, Dianne Nellor, Stacy McBride, Phil Karsting, Chad Metzler, Michael Lavender, Aliza Fishbein, Brian Diffell, Zach Kinne, Kristina Weger; as well as Bob Ross and Mary Koskinen, detailees from the Department of Agriculture to the Committee on Appropriations.