David Scott

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in strong opposition to the farm bill rule and the underlying bill because it takes food and nutrition from working families.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, will not this day go down as one of the most shameful days in American history?

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Thank you very much, Chairman Peterson. Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen of the House, what we have here is not a farm bill. You tell me how in the world we can have a farm bill and separate food and nutrition out from it. The American people don't get that. When you think of farms and you think of agriculture, do you mean to tell me it isn't about food? Here we have made this critical, terrible mistake of divorcing, of segregating, of separating the most basic essential of farm policy, which is to produce the food and the nutrition for the people of America. This isn't just about food stamps, although we are here because the Republican Party, my friends--and I have many over there-- have been hijacked to turn a bipartisan effort to deal with the complexity, the vulgarity, where 38 States in this Nation their primary part of their economy is agriculture, is business. My members on the Agriculture Committee, we have a broad mandate. We should be the most powerful committee up here. We not only deal with food, we not only deal with agriculture, we deal with fuel going our way up to energy independence. We are dealing with the heavy finance of $600 trillion in derivatives. But this makes us look small. To bring a bill and call it a farm bill and it has nothing to do with food--and it's so hypocritical, my friends. You've seen the news reports. The American people have seen the news reports, where we have Members who are accepting millions of dollars in subsidies and will be voting against poor people who need the food to eat.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me just correct one thing. The Goodlatte-Scott amendment has a very robust safety net program in it. As a matter of fact, it's the same safety net program that is in the bill itself. Let me make one other point right quick, Mr. Chairman. With the recent study by Professor Scott Brown, the University of Missouri put in a study that showed if this plan in this bill, this management supply bill, goes into effect, in the first month alone, school lunch program costs will go up $14 million, and the price of a gallon of milk will go up 32 cents. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DeGette).

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. I now yield 1 minute to the distinguished lady from Florida, Ms. Corrine Brown.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, this is one of the most terrible amendments that has ever been brought before this House of Representatives. It goes against the very grain of what America is about. I don't care if you're rich. I don't care if you're poor. I don't care if you're in the service. I don't care if you have to have SNAP. You are an American. And Americans today if they're tired of one thing, they're tired of the government prying into their lives under surveillance that's happening right now on the 6 o'clock news, in our major papers. The one thing is the mistrust of a government- surveillance program. This has everything to do with surveillance. That's exactly what it is. It's a food surveillance program from my good friend, Mr. Tom Marino. What this will do--you tell me if it isn't--it will require retail food stores to monitor, to put in a surveillance system, to collect and report back to the Secretary of Agriculture detailed information that identifies what food items, what type, what size of purchase by those who are on SNAP. This isn't about SNAP. You've gone into the grocery stores. Everybody goes into that grocery store as an American to purchase, to buy the food, the basic things that he needs to survive. You can't put surveillance on the SNAP person without putting surveillance on every American that goes into that store. How asinine such an amendment this is in this eagerness of this declaring of war on SNAP recipients. We are declaring a war on the soul of America itself. And I don't care if you're liberal; I don't care if you're moderate or you are conservative. Every American ought to be concerned about this. You're not going to be able to put a surveillance program over what the SNAP folks get without putting a surveillance program over all Americans. Just think about how big our system is, and the statistics bear it out. Right now, there are 460,000 different items on the market shelves. There are 15,000 new ones going on every year. What's going to happen there? And for the consumers, there's going to be a cost. Yes, there's going to be a cost. These retailers don't go and print money and make it. Do you know who is going to pay for the cost of this surveillance program that is unneeded? It's going to be the customers. And so, ladies and gentlemen, and with all due respect to the gentleman, let us ease this war against the poorest who are among us. I remind everybody every day that the fastest growing group of recipients who are receiving benefits from food stamps are our veterans, the very ones who've gone and put their lives on the line, who come back maimed, that have to depend on food stamps, who went and fought overseas so we could be free from surveillance, and here's an amendment that wants to put surveillance on them. Let's look at this and see it for what it is. It is an awful surveillance program. And I have respect for the gentleman, but this amendment is totally misguided and does great damage to the heart and the soul of this Nation, because you cannot discriminate going into those grocery stores against the poor recipient of SNAP without discriminating and taking away the freedoms of every single American. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Chairman, I rise to claim time in opposition.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Chairman, I yield myself 2 minutes. First of all, this is, a very dangerous, dangerous amendment. I am a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. I am also the vice chairman of the Science and Technology Committee of NATO. I have been a member of NATO for 11 years. That means I get to travel across the world two or three times each year into this region. I can tell you firsthand that this is a dangerous amendment, it is very dangerous at this time. Now, you have mentioned about some of our NATO colleagues. And yes, we are having a challenge. Each nation is going through economic challenges. But let me tell you, they are increasing their input and their financial resources each year. One thing is for certain: the wrong message that we should send to them now and to encourage them to contribute more is for us to cut and run and contribute less, and that's exactly what this amendment that you are offering will do. The other point as to why it is dangerous is that we would sit here in Congress and force the hand of President Obama--or, for that matter, of any President or future President--to publicly state that he is going to remove a contingent of a brigade like the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Vilseck, Germany, and then return that brigade to the United States and not put anything in its place. Europe and the Mediterranean and the Middle East--there is no more volatile, unpredictable place on this planet. At the same time, there is no place on this planet that we have the strength of alliances as we have here. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield 10 seconds?

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Even today, yes, you are absolutely right; but what did they do in Europe when we asked them to stand with us in Afghanistan? They stood with us. What did they do when we asked in Iraq? All I am simply saying is that we have an obligation today and in the future.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. I yield 2 minutes to my dear friend, the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Mike Turner.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Chair, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. I would like to say this very quickly. How things have changed. Messages that go out from this floor go out around the world. As we speak, just at our most recent NATO meeting, we were able to get 27 nations out of the 28 nations of NATO to pass a resolution supporting the United States' and Israel's position against Iran's acquiring a nuclear bomb. That's how relevant we are today. With that, Madam Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Bridenstine).

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to yield 10 minutes of my time to Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, who's done a tremendous job on this issue, and that she be allowed to control that time.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 742, the Swap Data Repository and Clearinghouse Indemnification Correction Act, which has been sponsored by my colleague and good friend Representative Crawford from Arkansas, and it's been a pleasure to work with him on this. I would like to strongly urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill. H.R. 742 is noncontroversial and it is highly bipartisan, shared by both Democrats and Republicans alike. It passed the Agriculture Committee by voice vote unanimously, and it passed the Financial Services Committee by a unanimous vote as well, 52-0. Madam Speaker, Dodd-Frank ushered in a new era of financial marketing, reporting and transparency requirements--which was very much needed--in order to aid regulators by providing insight into what were once very opaque markets and to facilitate information-sharing between and among United States and international regulators. These were very laudable and necessary changes that were welcome by regulators and market participants alike. Dodd-Frank also included a provision requiring that in order for the gathered action information to be shared, the SEC and the CFTC, or a swap data repository, be indemnified against accidental release or misuse of information. Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, this indemnification provision is having an unintended consequence, an unintended effect of preventing data collection and information-sharing, particularly when international transactions and international regulators are involved, because indemnification is a legal concept unique only to the United States. H.R. 742 would very simply remove this indemnification requirement, as requested by United States, foreign regulators and swap data repositories, so that we can realize the level of global information-sharing that is so critical to monitoring systemic risk. Madam Speaker, as I said, I strongly support this very simple but necessary bill that will help to facilitate greater information- sharing, as intended by Dodd-Frank, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, as I have no additional speakers, I would like to close by simply saying a great thanks for the work of Mr. Crawford from Arkansas, Ms. Moore from Wisconsin, Ms. Sewell from Alabama, and Mrs. Maloney from New York in this great show of bipartisanship that will help us to facilitate greater information sharing, which was intended by Dodd-Frank. I urge passage on this much-needed legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today to offer my full support for H.R. 1038, the Public Power Risk Management Act, which is sponsored by my colleague from California (Mr. LaMalfa). And I'd like to commend Mr. LaMalfa for his outstanding leadership because, as he pointed out, this is another one of those unintended consequences that we're here to fix. H.R. 1038 is a noncontroversial bill. It passed the House Committee on Agriculture by a voice vote. And H.R. 1038 seeks to correct an oversight in Dodd-Frank that has hindered the ability of publicly owned utilities to offset their risk in the traditional fashion. Put simply, H.R. 1038 would simply allow producers, utility companies, and other nonfinancial entities to continue entering into energy swaps with government-owned utilities without danger of being required to register with the CFTC as a swap dealer. What this will do is it will allow these publicly owned utilities to continue using their traditional swap counterparties to help manage their risk related to the generation of electricity and the production of natural gas. This is very important, Madam Speaker, because, if the law remains as it is without this bill, the ability of utilities to manage risk would be hindered by increased costs and could lead to higher energy rates for millions of Americans. We certainly do not want this to happen. This is something we want to avoid, especially during our still fragile economic recovery. So, Madam Speaker, I support this technical correction to Dodd-Frank, and I urge my colleagues to support it as well. I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. LaMALFA Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Crawford).

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. I have no other speakers, Madam Speaker, so I would like to close by saying that Mr. Costa, our distinguished Congressman from California, expresses his deep concern and support for this legislation, and I certainly wanted to register that on his behalf. And certainly to Mr. LaMalfa and to Mr. Crawford, I again commend you for your outstanding work on this. Wherever we can cut costs and save money for the American people, we need to do it and do it quickly. Therefore, I urge very quick passage of this very important and timely piece of legislation. I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. LaMALFA Madam Speaker, I appreciate again how we have been able to come together in such a good bipartisan fashion. I greatly appreciate my colleague from Georgia's kind and helpful words in moving this legislation today on the floor. In closing, again, H.R. 1038 seeks to keep electricity and natural gas bills affordable for over 47 million Americans. Our publicly owned utilities should have access to the risk management tools that they need to keep costs down, a goal we all share, and which prevents utility rates from rising. I ask my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.