Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2921) to establish a vegetation management pilot program on National Forest System land to better protect utility infrastructure from passing wildfire, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2921, the National Forest System Vegetation Management Pilot Program Act of 2017. This legislation authorizes the U.S. Forest Service to create a pilot program to assist in the management of our Federal forests to reduce wildfire risk and associated costs. These management pilot projects are approved by the Forest Service, but will be conducted and paid for by the private sector.

This collaborative approach will ensure a more stable power grid for Americans in rural areas. Deteriorating forest health is a problem felt across the United States, particularly in the West. This has resulted in increased fire threats to the electric transmission and associated utility infrastructures across the Forest Service land.

The Government Accountability Office has found that fuel reduction treatment projects reduce flammable vegetation, minimize the severity of wildland fires, create landscape resiliency to fire, and provide firefighter access during fire suppression activities.

Utility infrastructure destroyed by a fire or a fallen dead tree is costly to repair or replace, and outages can result in significant economic costs to businesses and homes.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation to allow utilities to collaborate with the Forest Service to keep the lights on in rural communities, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer).

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the passage of H.R. 2921, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2941) to provide for the conveyance of certain National Forest System land within Kisatchie National Forest in the State of Louisiana.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2941, the Kisatchie National Forest Land Conveyance Act.

This measure introduced by our colleague, Mr. Abraham, authorizes the USDA to sell specified Federal land in Winn Parish, Louisiana. The rural residential qualities of the land make it incompatible with National Forest management, and this transfer would eliminate unnecessary administrative and boundary maintenance costs on the already strained Forest Service.

The Kisatchie National Forest is rich in renewable wildlife resources, and supporting wilderness habitat is vital to their sustainability. This transfer, supported by the Forest Service, will allow the forest to be managed at the highest level of stewardship.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the passage of H.R. 2941. I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio for her support.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3567) to authorize the purchase of a small parcel of Natural Resources Conservation Service property in Riverside, California, by the Riverside Corona Resource Conservation District, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3567, to authorize the transfer of the title of land owned by the NRCS in Riverside, California, to the Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District. The conservation district has invested $2.8 million in the facility with the hope of eventually acquiring the property, and would like to invest in further improvements when the property title issue is resolved.

Conservation districts work closely with their Federal partner, the NRCS. This legislation is a simple fix to allow the Riverside-Corona district to utilize the facility and serve the local folks on the ground through voluntary, incentive-based conservation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for his remarks, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio for her support, and I urge all Members to support the passage of H.R. 3567.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2521) to amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to include South Carolina as a part of the Virginia/Carolina peanut producing region for purposes of appointment to the Peanut Standards Board.

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 the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2521, the South Carolina Peanut Parity Act of 2017.

This legislation would allow for a representative of the South Carolina peanut industry to be eligible for appointment to the Peanut Standards Board, which is tasked with the important role of establishing quality and handling standards for domestic and imported peanuts.

At the time the Peanut Standards Board was created, South Carolina was not a major peanut-producing State. However, now they are the fourth largest peanut-growing State and produce over 8 percent of U.S.- grown peanuts, and they deserve to have input into the establishment or alteration of industry standards. This bill would accomplish that by including South Carolina in the Virginia/Carolina peanut-producing region for the purpose of appointments to the Peanut Standards Board.

I want to thank Representative Wilson and the entire South Carolina delegation for their work on this legislation. This measure is broadly supported by the U.S. peanut industry and the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this commonsense legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Carolina for his leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman), a member of the State's delegation.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the gentleman from South Carolina for his comments. And to my friend, the gentlewoman from Ohio, if only the farm bill was this easy.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to honor the 20th Anniversary of Trey Stafford and Jim Frigo's Stafford and Frigo Radio Show on KDXY 104.9 The Fox in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

In 1971, Trey Stafford started his radio career at KPCA-AM in Marked Tree, Arkansas, and for the last 46 years he has dedicated his life to entertaining radio listeners exclusively in our home state.

Similarly, Jim Frigo started his own radio career in 1977 at KAWW-AM in Heber Springs, and this year marks his 40th year on the airwaves exclusively in Arkansas.

Back in 1997, KDXY radio station in Jonesboro changed its format to country music and became known in the community as 104.9 The Fox, and ever since the station has been a mainstay of northeast Arkansas radio.

On September 15, 1997, Trey Stafford and Jim Frigo teamed up with the late Mark Ford to form the Stafford, Frigo and Ford Radio Show on KDXY 104.9 The Fox. After Mark Ford's untimely death in November, 2004, Trey Stafford and Jim Frigo continued on with the show as Stafford and Frigo.

September 15, 2017 will mark 20 years that Trey Stafford and Jim Frigo have been on the same radio show continuously, now known as Stafford and Frigo.

In those 20 years, Stafford and Frigo has become the premiere talk show in Jonesboro, and for their commitment to each other, their city, and indeed our entire region, please join me in honoring their past two decades on the air.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life of a great man from my home state of Arkansas, Gene Sullivan. But I want to admit that I have struggled to come up with the right words because Gene had achieved excellence in areas that are difficult to describe adequately. First, Gene loved his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and was a shining light to all with whom he came into contact. There are countless stories of Gene, without seeking attention, taking time out of his busy schedule to visit those who had fallen ill, offering financial help to someone in need, or lending whatever type of helping hand that was needed.

The list of water resource projects that benefited from Gene's steady hand is far too long to list. However, just recognition was bestowed upon him last year when the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts inducted Gene into the Hall of Fame.

Finally, Gene was known for being an optimist. Keep in mind, Mr. Speaker, that this could be the single biggest understatement ever made before Congress. A mutual friend once commented that it would be hard to fathom a more tireless optimist. There is no doubt in my mind that Gene derived his indefatigable optimism from his personal relationship with, and faith in, Christ. If there is one thing in life about which I have no doubt, it is that when Gene arrived at the Pearly Gates of Heaven, he was greeted with, ``Well done, good and faithful servant.''

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to Mr. Babin's amendment, which delays FMCSA's electronic logging device rulemaking. While well intentioned, this delay will endanger public safety by giving commercial vehicle operators the ability to exceed the Federal hours of service limits.

In 2012, Congress passed the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, or MAP-21, which instructed the FMCSA to issue a rulemaking requiring the use of ELDs in commercial vehicles. Congress again reaffirmed the ELD requirement in the FAST Act and fiscal year 2016 appropriations. The American Trucking Association was in lockstep with Congress at each instance, and thousands of fleet owners across the country have taken steps to adopt this technology and train their drivers as Congress intended.

After 5 years, FMCSA has completed this rulemaking, and has done so in the proper way: by conferring with industry and Congress and holding public meetings in advance of implementation.

I can appreciate that my friends in agriculture industry--some of my closest friends--I serve on the Agriculture Committee, as well as the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee--would like to see a delay of the ELD rule. Instead of this amendment being a catch-all delay, perhaps my friend could have structured a more precise exemption for those in niche segments of transportation, like agriculture. That is a policy many would have considered supporting, including myself.

In closing, Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to oppose this well-intentioned amendment--a policy that secured nearly unanimous support in our conference when it was enacted--and work with an administration that understands smart, consumer safety-minded regulations like this.

We can work with the President, Secretary Chao, and others at FMCSA to address some of the concerns my friend from Texas has without undoing the progress that has been made to ensure our highways are safer with ELDs.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Edna Bernice Harvey Turman, who is celebrating her 100th birthday on August 15 of this year.

Edna was born in 1917 and grew up just south of my own hometown, Jonesboro, in a community called Apt with her mother and father, Bill and Molly Harvey.

She began working at Harvey's grocery store, and afterwards she met a man named Raymond Turman. The pair married in 1936 and farmed and raised cattle together.

During World War II, Edna and Raymond farmed for the government and sold soybeans, cotton, creamed milk, and formed butter.

Edna and Raymond had five children: Mary, Barbara, Billy Ray, Garry, and Ronnie. Edna also has 9 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and 8 great-great-grandchildren.

An active member of her community and county, Edna is very passionate about her church, was a member of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, and even helped run the voting location in south Craighead County for several years.

Today, besides being a happy grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, Edna still lives on the old homestead and works in her yard. Edna truly is a member of the greatest generation of Americans by which all the following generations are measured, and whether we realize it or not, it was people like Edna who built our communities and continue to shape the America we live in today. I hope you will join me in wishing her a happy 100th birthday.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a police officer from my district who lost his life in the line of duty just this week.

Lieutenant Patrick Weatherford was a 15-year veteran of the Newport police force in the criminal investigations division. He graduated from Arkansas State University-Newport, and University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Lieutenant Weatherford, 41, was the husband to Kristen Weatherford and a loving father to his daughter and young son.

At 6 p.m. on Monday, June 12, 2017, Weatherford responded to reports of a vehicle break-in. In pursuit of the suspect on foot, Lieutenant Weatherford was shot and taken to a local hospital where, shortly after, he succumbed to his wounds.

While I did not know Weatherford personally, what I do know is that he was deeply loved by his community of Newport. The police chief, Michael Scudder, described Weatherford as a very good friend and an excellent officer who wanted to make things better for Newport. Others remember him as a mentor and a fair, calming presence on the force at times when things can get tense.

Weatherford had graduated from Newport High School and dedicated his life to learning how to serve the community he loved better and better. Last year, Patrick had graduated from the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. That same year, Weatherford was named the Jackson County Officer of the Year by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.

Weatherford's passing should be a reminder of what we ask of our police officers and first responders every day, year in and year out. The work they do is so often underappreciated, and yet their dedication and discipline allows all of us to live in peace and safety.

My thoughts continue to be with Lieutenant Weatherford's family, their police department, and the community of Newport. What our fellow men and women risk to protect us every day should humble us all.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in memory of Staff Sergeant Robert Dale Van Fossen of the Army National Guard and celebrate his return home after more than half a century.

In November 1952, Staff Sergeant Van Fossen boarded an aircraft and took off from McChord Air Base in Tacoma, Washington, to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. In midflight, the plane disappeared in bad weather near Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska. Although some wreckage was found, no remains were recovered, and the Department of Defense notified the victims' families that they would have no remains to bury.

Van Fossen's parents held a memorial service for their son in Greenbrier at the Macedonia Baptist Church. Though all hope seemed lost, the Van Fossen family kept trying to solve the mystery.

For many years, they made efforts to learn about the crash. His sister Wilma Jean shared stories about it with her son Kevin Caid, and Kevin Caid began to seek as much information as he could regarding his late uncle.

In June 2012, on a training mission, a Black Hawk Army National Guard unit discovered the wreckage only 12 miles away from the original crash site of the C-124. After closer inspection of the spot, it was determined it was indeed the missing plane from 1952.

Finally, in March 2016, Staff Sergeant Robert Dale Van Fossen's remains were confirmed found in Alaska. Along with the news of his remains being found, the family was informed that he would be returning home.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say that Staff Sergeant Robert Dale Van Fossen finally returned home last month and is now at last buried next to his sister Wilma Jean Caid at the Cleburne County Memorial Gardens.

Mr. Chairman, 5 years of bipartisan committee work has contributed to the drafting of H.R. 238, the Commodity End-User Relief Act. It is time we passed it for the sake of businesses across the United States who need greater certainty in managing their risk.

In advance of writing this legislation to reauthorize the CFTC, the House Committee on Agriculture held 22 hearings on the future of the Commission and the state of the derivatives industry. I mention the number 22 to highlight how extensive the data collection and deliberation has been.

To make this reauthorization as complete and thorough as possible, those 22 hearings collected feedback and testimony from every segment of the futures and swaps markets, from end users to regulators. We have used the testimony to draft legislation that will make derivatives markets work better for those who need them most: businesses trying to manage their risk.

But not only is this reauthorization language exhaustively researched, it has also already been approved by this Chamber multiple times, starting in the 113th Congress.

In the 113th Congress, the Committee completed H.R. 4413, which passed the House with strong bipartisan support. In the 114th Congress, we put forward the Commodity End-User Relief Act of 2015, which was very similar to H.R. 4413, and also passed the House with support from both parties. Now, not only is H.R. 238 virtually identical to the reauthorization bill, which passed the House last Congress, H.R. 238 also includes the amendments that were adopted on the House floor during debate.

I will turn my focus toward the people that this tested and proven language will help, largely end users. Although end users are not investors, speculators, or risk takers, they have borne the brunt of many of the consequences of new regulations.

Derivatives are used by a huge swath of businesses for risk management purposes, including manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, and other businesses that buy or sell products overseas, pension funds, insurance companies, and others who face risks that the prices for their business inputs and outputs frequently fluctuate.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this long overdue legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of my friend Eric Grant, an extension agent for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture who will retire this week after 28 years of service to agriculture in my home county, Craighead County.

For nearly three decades, Mr. Grant has faithfully dedicated himself to all aspects of agriculture, including row crops, livestock, horticulture, family and consumer sciences, and 4-H. While Mr. Grant has rightfully earned a reputation throughout northeast Arkansas for knowing his trade, he has done so while cultivating meaningful and lasting relationships as well. Our region's agricultural producers and families have not only contacted him seeking information from a trusted adviser, they have also reached out to him as friends.

I can speak from experience about how Mr. Grant has helped me throughout the years, whether it involved my service as a TV news reporter, a farm broadcaster on the radio, or a legislator in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As Mr. Grant prepares to retire on Thursday, I wish him many days that reflect his outstanding service to Craighead County agriculture. Mr. Speaker, please join me and all of northeast Arkansas in honoring the service of Eric Grant and wishing him a happy retirement.

I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick) for his leadership on this.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 37 and would particularly like to comment on title V. In order to provide market transparency, the Dodd-Frank law requires post-trade reporting to Swap Data Repositories, or SDRs, as they are called, so that regulators and market participants have access to realtime market data that help identify systemic risk in the financial system. So far, we have made great strides in reaching this goal, but unfortunately, a provision in the law threatens to undermine our progress unless we fix it.

Currently, Dodd-Frank includes a provision requiring a foreign regulator to indemnify a U.S.-based SDR for any expenses arising from litigation relating to a request for market data. Unlike the rest of the world, though, the concept of indemnification is only established within U.S. tort law. As a result, foreign regulators have been reluctant to comply with this provision, and international regulatory coordination is being thwarted.

While the intent of the provision was to protect market confidentiality, in practice, it threatens to fragment global data on swap markets. Without effective coordination between international regulators and SDRs, monitoring and mitigating global systemic risk is severely limited.

H.R. 37 fixes this problem by removing the indemnification provisions in Dodd-Frank. This has broad bipartisan support, and a separate bill to do this was unanimously approved last year by the House Ag Committee and the House Financial Services Committee. Additionally, last year, the SEC testified to the Financial Services Committee that a legislative solution was needed, saying: ``In removing the indemnification requirement, Congress would assist the SEC, as well as other regulators, in securing the access it needs to data held in global trade repositories.''

If left unresolved, the indemnification provision in Dodd-Frank has the potential to effectively reduce transparency and undo the great progress already being made through the cooperative efforts of more than 50 regulators worldwide. In passing this legislation, we will ensure that regulators will have access to a global set of swap market data, which is essential to maintaining the highest degree of market transparency and risk mitigation. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight one of my favorite months of the year, initiated in 1991 by Congress. September is known as National Rice Month.

With its healthy attributes, it should be no surprise that the typical American will consume, on average, 25 pounds of rice this year.

Mr. Speaker, I represent the largest rice-producing district in all of America, and I also am cochairman of the Congressional Rice Caucus. I have seen firsthand for several years the hard work that producers in the First District of Arkansas put into making a crop year after year that feeds not only us here at home, but also feeds countless others across the world.

So, as we stop and consider all the products here at home we have come to enjoy that include rice, let us also remember that our rice producers will export over 2 million metric tons of rice to markets all over the world this year. Our rice producers are feeding us here at home, Mr. Speaker, and they are also feeding the world.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3044) to approve the transfer of Yellow Creek Port properties in Iuka, Mississippi.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 3044.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the Tennessee Valley Authority was created by Congress in 1933 to provide wholesale electric power and create economic development opportunities for those States in the Tennessee Valley region.

The State of Mississippi initiated development of Yellow Creek Port in 1971 on 116 acres purchased from the TVA. Industrial growth, high- paying jobs, associated spinoff companies, and increased traffic on the Nation's inland waterway system have occurred because of the development of Yellow Creek Port.

I would like to thank Congressman Alan Nunnelee for introducing H.R. 3044, legislation that will convey land from TVA to the State of Mississippi to provide economic development opportunities in the region. Nunnelee has been a leader on these types of activities since he was elected to Congress in 2010.

The land being conveyed through this legislation will be used solely for industrial purposes and allow the State of Mississippi to expand the Yellow Creek Port to meet increasing demand.

H.R. 3044 will execute the conveyance of the remaining 173 acres of property from TVA to the State of Mississippi to complete the development of Yellow Creek Port and fulfill one of TVA's missions of ensuring economic development opportunities in the TVA service area.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support H.R. 3044, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Maryland for her support. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.