Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, this is an amendment that has to do with crop insurance. As we all know last year in the ag appropriations bill there was an amendment in that that prohibited funding to do audits of companies that offer the premium reduction program. And that language, which I will read, says: ``This amendment would provide time for an independent analysis of the program and the regulatory resources required by USDA to satisfy the statutory requirements. It would give the authorizing committees time to evaluate the premium discounting program and make proper adjustments in the law before it has expanded.''

Folks, here we are again. We have a prohibition extending another year in this bill as far as funding. And what this does is stop companies from offering a reduced premium on their crop insurance to farmers.

I understand that there are folks who do not like this program. There have been concerns raised about the way it has been implemented, about practices that some companies have maybe used in selling the product.

In the bill last year when we put the prohibition or the limitation of funding in, that was to give USDA and the authorizing committee time to evaluate it. We have written to USDA. They have responded that they cannot find any problems with the program, and that is their position. There were concerns earlier and those concerns have been met.

In the limitation last year, the authorizing committee was asked to make recommendations to change the program if there were problems. That has not happened.

Mr. Chairman, I am a former insurance agent. I used to sell crop insurance. There is no industry that I like or love any more than this industry. And so it is very difficult for me to look at this and be totally objective. But I honestly believe that this Congress has got to look at the benefit of the producers. I will not in any way, shape or form harm the crop insurance industry. That is the last thing that we can do here because this is a way of farmers managing their risk that they have on their farms, and we have got to make sure that they have those policies available for them to cover their losses.

Having said that, the authorizing committee has not given a recommendation. I think that we have to look at what the authorizing committee on the House side and the other body have to say on this. We will have an opportunity in conference to takes this issue on; and if I could engage the chairman, Mr. Chairman, I would offer to at this time withdraw this amendment if, in fact, I could get your commitment that we would, in fact, in a realistic basis address this issue to make sure that we do the right thing for our producers.

Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman.

I thank the gentleman very much. It would be my hope and ambition at this point to bring all the parties together, to finally bring some type of resolution to it, to have a fair and honest discussion with no personal attacks, things like that, that unfortunately we have seen throughout some of this debate on the issue.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I think it is fascinating the way this amendment reads. None of the funds made available in this act may be used to fund dairy education in Iowa. Now, I don't know whether that means, apparently, it is okay to educate people about dairy in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Arizona; I think we should. I don't know what you have necessarily against dairymen in Iowa.

Mr. Chairman, the funds contained in the bill for the northeast Iowa dairy education project are extremely important to Iowa's dairy industry because they help foster and enhance the development of new dairy-producing operations and mostly among young dairy farmers.

Throughout the northeast region in my district, I hear about the continuing success of this program and how the program has made meaningful differences to the small dairy producers in this part of the State. If one is a small dairy producer, of which there are many in the State, continuing education is very important. The education project aids the retention and growth of existing dairy farms and responds to challenges to dairy farmers.

This project is also important to necessary research, and it is coordinated with Iowa State University, also the National Animal Disease Center; it coordinates with this project. And it really is something that goes to not only diseases but state-of-the-art production and environmental management techniques. I should also note that the funding for this project leverages $9 million, or has in the past, $9 million of non-Federal funding. So it is not like the people, the farmers up there, the producers themselves, have not put their dollars in with this project.

It is extremely important, and I would certainly ask people to vote against this amendment.

Offered By: Mr. Latham

Amendment No. 16: Strike section 741 (page 78, lines 8

through 17), and insert the following new section:

Sec. 741. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made

available by this Act shall be used to pay salaries and

expenses of personnel who implement or administer section

508(e)(3) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C.

1508(e)(3)) or any regulation, bulletin, policy, or agency

guidance issued pursuant to such section for the 2007 and the

2008 reinsurance years, except that funds are available to

administer such section for policies for those producers who,

before the date of the enactment of this Act, had in effect a

crop year 2006 crop insurance policy from a company eligible

for the opportunity to offer a premium reduction under such

section for the 2006 reinsurance year.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5122. I would first like to thank the Chairman for including an important provision helping to provide access to health care for our Guard and Reserve members. This provision will, for the first time, allow all drilling Guard and Reserve members to purchase health coverage through TRICARE, the military's health care system. The provision will treat all of our citizen-soldiers equally, regardless of whether or not they were previously deployed.

This is an issue dear to my heart. Over a year ago, I introduced legislation in the House that provided the basis for the provision we find in the bill today. During my visits to Iraq, I had the opportunity to visit with U.S. soldiers serving there, including many Iowans. When I asked what I could do to help them, the overwhelming response I received was, `Don't worry about us, but please do something to help our families at home, who are dealing with the fact that we are separated from them every day.' In my conversations with these soldiers and my constituents in Iowa, it became clear that our Guard and Reserve soldiers wanted--and needed--access to better health care for them and their families.

We know that today, 40 percent of our enlisted Guard and Reserve soldiers and their families are uninsured. For soldiers who are deployed, family members receive temporary coverage under TRICARE. This coverage ends some time after they return, depending on the length of the deployment. Families that had health coverage prior to a deployment may be subject to waiting periods or exclusions for preexisting conditions when they try to return to civilian coverage. They are burdened with switching between TRICARE and private insurance, along with different hospital and physician networks.

This is an unacceptable situation for our Guard and Reserve soldiers, who are almost certain to be sent to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, if they have not done so already. Guard and Reserve soldiers currently make up almost half of our forces serving in those locations. Yet they cannot purchase the same health coverage that full time soldiers access for free. The Federal Employees Benefit Program (FEHBP) covers part time civilian Federal employees if they agree to pay increased premiums. At a minimum we owe our citizen-soldiers the same access to health care with a cost sharing arrangement.

Clearly the role of our Guard and Reserve forces has been transformed to play a central part in providing for the national defense. The greater requirements for sacrifice and service placed on the Guard and Reserve must be matched with greater commitment to them on our part.

We owe it to our citizen-soldiers to provide them with access to affordable health care. Providing TRICARE access during all phases of service will provide an important tool to bolster recruitment, retention, family morale and overall readiness for the Guard and Reserve.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 92. I was inadvertently detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I offer a resolution (H. Res. 754) and I ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Norman Borlaug is an American superhero that few people have ever heard of.

Dr. Borlaug's campaign to save the lives of the world's neediest people through agricultural science deserves special recognition.

How many lives has he saved? Dr. Borlaug's innovative leadership in plant breeding and agricultural production is credited with saving the lives of nearly 1 billion people from starvation. That is right: one billion souls.

In 1994 he was given the task of researching high-yield and disease- resistant cereal grains. Through trial and error, Dr. Borlaug's successful efforts led to the development of varieties of wheat that completely altered production agriculture as it was known then in places like Pakistan and India and Mexico.

The dwarf wheat variety he developed allowed farmers to produce far more grain per acre than anyone could have predicted. This newfound bounty gave the world's poorest people access to food, ensuring that children, who would have been victims of malnutrition, could thrive. His landmark discoveries in agriculture led to what is called today the ``Green Revolution.''

Dr. Borlaug is a legendary figure within the agricultural community, and his name is held in high regard around the world. However, this Cresco, Iowa, native is a very modest man who once said that his accomplishments were ``a temporary success in man's war against hunger and deprivation.''

Almost 40 years since receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, he continues at age 92 to work for improvement of mankind.

For this reason I introduced H.R. 4924, which is a bill to award Dr. Norman Borlaug the Congressional Gold Medal for his lifetime of service to the world.

Dr. Borlaug's leadership has inspired so many of our best and brightest students to pursue careers in agricultural sciences. His work and the work of future innovators will live on in the lives of those who have been spared the misery of starvation.

I ask my colleagues to consider adding their names to H.R. 4924 so that we can officially recognize this great humanitarian.

Mr. Speaker, I move a call of the House.

A call of the House was ordered.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and I rise in support of the conference report.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman very much for yielding me this time.

I just want to take a minute to thank the chairman for doing such an unbelievably great job through a very difficult year with the allocations; and the ranking member, who has worked so hard on this bill and is a very good friend; and certainly and most importantly, the staff who have done just a fabulous job of putting together this most difficult bill.

Obviously, there are a lot of things we need to do in agriculture with the FDA throughout this entire bill.

I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, one very important priority is the completion of the animal health facility at Ames, Iowa, and this $58.8 million will complete that $462 million project. And it is so important for human health, animal health, food safety.

I just want to thank the committee chairman and the ranking member for their support.

I rise in support of this conference report, and encourage the members of the House to do the same, as this is a well-balanced measure. In a climate of tight allocations, the chairman has done an outstanding job of ensuring that sufficient resources are available for the broad range of programs that are funded under this bill.

Congresswoman DeLauro has proved to be an excellent ranking member. And, I want to commend the committee staffs on both sides; once again, they have done a fine job under difficult circumstances.

Like many Members from rural America, I wish we could have applied higher funding levels in this bill. However, given our budget constraints, I am generally pleased with the funding levels provided.

This year, the other body finally saw the light and agreed to final funding for the National Animal Disease Center Modernization Project.

This funding will give the Department of Agriculture a world-class facility, with a broad range of animal disease research capabilities.

For renewable energy--another important sector to our part of the country and to the agriculture economy--the bill provides 23 million dollars.

This program provides small grants that help farmers and small businesses make energy efficiency improvements--ultimately helping farmers hurt by high fuel prices.

The measure funds important agriculture research, for both crops and livestock. Like many of my colleagues we must renew our commitment to agriculture research which holds great promise for the future of American agriculture.

Over the years, we have made great strides through research, in areas such as disease prevention, food safety, crop yields and animal health.

For example, there is again research funding for soybean rust including new treatments for emerging soybean diseases that threaten the economies of our rural communities.

Another important element of the bill is funding under the Hatch Act. These funds sustain critical research at our land grant universities. Without Hatch Act funding we would severely limit the ongoing progress being made by some our Nation's most talented scientists and educators.

In summary I have noted just a few of the important parts of this FY 06 Agriculture Appropriations Conference Report.

This was a difficult process but we have a good bill that protects our food supply, safeguards the environment and ensures our country continues to benefit from the safest and most reliable pharmaceutical and medical devices in the world.

Again, I urge the members to support this conference report.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this conference agreement and urge my colleagues to all do the same. I want to commend the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Sabo), and the great subcommittee staff for their hard work in putting this bill together.

The process of structuring an appropriations bill addressing the operational needs of 22 agencies under the Homeland Security Department has, once again, been very difficult, difficult in part because we are funding a mission that has many dimensions and for which there are few absolutes.

As I participated in this process, I have come to the conclusion that our approach to funding homeland security has been measured and judicious. We have had to make difficult choices. Most importantly, we continue to benefit from the ideas and knowledge of State and local officials from our districts all around the country. That collective wisdom serves us well.

Because of this cooperation, we are beginning to see some of the improvement in the funding processes for first responders. In Iowa, we are working to protect the agriculture community through planning and training, and in fact thousands of people have been trained in our community colleges through federally funded assistance. Iowa and other Midwestern States are doing what is necessary to protect our communities from man-made and natural disasters.

Of course, obstacles remain for our security systems. We have demanded much from our States, and the Federal Government must remain a working partner by providing appropriate funding. We must continue to work closely with local and State officials because they are the people we will look to when disaster occurs.

I am especially pleased in this bill that we have increased the number of border patrol agents by 2,000 and provide more beds to house the people who are coming across the border illegally until we can send them back to their country.

Again, I commend the chairman and the ranking member and urge all Members to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, let me just say, if Members like the response to Hurricane Katrina and Rita, they are going to love this motion to instruct.

The plan that is being proposed was thought of long before the hurricanes struck. It is a plan that recognizes exactly the problems that we have seen in our response to the hurricanes: The fact that there is not a coordinated plan, a preparation in place to respond to these types of disasters, whether they be man-made or natural disasters. This plan was thought out, and again, I want to emphasize before this disaster struck, and it recognizes the problems that we have in the bureaucracy.

I think we should also remember that this is a motion to instruct conferees on the Committee on Appropriations, and Members are totally avoiding the authorizing committee of jurisdiction. There will be hearings. The Secretary will be brought before the committee to discuss this plan, to finally air out the differences.

The gentleman is quite right in that sometimes we move in haste around here, such as to respond to 9/11. There is a big debate about FEMA being in Homeland Security. That was one of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, to basically dilute FEMA by putting it in an agency like that. That is why we have a committee of jurisdiction, the authorizers. This is not the way to do business around here. To just have a somewhat knee-jerk reaction to make a political point is not what we should be doing in this Congress.

We need to represent the people. We need to represent the idea that we have to be prepared. We have seen by these disasters that what the Secretary is proposing is exactly right, that we need to have coordination between different agencies in this government to prepare. FEMA is an agency to respond to disasters. To have an agency to prepare that can actually talk to everyone involved in the preparation or should be involved is right.

I also want to make a point that currently the Secretary has jurisdiction to make these changes, or has the authority under current law. So no matter what this motion to instruct says, the Secretary can go forward. But this idea of trying to make some kind of a political point and beating up on someone who is trying to put forth a plan to prepare this Nation for man-made or natural disasters is simply wrong.

Mr. Speaker, I would again simply say if Members liked the response we had to these natural disasters, they will love this motion to instruct.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman for yielding me this time, and first of all, I want to commend him and the ranking member for bringing this bill to the floor and for all their hard work. It is a very difficult bill, as we can see by the debate here.

Mr. Chairman, today I rise in strong opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern). The Andean Counterdrug Initiative is an important antidrug effort that supports Colombia and the countries in the Andean region. After years of steady increases, cocaine and heroin production in the Andean Region is decreasing. For the third straight year, from 2002 to 2004, the ACI has helped reduce coca production by 33 percent in Colombia and 21 percent in the region. Opium poppy cultivation in Colombia dropped 52 percent in the year 2004 alone. The total land under coca cultivation in Colombia decreased 7 percent in 2004, the fourth consecutive annual decrease.

The United States and our allies disrupted the transport of 248 metric tons of cocaine headed through the transit zone before it could reach U.S. shores in 2004 alone. The ACI has helped streamline extradition procedures resulting in over 250 extraditions to the U.S. since August of 2002, including FARC leader Simon Trinidad and ex-Cali cartel leaders.

Over 60,000 families have received alternative crop development assistance, and almost 1,000 infrastructure projects have been built using ACI funds. Even as detractors cite individual instances of human rights' abuses, overall kidnappings dropped by almost 35 percent in 2004 and fell another 60 percent through May of this year. Homicides are down 14 percent in 2004 and dropped another 22 percent since May of this year.

Mr. Chairman, I would urge the Members to strongly oppose this amendment which would very much harm our ability to fight this scourge in our country.

Madam Chairman, first of all I want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Chairman Bonilla) for doing such a great job on this bill and for his hard work leading the subcommittee through a very difficult, tight allocation and really coming out with an excellent bill, and also the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), such a great ranking Member and true professional. I appreciate that very much. I also want to express

my appreciation to the extremely professional staff that we have on the subcommittee. It really makes our job so much easier.

Like I mentioned, this was a difficult bill with a tight allocation, and I think we have a very good product in the end here because of that.

I especially want to point out something I think is very important to all livestock producers, anyone concerned about food safety, which is the final $58.8 million going to National Animal Disease Center at Ames, Iowa. This is the last of the $462 million that we have appropriated since the year 2000 for this extraordinarily important facility. I hope this year that the Senate will concur and get their number so we do not have to revisit this issue again next year with the appropriation bill.

I am very pleased that the bill includes funding for renewable energy. Obviously, this is very important for Iowa and our country as far as soy diesel, ethanol, biomass, all of those things that are critically important long term as far as gaining energy independence for the United States, but also doing it in a renewable way that is environmentally friendly. This is extraordinarily important; and because of the work we have done here, we are able to finally experience true value-added agriculture for our farmers at home, so they are able to reap the profits from renewable energy.

I am very pleased that the chairman has included funding to fight the potential problem and the very real potential problem of soybean rust that has gotten into our country, which could be absolutely devastating to a tremendous crop throughout this country, Iowa and the Midwest in particular.

I am very pleased also that the bill includes funding for continued work as far as the Animal ID System that we are trying to get in place so that we can in fact find when we have an outbreak of, say, mad cow disease, something like that, that we are able to identify where that animal came from and that we can ensure the food safety.

One issue that was of some controversy through the hearings was continued funding under the Hatch Act for agricultural research. I believe that by continuing the funding of the Hatch Act and getting the dollars to the universities where they absolutely are needed, the Hatch Act funding will allow continued vital research at our land grant universities and allow them to continue the great job that they do for agriculture, for our farmers today to ensure that the breakthroughs of the future will be in the hands of the farmers and for their benefit.

Also we have to make sure, and this bill does it, that we have a continuing, strong Risk Management Crop Insurance program. We all have concerns about how it has been administered, and we wanted to make sure that the agency reports to us on a quarterly basis so that we can in fact make sure that that vital program stays in place.

Again, in closing, I just want to say thank you once again to the chairman and the ranking member and all the committee staff. This is a tough year, and it is a great bill. I encourage all of my colleagues here in the House to support this bill.

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment. Let me explain what this extreme restriction on the Food and Drug Administration would do. The amendment would not allow funding to grant conflict of interest waivers for any Food and Drug Administration advisory committee. The effect would

be that the top experts in the field of vaccine research or cancer treatments or cardiac devices would not be able to advise the Federal Government about vaccines, biological products, medical devices, and drugs.

The conflict of interest waivers exist so that the most knowledgeable scientists, the ones you would want to consult if your own family was ill, can advise government agencies. These top scientists are few in number and very specialized. Most of them have worked in research sponsored by industry at some point in their careers. We in Congress devised this waiver system so that such experts could serve the government when the need for their services outweighed the potential of conflict of interest due to financial ties to the industry.

Since many fields of research are specialized and unique, the conflict of interest waivers are necessary. The granting of a waiver is not pro forma but a measured decision by an impartial party. In some cases, waivers are granted only for participation in the advisory group discussion, and the individual is not permitted to vote on the advisory committee recommendation.

I would also like to draw the attention of my colleagues to the term ``advisory.'' Advisory committees make recommendations to FDA but do not vote on product approvals. Product approval decisions are made by federally employed scientists.

I would ask my colleagues not to cripple the advisory committee system by making it impossible to recruit the appropriate level of scientific expertise. Please vote no on this amendment.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I continue to reserve my time.

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

I would like to note that in response to past amendments in the same effect, the Office of Government Ethics has said the government would be depriving itself of much of the best and most relevant outside expertise in many areas.

The amendment would prohibit waivers for financial interests that are so insubstantial, remote, or inconsequential that they are typically permitted, even for regular full-time government employees.

They went on to say, existing law strikes the correct balance between protecting the government from inappropriate conflicts of interest and recognizing the need for temporary experts who may have unavoidable conflicts in relevant fields of inquiry. I think those concerns are relevant to the Hinchey amendment before us and support a ``no'' vote on this amendment.

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

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

I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Chairman, I just want to, first of all, express what an honor and privilege it is to work on a subcommittee that works in such a bipartisan way with the great leadership of the chairman and the ranking member. It is really a pleasure to actually get into policy discussions rather than a lot of the politics that we hear around here. It is very much appreciated.

Also, the tremendous staff that we have on this subcommittee. I think the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp) mentioned the great professionalism that they have on both sides of the aisle. It is a real pleasure.

This bill is a really good bill under an allocation that could always be larger. We have worked out, I think, everything possible we can with the dollars available. I am very appreciative of the fact that we have focused on renewable energy, the kind of important work that we do on the river, on the Mississippi, and other projects that are involved also.

I want to commend the chairman and the ranking member and urge support of this very, very good bill.