Support Food Security for Americans

Floor Speech

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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the situation we are currently facing regarding the House version of the farm bill.

The House farm bill, traditionally, for over 40 years, is one of the most bipartisan things that we do here in Congress, Democrats working with Republicans throughout the various regions of America. This is the third farm bill that I have had the opportunity to participate in, working together.

So where are we today? We are exactly where we should not be. We are facing a vote this week on a partisan farm bill that is both, in my view, bad policy and divides us even further as a country. This bill does not promote or demonstrate the successful programs, I think, necessary to strengthen our trade in the agricultural sectors across the country.

America trades throughout the world, and our agricultural economy is dependent, in large degree, on our ability to produce more food than we can consume; and, therefore, trade becomes very important.

American agriculture needs a farm bill that supports and promotes not only trade, but, now perhaps more than ever with looming escalation of a trade war sparked by the administration's efforts with steel and aluminum, we see tariffs taking place on a host of products grown in the Midwest--sorghum, corn, and wheat--and in California potential increases in beef and pistachios and almonds. So that doesn't fare well.

This version of the farm bill also does not adequately support the dairy safety net. Of course, our dairy economy is big throughout the Midwest and in California, actually, the largest dairy State in the Nation. Nor does it do enough for our specialty crop farmers who grow the fresh fruits and vegetables that are a part of a healthy diet. California grows half of the Nation's fruits and vegetables.

This bill also proposes to make changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, which will likely devastate parts of the food program that are working well. This, after all, is America's safety net, and we have a lot of not only children and elderly, but people who are disabled who depend and rely on these important food nutrition programs.

We do all believe that able-bodied people should be working, and all of us have the same goal in ensuring that those able-bodied people are self-sufficient. If we want people to become self-reliant, let's give them a SNAP program that does just that.

We have 10 pilot projects in 10 different States that are working, and they are to report back next year on what best works to get able- bodied people working and what doesn't work. But this proposal in this House version is doomed to failure, and the House CBO has scored it accordingly. Instead, it will likely cause our SNAP education to create training programs that will collapse, costing billions of dollars, creating a new Federal bureaucracy that was never given a chance to succeed.

We should not be in this position, Mr. Speaker.

Where should we be? We should be working together, as we have with previous farm bills, Democrats and Republicans, deliberate, negotiating, and, yes, even disagreeing over ideas and approaches, but coming together with important compromises.

The farm bill is America's food bill. It is also a national security item. People don't think about it that way, but the ability to produce all for America's dinner table every night the most healthy, nutritious food in the world is a national security issue, I believe.

Therefore, we must support our food security and safety for our fellow Americans. Our Nation's food policy must feed Americans and ensure our farmers, our ranchers, and our dairy producers can all be successful.

It should not serve some and abandon others, and it should not further divide us as a country.

As I have said, this is the third farm bill that I have had the privilege to work on. We have worked through these differences in the past, and we have worked through the challenges. It is my hope that Congress can do this again. But it will not happen if we allow the partisan arm-twisting to ram this bad policy through the House.

A vote against the House version of the farm bill is a vote for something better, which is the Senate version, where they are working together, traditionally, in a bipartisan fashion--that is what we should be doing--and not engaging in these partisan games that create bad policy.

Therefore, a vote against the current bill on the House version is one that is a good vote, and it is one that protects our past farm policies as they have worked. A ``no'' vote is a vote for more support for our farmers and for our families. It is demanding that Congress do better because we can, and we must, do better.

The Senate version is currently the version that I think, ultimately, is going to succeed. I look forward to continue working with our colleagues on the other side--Republicans and Democrats--who are fostering a bipartisan bill--Senator Roberts and Senator Stabenow.

I look forward to moving past this version of the farm bill so that we can set aside this outrageous effort in partisan politics and get back to work on America's food bill, a national security issue, to be sure.

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