OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture, Rural Development, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2022

Floor Speech

Date: July 27, 2021
Location: Washington, DC

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Mrs. TORRES of California. Davis).

Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Rules and Appropriations Committee for bringing my amendment to the floor.

My amendment increases funding for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture Research and Education Activities account by $2 million by decreasing the Agriculture Building and Facilities account. I am pleased that my colleague, Bobby Rush, co-leads this amendment with me.

The goal of the amendment is to increase funding for the Multicultural Scholars Program designed to increase the diversity of the food and agricultural scientific and professional workforce.

Currently, the Multicultural Scholars Program receives only about $945,000 a year. This level of funding is critically low, given the current racial/ethnicity gaps in food and agricultural sciences and given the fact that communities of color were disproportionately harmed by the dual economic and health crises in our country.

For example, even though people of color represent nearly one-quarter of the U.S. population, farmers of color comprise less than 4 percent of owner-operators.

Similarly, about 75 percent of registered dieticians and nutritionists are White. In contrast, only 4 percent of dieticians identify as Asian; 3.3 percent as Latinx; 2.5 percent identify as Black; 1 percent identify as Native Hawaiian-Pacific Islander; and 0.6 percent identify as American Indian or Native Alaskan.

My amendment is an important step to increasing grants to low-income minority students who attend colleges and universities that serve high percentages of individuals underrepresented in these fields.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for the opportunity to present.

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Mrs. TORRES of California. Speier).

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Mrs. TORRES of California. Mr. Speaker, I am ready to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mrs. TORRES of California. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important proposal contained in this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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