Funding Agriculture and Military Priorities

Floor Speech

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Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I also rise today to comment on the two appropriations bills before the House this week and to point out that I would like to thank the Appropriations Committee for doing a good job on both bills.

We are going to take up, this week, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act and the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

I am proud to say that the U.S. has the strongest military in the world, but I recently ran into someone on break and heard about the horrible conditions, almost embarrassing conditions--you have to kind of wonder about the military--that they had to live in.

In any event, when we put together this bill, we had to make sure that the living conditions for the military were such that they are, first of all, appropriate for such brave fighting men and women, and, secondly, that we continue to attract and retain our people who signed up for the military.

It is apparent, therefore, that of all the appropriations bills that will come up, the military construction and veterans affairs bill, contrary to what we have been hearing around here in partisan attacks, does contain an increase in funding over last year's bill--just about the only segment of the government that does.

Meanwhile, I am glad to say that the agriculture bill contains a significant reduction over last year. Why do we have to spend less? For one thing because the excessive spending is where the inflation comes from. With too many dollars sloshing around the U.S. economy, those dollars have led to the spiraling, out-of-control cost of housing and the out-of-control cost of automobiles.

The Republicans have done a good job of, at least with regard to discretionary spending, finally saying we should have a year in which the overall level of spending is going down.

First of all, I would like to point out some of the things that are funded in the agriculture bill. We continue to have critical investments in agriculture research and rural broadband.

I will tell you, I have a rural state. I have 10 counties. When I show up at my town's association, again and again, I hear about the need for more rural broadband for health purposes and also to keep up- to-date on all research and anything else that we have to do to help people in the rural areas.

I am also glad that we are going to prevent the purchase of agricultural land from foreign countries that will inevitably lead to a loss in this country of our sovereignty.

We are going to, even more importantly, eliminate the USDA's diversity, equity, and inclusion office, which I think requires a little bit more of a discussion. It is not that huge of an office, but I think the effort of President Biden to continue to emphasize this equity, diversity, is misplaced.

The goal of these offices is to, I think, encourage people to view people by where their ancestors came from, not where they are now. Their goal is clearly to persuade the American public that we have racial problems.

If you look at the statistics, that just plain is not so, and I want to point these things out for everyone, including any children who may be getting the wrong idea from television or education areas.

During the last year, the 10 countries that saw the greatest number of people sworn in as Americans were, in order, Mexico, Philippines, India, Dominican Republic, China, Cuba, Colombia, Vietnam, Haiti, and El Salvador. None of these countries are European countries. In other words, people from everywhere else around the world are trying to get in here. Obviously, we do not have a big racial problem in this country or all these people would not be trying to come here.

Another interesting list is the most successful, in terms of income, people coming to the United States. Number one, people from India--I know a lot of very successful people from India. Frequently, they came here not even knowing how to speak English, but they succeed by hard work and strong families. People from the Philippines, Taiwan, Cuba, and Pakistan are all doing better than the native-born.

I am very pleased that the Appropriations Committee removed this DEI funding. I intend to vote for these bills.

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