Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2007

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 23, 2006)

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, on the immediately preceding amendment that was just withdrawn, this is an issue I have followed closely for a long time, and I have questioned USDA officials about this. I offered a motion to instruct conferees on the 2006 conference report on this issue. There is no question that this ill-considered plan must comply with all of our civil rights laws.

I applaud the gentleman for his effort. I would also like to tell Members about what a mess the Texas effort to privatize not only the Food Stamp Program but other critical social services is in.

Just last week, Texas announced that the work by the company awarded the $899 million privatization contract, Accenture, was so bad it was putting the privatization effort on, what was described in the press, and I quote, ``indefinite hold.''

Texas also announced it was going to give 1,000 State employees that it had planned to lay off bonuses of $1,800 so they would stay to help fix the mess created by Accenture. Accenture's mismanagement of the State's CHIP program was so bad that 28,000 children were scheduled to lose their coverage in May, on top of an already large drop in enrollment since privatization occurred. The State had to intervene to keep the children enrolled.

As part of the 2006 conference report, USDA is required to send the committee quarterly reports on the Texas situation. The second and most recent report from the USDA, like the first, is very blunt in its assessment of the problems they see with what Texas has done with respect to the food stamp portion of this.

The report says: ``The following concerns give pause to expansion without substantial improvements in system functionality to support a more ambitious implementation agenda.''

Among the concerns: Long wait times for calls; high abandonment rates by callers; vendor performance is questionable as evidenced by the high percentage of cases that are returned to the vendor because of missing information and errors; case file documentation needs to be substantially improved to support program access and integrity; vendor performance on handling calls shows problems with the staffing and training resulting in information to the extent that it is unclear whether applicants will know how to apply.

The simple truth is that this effort is a disaster and it threatens the right of Texans to get the benefits to which they are entitled.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to the gentleman's amendment and want to say a few words about the work done at the University of Connecticut's Food Marketing Policy Center. It is hardly frivolous.

The policy center has an established track record as a research resource for policymakers across the world. It conducts research on a variety of food and agricultural marketing, safety related policy matters, information that contributes to the work that we do to improve our food production, marketing, and safety systems.

Let me give you a couple of examples how it has helped us here in the Congress and impacted consumers:

In 2003, the Food Marketing Policy Center research on fluid milk pricing in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest uncovered gouging by supermarket chains. After the demise of the Northeast Dairy Compact, farm prices had plummeted, but retail prices in New England only had declined marginally. The center estimated that milk at $3 per gallon retail in New England supermarkets was $1 above its supply cost for nearly 2 years, hurting farmers as much as consumers. Their research is helping us determine new approaches to fluid milk channel pricing.

Another example: other research done at the center just last year includes work done on food access for low-income consumers, the impact of foot and mouth disease and new approaches to animal health and biosecurity. On the latter point, the center has worked to outline the regulatory inconsistencies between the U.S. and other countries and the impact on the export markets for U.S. beef.

Particularly as we in the subcommittee work to ensure our food supply is safe in the face of an increasing number of new threats and market realities, we understand the need for the best research possible. That is what we get from this center and what we get in return for a very small investment from the USDA via the CSREES program, an investment, I would remind my colleagues, that leverages additional support from academic and industry sources. It is, in fact, a public-private partnership.

I believe we in the Congress have an obligation to hold up our end of the bargain and fund the center. Farmers rely on it, consumers rely on it, public agencies, State legislatures, and even us, even some here in the Congress.

So let's support the center. Let's support getting the best agricultural research that is possible.

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Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume to ask the gentlewoman if she would engage in a colloquy on this.

May I ask how long this program has been in existence?

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will yield, yes, you may ask that question, and if you can give me a second, I will get that information.

Mr. FLAKE. Approximately is fine.

Ms. DeLAURO. Just over the last 3 years.

Mr. FLAKE. Has there been a marked improvement in the way we have studied these issues? Didn't we get along just fine before this program existed?

Ms. DeLAURO. I just laid out for you the specific incidents. I don't make them up. You can go back and you can check them. But I laid out for you several areas in which the research and the effort has been extremely important and helpful to farmers, to consumers, and to those of us here.

Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, should we not have similar programs for other industries, perhaps have other earmarks to help us analyze the cost of computers?

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will yield further, let me just say to you, that is not the issue at hand here. We are discussing this program. You have concerns about it. I will just say I appreciate your asking questions. I tried to answer the questions, and I think that I have provided, and given a lot more time, I could provide further information about all that this center is doing and how in fact it meets its mission in terms of assisting consumers and farmers and the general public.

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