Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to rise in strong support of the H.R. 3161, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008.

As a member of this Subcommittee, I am extremely proud of the work of the Subcommittee and our members on both sides of the aisle, in crafting a bill which truly impacts and touches the lives of everyone who lives in this great Nation of ours, as well as millions of individuals around the world.

Our bill invests in Rural America, providing funding to accommodate some $5.1 billion in affordable loans for low income families in rural areas, which will support approximately 38,000 single family homeownership opportunities.

We invest in rural communities, by expanding resources devoted to economic development programs and access to broadband telecommunication services to bridge the digital divide in rural, underserved areas.

We address the health care and emergency needs of rural areas, as well as providing support for the rebuilding of our Nation's rural infrastructure.

We invest in the protection of the Nation's Public Health, by providing nearly $930 million for the Food Safety and Inspection Service as well as $1.7 billion for the Food and Drug Administration--including increases to begin a transformation of food safety regulation, improving drug safety, monitor prescription drug advertisements and expanding the review of new generic drug applications.

To fight hunger in America, our bill makes investments which will expand nutrition, providing $958 million for nutrition programs, including the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program and the Simplified Summer Food program.

We provide $5.6 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which is expected to benefit over 8.4 million Americans over the next year.

Not only does this bill provide the resources necessary to keep nearly 26 million of the nation's poorest from going hungry, we also expand Emergency Food Assistance Program, so that food banks, soup kitchens, and other emergency feeding sites have needed resources. The bill also expands the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program to all 50 states.

We invest in the transformation of our Energy Future, providing $1.2 billion for renewable energy, which was $955.3 million above 2007 and $810.4 million above the President's request--and includes funding for bio-energy and renewable energy research and development, including loans and grants in rural areas. The resources provided will be key building blocks in the expansion of renewable fuel production needed to encourage American energy independence and protect our environment.

We invest in Conservation, providing over $979 million for conservation efforts and community development. This bill restores many of the programs slated for major reductions in the president's request, including the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative, Resource Conservation and Development, and the watershed programs which are funded $75 million--more than double last year's levels.

This investment will continue our efforts to improve both funding and access to conservation programs that take environmentally sensitive land out of farming and encourage environmentally friendly practices on working farmland.

Finally, I would like to congratulate my Chairwoman, Rosa DeLauro, for the outstanding job she's done in stewarding and leading the important work of our Subcommitee.

And I would be remiss if I did not recognize and thank the staff of Subcommittee--Martha Foley, Leslie Barrack, Adrienne Simonson, Diem-Linh Joan and Kelly Wade of the Majority staff; and Martin Delgado, Jamie Swafford and Dave Gibbons on the Minority staff, and of course, Michael Reed, and Niki Newberry of my staff.

This is a good bill, and I urge my colleagues to support the FY08 Agriculture Appropriations bill.

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