Providing For Consideration of H.R. 3161, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3161, AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I might just add to the count of amendments, lest it be forgotten on Tuesday night, that I accepted both the Gingrey and the McHenry amendments. So that is 14 Republican amendments that have been allowed for debate and discussion.

I'm saddened by the path that we've taken to find our way here today, but I must also say that, yes, I'm glad. I'm glad that we've arrived here today because this Agriculture appropriations bill is a good bill, it's a fair bill, and it has the potential to do so much for people and for our communities who are in such need. And, yes, in fact, over the last several months it has been a product of hard work, of honest partnership, of an ongoing collaboration over a number of weeks from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

I'm sorry that I don't see the ranking member of this subcommittee, Mr. Kingston, on the floor. Mr. Kingston can attest to the kind of work we have done together to produce and to craft a very solid piece of legislation that, in fact, will make a difference in people's lives.

And we should not forget how much that we have put into this bill and why. At the subcommittee level, the full committee level, even, as I said, this past Tuesday, this bill has been a bipartisan process, giving every single member of the subcommittee and of the full committee the opportunity to engage, to propose amendments, to ask for a vote if they wanted to. It has been a totally open process.

As a matter of fact, in the full committee there was not even one vote called because there was such a sense of agreement on every single amendment and the process that we went through in that committee. For that, I stand here very proud as the Chair of this subcommittee, and the first time that I have served as the Chair of this committee, we produced a bill that has such support. I defy any of the other 11 subcommittees to have that same kind of bipartisanship that we had.

This bill is too important. There's critical responsibilities. And maybe people don't view this bill as that important, but speak to rural America, speak to people who care about what's happening in nutrition, speak to people who care about conservation in this country. That is what is in this bill, renewable sources of energy. To let it be filibustered, to play political games, to let that take precedent over this bill is what's happened.

The minority shut down this process. The minority's tactics, 4 hours, 4 hours, and I appreciate the minority leader's disappointment with SCHIP, but on Tuesday night SCHIP was not the legislation that we were discussing. Four hours. Those tactics, tied to other legislation, have stood in the way of this process, even as the American people, in fact, do insist that we get to work fulfilling our obligations to consumers who want safe drugs and food.

It's good to see the gentleman from Georgia on the floor because JACK KINGSTON and I have worked very well together, as I said, to produce a good bill, one of which I stand here proudly to support and to carry on with today.

Our priorities have been to have safe drugs and food, farmers who rely on fair and functioning markets, children who need healthy food to meet their potential, and rural communities who need opportunities to thrive. And our priority has been to move with swift purpose, clear direction on several key goals: strengthening rural America, protecting the public health, improving nutrition for more Americans, transforming our energy future, supporting conservation, investing in research and enhancing oversight.

The bill provides discretionary resources of $18.8 billion. It is $1 billion above 2007, $987.4 million above the budget request, and to be sure and to make it very clear, 95 percent of the increase over the budget request, $940 million, is used to restore funding that was eliminated or cut in the President's budget, to acknowledge that we have, in fact, the obligation to meet the needs of hundreds of our communities and millions of Americans.

It is about strengthening rural America. And what we do in terms of facilitating growth, softening the impact of population loss, this bill includes $728.8 million to support community facilities, water and waste disposal systems, and business grants to protect our public health. We provide $1.7 billion for the FDA, $62 million over the budget request, the first step in a fundamental food safety transformation at FDA.

We include $39.8 billion for food stamps, a program to meet increased participation and to ensure rising food prices. We fund the Women, Infants and Children program above the President's request. We step up to priorities like investing in research, which many of you have requested in earmarks in this bill, and conservation; and when it comes to transforming energy, this budget includes bioenergy, renewable energy research, $1.2 billion, including loans and grants in rural areas of this country.

I'm proud of the bill. I'm proud of its priorities and the goals that we set out to accomplish. We have obligations here, and that is to discuss and to recognize what our roles are and what we do here in order to meet the needs of the American public, not to interrupt for 4 hours for political gain or for whatever is annoying you that day, to disrupt the process, shut it down. And we're going to move forward, we're going to discuss this bill, we're going to pass the bill and achieve the goals. You choose delay. We choose to proceed to go forward in a responsible way.

I urge my colleagues to support this rule.

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Ms. DeLAURO. First of all, I want to thank the gentlelady for her comments. I think we have worked very hard in this bill, in fact, to increase the opportunity for nutrition. I would be happy to work with the gentlelady from Texas. We have $2 million in the bill for the Hunger Center and will look forward to working with you as we move forward to try to increase those funds.

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