DeLauro Holds Hearing on USDA Budget for Research, Education, and Economics

Press Release

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following opening statement during a subcommittee hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2009 budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at which Gale A. Buchanan, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics, testified.

Below is the text of her statement, as prepared for delivery.

The committee is called to order. Thank you. I would like to welcome Under Secretary Buchanan, Deputy Undersecretary Pierson, Administrators Knipling, Hefferan, Smith and Bosecker.

As we all know, the Research, Economics and Extension budget is critical to sustaining American agriculture's place in the world as a leader in scientific discovery and development.

The results of that research are critical to our crop development, nutrition, food safety, competitiveness, international trade, even homeland security. And much of that good work is being done within our impressive land grant university system and Experiment Stations.

Some Connecticut institutions for example have used the stable foundation of predictable formula funds that have been available for years in order to hone research and respond immediately to plant and animal disease outbreaks such as West Nile Virus, and Lyme Disease.

Indeed, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, which is just two blocks from my house in New Haven , was instrumental in uncovering the problems involving imports from China last year. It discovered components of anti-freeze in toothpaste imported from China and played a key role in discovering a high concentration of lead in toys imported from China .

The same station also was part of the network of labs that examined pet food that was contaminated with melamine last year. This type of work represents an opportunity for the state to become one of the first to detect potentially dangerous outbreaks, as well as one of the first to respond.

This is urgent work taking place at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station with a clear purpose -- not pork, pet projects, or a bridge to no where.

I should note that I am concerned about your budget's proposal to redirect a significant percentage of Hatch formula funds and McIntire-Stennis funds to national competitively awarded multi-state projects. Competition is not a bad thing but this plan may destablize our Land Grant and forestry funding system. As a nation we depend on our Land Grant system to provide certain services and we cannot afford to compromise its ability to meet those commitments.

I am also taken aback by the wholesale closures of twenty ARS facilities across the country. I do not think this is the moment to limit the capacity for ground-breaking agricultural research performed at these labs.

I do want to highlight some of the proposed increases in research such bioenergy, water reuse in agricultural systems and funding for research into the obesity epidemic. I believe these are critical investments and I am glad to see a renewed focus on them.

Your budget also reflects an increase for food safety research, particularly the study of E. coli and other pathogens in fresh produce. Of course, we have witnessed an increase in the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. In light of the spinach recall in the latter part of 2006, it is clear the results of your research will be vitally important.

Thank you again to today's witnesses, I look forward to discussing many of these issues with you.

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