Motion To Instruct Conferees On H.R. 2997, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food And Drug Administration, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I, too, want to compliment my colleague, friend and ranking member, Mr. Kingston. I think we have worked together on a bipartisan basis with regard to this piece of legislation, and I think we both feel that we've had sufficient input and we have come through this with identifying the needs that this Agriculture appropriation bill focuses on, the needs of the people who rely on this piece of legislation. And we've had a very thorough examination. We've had hearings, not only with regard to the budget processes, but as well external to that on issues that impact a rural community, people who care about conservation, people who care about nutrition, people who care about research in these areas. So, again, I think that within the subcommittee, we have had a very, both at a member level, and at a staff level, a very, very close-knit effort.

I might also say that in translating that as well to the conference with the Senate, that Members were engaged in that process as well as staff for several weeks as we tried to meld the two views together so that it was a thorough examination of all of the issues that are there, and that we could come to some common resolve about it. So I think we can feel good about both the work done at the subcommittee level in the House and our work with the Senate on this conference report.

Now, I think we have some specific time constraints, which I wish we didn't, but we are guided by a September 30 deadline in terms of being able to pass a bill and what happens if that doesn't happen with an appropriation bill. There is that time constraint, but in addition, and the fiscal year coming to an end, if you will, tomorrow, which would then, with this motion to instruct would really tie the hands of the managers, of the conferees, in trying to be able to move forward given the weeks that have gone into producing the conference report.

Also, the time constraints in this institution which have to do with, and it's none of our doing, we were not in session yesterday with regard to a holiday. We come back, we are in session today, we have other constraints when people are coming and going, so that you're looking at time is of the essence in trying to pass legislation. Particularly, I might add, what we are trying to do is to keep the bills moving, appropriations bills moving, because we know what that means in terms of that fiscal year deadline. And we want to try to get bills passed into law without delay.

I know that there has been talk of 48 hours; now I understand this is 72 hours. I think that I want to, if I can say it this way, responsibly oppose my colleague's motion to instruct. I don't know if we can meet that deadline, but I also do believe fundamentally that we have, in fact, had a thorough examination of all the issues that are in this appropriations bill and in the conference bill that I think we can take to our colleagues who as well have been following what is going on because they have specific and particular interests in what this bill means for them.

I'm someone who agrees that we need to look at bills, read them, understand them, et cetera. And I honestly do believe that on this piece of legislation we have that kind of understanding.

With that, if I may, I would like to yield such time as he may consume to my colleague, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).

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Ms. DeLAURO. I thank the gentleman, and I would just, with the remaining few comments, because I think that we have had this conversation, discussion, about it, focus my attention on this particular piece of legislation, and I understand the gentleman is talking about other areas.

But I think that this is particularly and maybe unique in the sense of the kinds of efforts that have gone into making this a very open process, a process where people are knowledgeable about what they're doing and how they're doing it and what kinds of input have gone in. And again, there are not too many folks around here, whether they're from north, south, east or west, and the folks from the Northeast who care about animal and plant disease. There are folks in the west coast, east coast that care about dairy. There are people who have expressed their views who are on the committee, off the committee with regard to our settling the issue of the Chinese poultry. So I think everyone has had a very adequate amount of time to look at this and to be able to reflect on it so that they can come to a conclusion.

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