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

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT -- (Extensions of Remarks - July 19, 2004)

The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4766) making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes:

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I am proud to serve on the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, which provides funding that supports many of the most important segments of our economy-from farm to table; and the programs that create our food safety net. Given our current budget limitations, the Committee has done a good job with what little funds they had, but it is simply not enough.

This bill leaves us with a serious shortfall in our effort to protect against bio-terrorism directed toward our food supply. The Committee provided just 40 percent of the total increase requested by both Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to improve food security. Especially in light of the new homeland security warnings we have just heard from the Administration, this is a threat we cannot afford to ignore, but our growing budget deficit has left us without the funds to address issue.

I am troubled that this bill reduces funding for the Women Infants and Children (WIC) program by about $150 million. This nutrition program serves our poorest women and children-it touches the lives of every 5 people in the United States-and each dollar invested in the program saves more than three dollars in other government spending on programs such as Medicaid.
Shortfalls in programs like WIC and in bio-security are the result of the fiscal irresponsibility of the Republican Leadership. Choosing to provide trillions of dollars of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans has left us faced with an increasingly broken food safety net, rising rural poverty, and potential bio-security threats for all.

And so, Mr. Chairman, while I support this bill, I believe we can and should do better-for the sake of the health and security of every citizen in this country-young and old, rich or poor-this Congress has a moral obligation to do better.