Providing for Consideration of H.R. 4766, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Adminstration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4766, AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 12, 2004)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

(Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, this rule will allow for the consideration of H.R. 4766, the fiscal year 2005 agriculture appropriations bill. This important bill provides funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, select programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, and other agriculture and nutrition-related programs at various Federal agencies.

Like the other fiscal year 2005 appropriations bills, this bill is grossly underfunded. The allocation for these important programs continues to be reduced each year. Even though this bill is 1 percent more than the amount requested by President Bush, it is still below last year's funding level; and, unfortunately, it is the farmers, children, pregnant mothers, and seniors who rely on these programs who are hurt by these low allocations.

The gentleman from Texas (Chairman Bonilla), the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), and the members of the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies have made the best out of a bad situation. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla) did the best he could by stretching the limited funds he was allocated to fund many of the programs that are important to the American people.

While I am disappointed that the allocation is low, and I will urges the conferees, once appointed, to do what they can to increase the funding for these important programs, I want to commend the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla); the ranking member, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur); and the members of this subcommittee for doing the best they could with this bill.

Specifically, I want to commend the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla) and the ranking member, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), and the entire committee for providing $75 million for the George McGovern-Robert Dole Food For Education and Child Nutrition Program. This important and successful program provides nutritious meals to hungry children around the world in a school setting. The McGovern-Dole Program received only $50 million last year, and I am very pleased that President Bush requested an increase for fiscal year 2005.

This program began as the Global Food For Education Initiative, a pilot program to use surplus American commodities to feed hungry children around the world. The pilot program received $300 million and provided school breakfasts, school lunches, and other supplemental food to 7 million children in 38 countries.

The McGovern-Dole program, authorized in the farm bill, made this program permanent and subject to appropriations. While I support providing $300 million for this program, which would restore funding for this program to the original level of the pilot program, I am pleased that this bill increases funding for the McGovern-Dole program over last year's level.

Mr. Speaker, I am not alone in supporting $300 million for this program. In December, 102 members of this body sent a bipartisan letter to President Bush requesting that $300 million be allocated for the McGovern-Dole program in fiscal year 2005.

Mr. Speaker, that letter is as follows:

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES,

Washington, DC, December 11, 2003.
Hon. GEORGE W. BUSH,
President of the United States,
Washington, DC.

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: We are writing to urge you to provide $300 million in your Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Proposal for the George McGovern-Robert Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. We believe it is urgent to restore funding for this program at levels similar to those of the original pilot program.

We strongly believe this funding is critical for sustaining and expanding the McGovern-Dole Program in order to combat terrorism and to help build and consolidate democracy in the Middle East, southern Asia, the Near East, and in other regions critical to U.S. national security. As you are aware, the McGovern-Dole Program provides donations of U.S. agricultural products, as well as financial and technical assistance, for school feeding and maternal and child nutrition programs in low-income countries. We note that recommendations made by the General Accounting Office (GAO) in February 2002 on how to strengthen and improve the administration and implementation of school feeding programs were fully integrated into the law establishing the McGovern-Dole Program, enhancements that we believe contribute to its success.

Both the initial pilot program and the current McGovern-Dole Program have a proven track record at reducing the incidence of hunger among school-age children and improving literacy and primary education, especially among girls, in areas devastated by war, hunger, poverty, HIV/AIDS, and the mistreatment or marginalization of women and girls. School meals, teacher training, and related support have helped boost school enrollment and academic performance. McGovern-Dole nutrition and school feeding programs also improve the health and learning capacity of children both before they enter school and during the years of primary and elementary school.

In February 2003, the U.S. Department of Agriculture evaluated the McGovern-Dole pilot program and found significant positive results. Specifically--"The results to date show measurable improvements in school enrollment, including increased access by girls. In projects involving more than 4,000 participating schools, the WFP reports an overall enrollment increase exceeding 10 percent, with an 11.7 percent increase in enrollment by girls. The PVO's report an overall enrollment increase of 5.75 percent in GFE-participating schools. In some projects, increases in enrollment were as high as 32 percent compared with enrollment rates over the previous three years." (USDA, the Global Food for Education Pilot Program: A Review of Project Implementation and Impact, page 2 February 2003)

We firmly believe that these programs reduce the risk of terrorism by helping to eliminate the hopelessness and despair that breed terrorism. American products and commodities are directly associated with hunger alleviation and educational opportunities, encouraging support and good will for the United States in these communities and countries.

We strongly urge that you restore the capacity of this critically important program by providing $300 million for Fiscal Year 2005.

Sincerely,
James P. McGovern, Frank Wolf, Jo Ann Emerson, Marcy Kaptur, Doug Bereuter, Tom Lantos, Earl Pomeroy, Amo Houghton, Barbara Lee, Sam Graves, Edolphus Towns, Don Manzullo, Vic Snyder, Jim Leach, Tammy Baldwin, Christopher Smith (NJ), Marty Meehan, Doc Hastings (WA), Dennis Moore, George Nethercutt, John Olver, Jerry Moran (KS), Bennie G. Thompson (MS), Todd Tiahrt, Adam Schiff, David Price, Maurice Hinchey, James Oberstar, Betty McCollum, William Delahunt, Bob Filner.
Jan Schakowsky, Sheila Jackson Lee, Leonard Boswell, Gary Ackerman, George Miller, Dale Kildee, Julia Carson (IN), Albert Wynn, Carolyn Maloney, Bobby Rush, Diana Christensen, Raul M. Grijalva, Bob Etheridge, Pete Stark, Jim McDermott, Jim Matheson, Jerry Costello, Mike Capuano, Joseph Crowley, Susan Davis (CA), Rosa DeLauro, Martin Frost, Rick Larsen (WA), Sander Levin, Ed Markey, John Tierney, Lynn Woolsey, Donald Payne, Hilda Solis, Mike McNulty, Elijah Cummings, Mike Doyle, Joseph Hoeffel.
Lucille Roybal-Allard, Bernie Sanders, Sam Farr, Neil Abercrombie, Jim Marshall, Charles Gonzalez, Ruben Hinojosa, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Earl Blumenauer, Robert Wexler, Rob Andrews, Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Jose Serrano, Maxine Waters, Lane Evans, Barney Frank, Ron Kind, Sanford Bishop, Jr., Sherrod Brown (OH), Henry Waxman, Steve Rothman, Nancy Pelosi, Dennis Kucinich, Tom Allen, Jim Moran (VA), Rick Boucher, Brad Sherman, Carolyn Kilpatrick, Lois Capps, Karen McCarthy, Patrick Kennedy (RI), Jane Harman, Alcee Hastings (FL), William Jefferson, Chris Van Hollen, Chaka Fattah, Stephen Lynch, Charles Rangel.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla) and others to work with the other body to further increase these funds as this bill moves into and through the conference committee.

This program is important, I believe, not only to helping feed hungry children around the world. I also believe it is important in combating terrorism because it gets to some of the root causes where terrorist groups go to recruit people to be involved in some of the terrible events that we have seen unfold over the last several years.

Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased that the fiscal year 2005 agriculture appropriations bill includes language blocking the FDA from spending money to enforce its ban on prescription drug reimportation.

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that a bipartisan majority of our colleagues supports the reimportation of prescription drugs. It is even clearer that the American people support reimportation. They are being gouged by the high cost of prescription drugs, and they deserve access to these lower-cost prescription drugs. The current Medicare drug card and prescription drug plan are hardly a panacea for the high cost of prescription drugs.

It is vital that we provide access, especially for our seniors, to these low-cost prescription drugs. Until we can repeal this misguided law and pass a genuine and real prescription drug benefit that will provide genuine and real relief for seniors who rely on these import medicines, reimportation in many respects is our only option; but it is also our best option.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is underfunded. There is no doubt about that. It is underfunded because of misguided tax cuts for rich people and wasteful spending adopted by this administration and I would say by those who are running this House of Representatives. It is underfunded because in 3 short years they turned record surpluses into record deficits. Now the programs that require Federal funds and especially the people who rely on these programs are paying the price for these misguided policies.

The low allocation for this bill means that WIC, our most important nutrition and health program for pregnant mothers and newborn children, will not be fully funded. It means homeland security activities at USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service are underfunded. And it means rural water and waste programs and the rural single family housing direct loan program are funded below even last year's levels.

The policies enacted over the past few years, the tax cuts for rich people and the wasteful spending, are taking their toll on these programs. However, Mr. Speaker, having noted these concerns and reservations, I believe that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla) and the ranking member, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), have done the best they could with such an inadequate allocation. I commend them for this bill. I look forward to voting for it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), the ranking member on the committee.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Let me just close by again saying I want to commend the work of the gentleman from Texas (Chairman BONILLA) and the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ranking Member KAPTUR) for doing the best they could with the low allocation. It is not their fault they had a low allocation. The fault lies with the President and the White House and the leadership of this Congress.

I think that during this debate I think we will hear a number of Members question their sense of priorities when, in fact, the need, especially in this area of agriculture, is so great, and yet we do not have the resources to be able to address all those challenges.

They have done a good job with not a lot of resources. They deserve to be commended.

We have no problem with this rule, and I would urge adoption of the rule, and I also will vote for this bill and hope that in conference that Members will be able to get the allocation up to a more reasonable level.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues support both the rule and the underlying bill. I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.

The resolution was agreed to.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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