Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am pleased to begin consideration of H.R. 4800, making appropriations for FY 2015 for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. The bill before us is unique in that the programs supported in this bill will impact every American every day of the year.

We support America's farmers and ranchers, who are very vital to our Nation's economy and our health and well-being. We support those at home in need with food and housing and provide rural businesses with low-interest loans and grants to help them sustain local economies. We help others around the world that face starvation and malnutrition. We support research and development in agriculture to improve productivity and stability. We support the oversight of commodity markets, providing confidence for businesses, traders, investors, and the public. We support a safe food supply and safe and effective drugs and devices. We are fortunate this Nation can and does support these vital programs.

The bill before us this afternoon reflects a delicate balance of needs and requirements. We have drafted what I consider a responsible bill for FY 2015 spending levels for the departments and agencies that are under the jurisdiction of the subcommittee. We have had to carefully prioritize the funding in this bill. We have had to make some hard choices about how to limit spending.

I want to thank the gentleman from Kentucky, Chairman Rogers, for supporting us with a very fair allocation for this bill and for helping us move this bill forward.

I also want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr), the subcommittee ranking member. He has been a valuable partner and colleague as we have moved forward with this legislation. I appreciate his commitment. I appreciate his understanding as we have moved forward on a wide variety of programs in this bill, and I sincerely thank him for his help. While I and the other subcommittee members have a wide array of agriculture in our districts, Mr. Farr represents an area sometimes referred to as the ``salad bowl of the world.''

I want to thank all of the members of the subcommittee for their help, and I also thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), who is the ranking member for the full committee.

I also thank the majority staff for their hard work: Tom O'Brien, Betsy Bina, Pam Miller, Andrew Cooper, and Karen Ratzow.

I also appreciate the professionalism and the cooperation of the minority staff. In particular, I want to thank Martha Foley and Hogan Medlin for their help during all of the long hours spent putting this bill and report together, as well as Rochelle Dornatt, Troy Phillips, and Caitie Whelan of Mr. Farr's staff.

When the subcommittee began the FY15 appropriations process, I asked my colleagues to keep in mind three guiding principles. They were: to ensure the proper use of funds through robust oversight, ensuring the appropriate level of regulation to protect producers and the public, and to ensure funding is targeted to vital programs.

These three principles guided us from the time the President's budget request was first submitted to the subcommittee until this bill was put before the House today. This basic framework helped us set principles and priorities during the 10 budget hearings and oversight hearings that we had throughout the spring, which covered all of USDA's mission area, as well as the Food and Drug Administration, and also included the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

They also formed a framework for us to consider the many requests we received from our colleagues on this bill. In particular, we received more than 3,900 requests from 326 Members to support, reduce, or amend funding levels in the numerous accounts of this bill. Of course we could not meet every request, but we tried to address these requests in a bipartisan manner and in a way that was under the House rules. As such, there are no earmarks included in this bill.

The total funding for this bill is $142.5 billion. This is $1.5 billion below the President's request and $3 billion below the FY14-enacted level. The bill includes $20.88 billion in discretionary budget authority, which is the same as the FY14-enacted level. Mandatory spending totals $122 billion, or $3 billion below the FY14 level. These mandatory funds support USDA's farm, conservation, crop insurance, and nutrition programs.

I would like to briefly mention a few highlights that are in this bill.

We provide $2.8 billion for agricultural research. We have received many, many letters requesting support for the land-grant colleges and universities. We were able to provide level funding for them. We also provided $325 million, as requested, for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, which is USDA's premier competitive research grants program.

We provide $870 million for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. This agency works to eradicate plant and animal diseases and keeps the bad bugs out of the country. I am pleased to say that we were able to increase funding to combat citrus greening disease and the viral epidemic affecting the hog producers. This funding will supplement the emergency funding that the administration announced last week for research and surveillance purposes.

The bill also includes more than $1 billion for the Food Safety and Inspection Service. This is approximately the same as the FY14 level, but $3.8 million above the request. It will maintain more than 8,000 inspectors at more than 6,400 meat, poultry, and egg product facilities across the Nation.

The bill provides $1.5 billion for the Farm Service Agency, and it does not allow the closure of any county offices. This proposal made no sense when the 2014 farm bill is still being implemented in county offices across the Nation. We also fully fund the various farm loan programs in this bill.

For the Natural Resources Conservation Service, we provide $869 million to help farmers, ranchers, and private forest land owners conserve and protect their land and increase funding to help rehabilitate small dams.

This bill is the only one of the 12 appropriations bills that truly focuses on rural America. It provides $2.6 billion for the rural development programs. That includes funding to support $881 million in business and industry loans, $1.3 billion in loans for rural water and waste programs, and $6.2 billion for rural electric and telephone infrastructure. We also provide more than $1 billion for the single-family direct loan program, $1.1 billion for rental assistance, and $30 million for the Mutual and Self-Help program.

This bill includes both discretionary and mandatory funding for USDA's food and nutrition programs.

In particular, it provides $6.6 billion for the Women, Infants, and Children program. This is $93 million below the FY14 enacted level, and it is actually $200 million below the budget request. But I want to be clear about the decreased funding because a declining caseload and large carryover balances from the previous year is why we are doing this. And let me stress that every person who is eligible for the program will be able to receive funding under this funding level in this bill.

The bill includes $20.5 billion in required mandatory funding for child nutrition programs and $82.3 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, sometimes referred to as SNAP. This funding level helps support more than 47 million Americans each month.

To support those in time of need in places like Syria, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, the bill provides $1.7 billion for overseas food aid. We were able to provide a $66 million increase for Food for Peace grants, and $13 million for the McGovern-Dole Education and Child Nutrition Program offset from savings that we found elsewhere in the bill.

The Food and Drug Administration receives $2.6 billion in discretionary funding in this bill. This is an increase of $23 million over the FY14 level. When the user fees are included, FDA will receive $4.5 billion in FY15.

Within the total, the committee provides a $25 million increase of the full amount requested for food safety activities in the President's budget, and drug safety activities are increased by $12 million.

Furthermore, the bill includes $218 million for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This is an increase of $3 million above last year's level and is intended to address information technology needs.

Before I close, I do want to address one issue that has opened up a necessary dialogue in local cafeterias and schools across the Nation. It is the provision that would allow schools to seek a temporary--and let me stress that it is a temporary--waiver from the current school lunch standards if a school district has lost money over the last 6-month period as a result of trying to implement the new regulations.

I have had a constant stream of letters, I have talked to people, received emails, and I have had meetings over the past year with school nutritionists, with the teachers, and the school administrators. I have talked to parents, and I have talked to students, all concerned about the rising cost, the increased waste, and the declining participation in the school lunch program.

To tell the truth, the students have been concerned about the taste, they have been concerned about the variety and the quality of the meals. But, again, we have gone to the school nutritionists, to the teachers, and the administrators who have identified where the real problem is.

This is a real problem in many school districts across the country. Some school districts may not be experiencing this problem, but many, many are across the country. This bill acknowledges the concerns of schools and responds to their requests for a certain amount of flexibility. It only allows schools more time if they need it. In fact, it provides something very similar to the flexibility that USDA recently announced for the whole grain requirements.

The benefits to farmers, ranchers, consumers, businesses, and patients provided in this bill far outweigh any one or two objections a Member may have about this bill. The bill represents our best take on matching needs with limited resources. We have tried to work hard to produce the best bill we possibly can within the resources that we have had to work with in this appropriations process.

I thank the Members for their attention, and I would urge all the Members to support this bipartisan legislation. I look forward to passing this bill on the floor as we move forward, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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