more certainty amongst the chaos. in addition to certainty for farmers, we must also do what is right. fiscally and morally. this means eliminating waste, fraud, and redundancies when possible to save taxpayer dollars, but it also means taking steps to further deter the negative culture of illegal animal fighting that can be done -- fighting. that can be done. the animal fighting spectator prohibition act, which i reintroduced this congress and already have 217 cosponsors, would eliminate the ability for the organizers of the animal fights to pretend to be spectators in order to avoid prosecution under federal law. it would also make it a crime to knowingly take a minor to an illegal animal fight. i am pleased that both the house and the senate have included

similar language in their versions of the farm bill. as a former prosecutor, i know that illegal drug and weapons deals that take place at animal fights and how they are often hotspots for other criminal activities such as prostitution. just last week, two men in miami-dade were murdered while participating in an illegal cockfight. it is time we stand up against the cruelty of animal fighting and help protect the animals and the people harmed by these fights by including the senate language against animal fighting in the final conference report. i thank you, and i yield back. >> the gentleman yield spec. -- yield back. i would ask unanimous consent for the use of proxies on the part of the house during this conference. seeing no objections, so ordered. note that i have in the remaining order the gentleman from new york, the gentleman

from michigan, and the gentleman from texas. mr. ingle is recognized. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. chairman lucas, chairwoman stabenow, ranking member peterson, ranking member cochran for calling this committee. i also want to thank leader pelosi for naming me as a country. i know members and their staffs have worked very hard on these bills. i feel privileged to be a part of this process. the foreign affairs committee has jurisdiction over title iii of the bills before us, which includes international food aid and export promotion measures. i'm going to focus most of my remarks on food aid reform, but i also want to mention that new york is the third-largest dairy state on and i'm the only new yorker on this conference. address several areas of concern to the bills that directly affect my congressional district and the state of new york. i strongly oppose the cuts to snap. so many americans are still recovering from the effects of

the worst recession in generations. urge my colleagues to reject the cuts in the house bill which will disproportionately impact the ability of the elderly, children, and those who are less fortunate to feed themselves. i really hope we can work on these issues in a way that doesn't hurt people who are in desperate need of help. i would also urge this conference committee to include a strong conservation and animal welfare provisions in the final conference report. i believe the conference should maintain our current sugar policy which will help protect american jobs. as the ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee, i'm freakily reminded that our system for delivering food aid abroad is an outdated vestige of the 1950s. let me say that chairman royce agrees with me. it takes far too long to take food it to starving people. it often harms agricultural markets in the countries we are trying to help. in these times of budget belt- tightening, we need to find a better, more efficient way to distribute aid. the provisions in title iii of the senate bill are modest,

commonsense reforms that will help the u.s. save more lives with our overseas food assistance while ending inefficient practices that waste u.s. taxpayer dollars. while i support all of the food aid reforms included in the senate bill, i particularly 3008ort section which would in -- increase cash- assistance. specifically, this provision would allow our food aid programs to include up to 20% cash funding, which would allow the u.s. to use the most appropriate tools to respond to emergencies, including local and regional procurement, cash transfers, vouchers, and agricultural commodities. i would note that the 20% cash flex ability provision in the senate bill is narrower than the 45% language included in the amendment chairman royce and i offered to the house farm bill on the subject, which received unprecedented support from our

colleagues, almost a majority. as we face food insecurity crises in somalia, syria, and the drc, usaid is charged with the unenviable task of deciding who won't get the food aid they need because they have maxed out their ability to purchase food locally. the bottom line is that these artificial restrictions on our ability to respond to humanitarian emergencies must be reformed to make our programs more flexible and efficient. i urge my colleagues to adopt the senate reforms in title iii. i think the chairs and my representative ed royce and tom marino, for their leadership on international food aid. i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, congressman levin. >> think you so much. looking about, i so admire the tenacity, especially the four of you. tenacity is an understatement. stabenow, adn mr

haved mr. peterson, i often talked about how long this is taken. a rare this provides bipartisan opportunity. within our domain on helping the cotton and sugar we leave to your good judgment, as long as you maintain the necessary provisions we are obliged to under our international responsibilities. so if i might, i just want to take a minute to speak more personally. our family owns some agricultural acreage, just a little bit. there are some apple trees that are always filled with worms. [laughter] we had a raspberry patch that

went bad. --picked a few asparagus speargrass. i'm not an expert, to put it mildly. i do want to say something personally about snap. in our suburban district, there rely on00 people who nutrition assistance. teachers,e talked to and these are in suburban school districts, in many cases, they classroomwer in their filled with food because .hildren come to school hungry one of the large food banks is

in the district i were present -- i represent. 17% of the population they serve faces food insecurity, and 70% of them do not utilize snap. there is a severe nutrition challenge to millions of families in this country. as you all know, the average is $4.50 a day. that's the average. with some other colleagues in the house, i took the challenge and lived on the $4.50 a day for a week. everybody putst themselves in the shoes of these families, and i will finish with this -- i remember going to a

pantry in a parish that were present and talking to the family -- that i represent and talking to the families there. these are families in need. thank you for hearing me. >> the gentleman yield back. believer recognizes, i for the concluding comments, the gentleman from texas. >> thank you. you will be happy to know i will cut it real short. [laughter] good afternoon. i appreciate the leadership that chairman lucas and ranking member peterson have shown throughout this process. i look forward to working with linkingan stabenow, member cochran, and members of this committee to produce a sensible and comprehensive farm bill. i represent a district that includes about 140 miles of the south texas gulf coast and virtually all of the king ranch, except for the part that is in florida. my district has significant cotton and sugar -- cotton,

sugar, citrus, and livestock interests. on the house side, we approach this farm bill with the understanding that each of these commodities has their own particular variables. farmers who are currently in their planting season need the certainty of a reauthorize farm bill that -- farm bill so they can plan accordingly. my district has one of the highest numbers of snap recipients in the nation. most of these recipients are elderly and young, and we cannot allow a chopping block approach to snap to deprive this country's elderly, young, and needy of very basic human sustenance. again, there is a lot of work to be done. i look forward to working with everyone and getting a farm bill reauthorized for the next five years. >> the gentleman yields back. the conferees have before them copies of house bill hr 2642 and the senate amendment. the legal language comparisons in the section by section comparison.

as we are about to conclude our business today, does the chairwoman have any concluding comments? >> mr. chairman, i just want to thank you again and thank all of our members. i think we are off to a great start. it is very clear to me that everyone wants to work together and get this done. so we will. i look forward to continuing and completing this process. >> the chairman recognizes himself. i think the chairwoman is exactly right. we have come a long way down a very difficult path. we still have challenges to overcome. we can. we will. with that, this meeting of the conference committee is adjourned subject to the call of the chair. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013]

>> looking at the week ahead, the house will be out. the senate returns monday at 2:00 p.m. eastern to begin work on the employee nondiscrimination act which would ban workplace discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons. at 5:30, the senate will turn to an executive session for debates on to judicial nominations for u.s. district courts. it will also hold a procedural

vote to proceed to the employee nondiscrimination legislation. live coverage of the senate can be seen on c-span 2. >> more hearings on the health care law are scheduled to take place this week on capitol hill. on tuesday, maryland -- marilyn thenner will come before senate health, education, labor, and pensions committee. her agency is responsible for overseeing the healthcare.gov website. that hearing will be live at 10:00 a.m. eastern live on c- span. a day later, hhs secretary kathleen sebelius will testify before this -- the senate finance committee. we will have that live wednesday at 10 a.m. eastern, also here on c-span.

>> what's the most important issue congress should consider in 2014? that's the question for middle and high school students in c- span's "student can" video competition. make it 5-7 minute documentary that shows a variant points of view and includes c-span video for your chance to win the grand prize of $5,000. this year, we have double the number of winners in total prizes. entries must be in by january 20, 2014. need more information? go to studentcam.org. "newsmakers"next, with agriculture sector a tom bill sat. he talks about the farm bill and its ties to the u.s. economy. after a hearing -- after that, a hearing on stand your ground laws. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, "q&a" with author stephen kinzer or it he talks about his book which chronicles the lives of john foster dulles and his brother allen dulles who served as cia director.

this week on "newsmakers," agriculture secretary tom bill site joins us. becky for being here. of cq rolln ferguson >> this week the house senate farm bill to go shooters held their first session. is the white house -- let me what backup a little bit, the treasury secretary said it was important to have a farm bill. is the white house going to intervene on the negotiations, to help settle that issue? the senator has repeatedly said he wants the house to help solve that issue.