in order to ensure that public health requirements are met. in one recent year, this included 50 billion pounds of livestock carcasses, 59 billion pounds of poultry carcasses and 4.3 billion pounds of processed egg products and at u.s. borders, they also inspect 3.3 billion pounds of imported meat and poultry products. increasingly food safety is a global concern. globalization of food production and trade increases the likelihood of international incidents involving contaminated food. imported food products and ingredients are common in many countries including our own. stronger food safety systems at export countries can reinforce local and cross-border health security but frankly the ultimate responsibility is ours. . 75% of diseases were caused by a bacteria, viruses and pathogens that started in animals and animal products.

many of these diseases are related to the handling of wild and domestic animals in food production, slaughterhouses. presenting disease starts at the farm, which is where the inspections take place. preventing animal infections at the farm level can reduce food-borne illnesses. for example, reducing the number of salmonella in farm chickens results in a 50% fewer incidents of people getting sick from the bacteria. salmonella chicken herds -- it is fundamentally irresponsible for this body to be cutting the food safety and inspection service budget. god help us all if there is some widespread outbreak in this country where we don't have 3,000 deaths a year, we don't have 30,000 deaths a year but we have 300,000 deaths a year caused by poor food inspection standards. we must restore this money to the budget and i ask my

colleagues to support this amendment. thank you. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. does any member seek time in opposition to the amendment? >> mr. chairman, i rise in opposition. the chair: the gentlelady from alabama is recognized for five minutes. mr. aderholt: the bill that we have on the floor provides over $1 billion for food safety and inspection services. the amount is an increase of $3.8 million above the president's own request. food safety is certainly important. i don't think anyone can argue that that is not a very important issue that we have made in this bill and we have proven that by exceeding the amount requested by the minority's own administration's request. now is not the time to be reducing the farm safety. they are trying to provide safety to america's farmers and ranchers. we have a bipartisan request to prevent the administration for implementing their plan to close farm -- f.s.a. offices

and supporting the amendment is equivalent to supporting closure of f.s.a. offices across the country. so i ask my colleagues to oppose this amendment. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida has 45 seconds remaining. mr. grayson: mr. chairman, i'd simply submit we cannot expect more for less. if we are going to be reducing the budget for food inspections in this budget, we'll have more disease, we'll have more hospitalizations and we'll have more death. god help us all such a thing happens but i want to know i did everything i could to avoid that from happening. it's silly to think, fundamentally silly and wrong to think we can cut the budget and somehow expect people to do more for less. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. does the gentleman from alabama yield back? mr. aderholt: yeah. let me just -- the chair: the gentleman from alabama is recognized.

mr. aderholt: yeah. let me just say that the farm services is a very important aspect of this bill and we're hearing from a lot of our members about f.s.a. office closure and if this amendment passes, this may mean closure of some of the f.s.a. offices. so i'll again would oppose the amendment. the chair: all time has been yielded back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from florida. those in favor say aye. those opposed will say no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. mr. grayson: i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from florida will be postponed. the clerk will read. the clerk: page 20, line 1, office of the undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services, $898,000. foreign service agency, salaries and expenses, $1,205,

268,000 -- the chair: the clerk will suspend. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. honda: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: if the gentleman will specify which amendment. mr. mcnerney: with mr. garamendi and myself that decreases and increases the farm agency by $11 million. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: an amendment offered by mr. mcnerney of california. after the dollar amount insert reduced by doctor 11 million. .ncrease by $11 million the chair: pursuant to house resolution 616, the gentleman from california and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. mcnerney: thank you, mr. chairman. the amendment my colleague, mr. garamendi, and i are offering simply decreases the funding for the farm services agency by $11 million and increases it by

the same amount. the intent of this amendment is to ensure that $11 million goes towards the mother-in-law conservation fund, or e.c.p. -- goes towards the emergency conservation fund or e.c.p. in the arcane world of appropriations, it's the intent of congress -- and we want to make sure that the intent is there to put this money into the emergency conservation program. the e.p.c. -- the e.c.p. helps farmers and ranchers during severe drought. they're able to use this program's funding to repair damaged farmland or in some measures for water conservation. my state of california has more than 80,000 farmers and ranchers, accounting for 15% of natural receipts for crops and 71.7% for the u.s. revenue for live stock and live stock pro-- livestock and livestock products. it totals $18 billion in value.

unfortunately, california is experiencing a prolonged and serious drought. conditions haven't removed and snow packs and reservoirs at historic low levels. this is a state emergency and support will be needed through the rest of this year and next. our farmers and ranchers need every available resource right now rather than responding after the fact when the damage is more severe. programs like the e.c.p. are critical for these farmers and ranchers in times of exceptional drought. i'd like to yield the balance of my time to my colleague from california. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. garamendi: i thank you, mr. chairman. my colleague from california has it right. california's in a severe drought, and so are half a dozen other states. rizona, new mexico, texas, georgia, oregon, all of these states, including nevada, face a drought. this $11 million and the intent

of this amendment is to signal to the department of agriculture, move some money out of your support systems, out of the salaries and the support for the farm service, move it over to the emergency conservation fund. $11 million isn't going to do it, but it's a good start and it's a signal we need to send. i know that in my own district we have over 500,000 acres of rice, normally. this year it will be 300,000 acres of rice planted. we have tens of thousands of acres of walnuts, almonds, many of those orchards are going to die unless there is an opportunity to provide the emergency conservation programs that will be needed. those are wells, those are pumps, those are other systems. so we ought to do this. i urge an aye vote on this amendment. it moves money from one account to another account and back to the original account. so this is a messaging amendment.

i ask for your aye vote. i yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from -- does any member seek to speak in opposition to the amendment. -- to the amendment? the gentleman from california has two minutes remaining. mr. mcnerney: mr. speaker, i just want to say our farmers need the assistance right now, and i'm glad that the house appears to be ready to take a vote and i urge my colleagues to vote yes. thank you and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed say no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. he amendment is agreed to.

for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. garamendi: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. garamendi of california. page 20, line 10, after the dollar amount insert of which $50 million shall be for the emergency conservation program under title 4 of the agriculture credit act of 1978, 16 u.s.c. 2201. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 616, the gentleman from california and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. garamendi: i thank you, mr. chairman. i love messaging and i appreciate the house acquiescing to the previous amendment. that's a messaging amendment. now let's do something. let's not send a message, let's send $50 million to the department of agriculture's emergency conservation program

so that they can carry out an absolutely essential task and that is to assist farmers in those states in the united states of which i can now name seven, california, nevada, oregon, new mexico, texas, georgia. did i get the seven? i don't think so. those states are all experiencing drought and there will be others as this year progresses. the money can be used immediately to set up conservation programs, water conservation programs. for example, earlier today a program that has been administered by the department of agriculture, a research ogram that has proven in several states, maryland, georgia, california and other ates that using modern technology, soil,

moisture-sensing devices coupled directly with irrigation systems that can be turned on when the plant needs water, not when the irgator needs water, that those systems can save between 20% and 40% of the normal consumption in the agricultural sector. and that applies to virtually every kind of plant that might be grown. it certainly applies in my own district with those almond orkards that are now without -- orchards that are now without an adequate supply of water. if this was available to them now, as it could be if we were to pass this amount -- amendment and the appropriations bill, those farmers could then access this money, put in place those water conservation technologies and stretch their supply, allowing hem to keep their orchards

alive. god forbid we have another drought. and in the present scenarios, afternoon usands ards are die as a result of lack of water. 20% or 30% of the water that's available, which is possible, if we actually enact this legislation and provide the kind of incentive, in this case, 75% federal, 25% farmer, we could keep those orchards alive. and so i appeal to my colleagues that we allow this to be done, the money comes from the overall account. that is the account within the department that provides for administrative expenses and salaries, move it from there, move it over to this conservation account and that money would then be available to farmers to use. we ought to do this.

we have other drought legislation that's moved through this house and one from the senate, but there is no money in those accounts. well, we have the money here. the question is are we willing to make it available for farmers in all of america, in any state where there is a drought emergency. i'd ask for your aye vote on this, and i yield back my remaining time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama seek recognition? mr. aderholt: yeah, mr. chairman, i rise in opposition to the amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. aderholt: thank you, mr. chairman. this is the first time that we have seen this amendment. we're -- i do have to rise in opposition. we're very concerned that reducing funds for f.s.a. agency is not the appropriate time to do that. we're trying to implement the new farm program at this time and providing assistance to the farmers and the ranchers across

america. we have had bipartisan requests to prevent the administration from implementing their plan to close f.s.a. offices. members on both sides of the aisle have voiced their concern to us about these closures, and supporting this amendment is equivalent to supporting the closure of these offices so i'd urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. . the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from alabama is the only member with time. >> i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. pursuant to clause 6, rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california will be postponed. the clerk will read. the clerk: page 20, line 19. the chair: the clerk will

suspend. for what purpose does the gentlelady from connecticut rise? ms. delauro: i have an amendment at the desk. but it may be out of -- i don't hink it's -- the chair: the gentlelady from connecticut has an amendment on page 57 and currently we are on page 20. the clerk will read. the clerk: page 20, line 19, state mediation grants, grassroots source water rotection program, $2 million. dairy indem any -- indem any ti program, such sums as may be necessary. agricultural insurance program account. $2 billion. for the cost of modifying loans as defined in section 502 of the congressional budget act of direct ,101,000 for

operating loans in addition for administrative expenses to carry out the mr. garamendi: and teed loan program, $304. funds appropriated to the agricultural credit insurance program account may be transferred. risk management agencies salaries and expenses, $77 million,094,000. >> the following corporations can may authority in accord with law. federal crop insurance corporation fund payments as authorized such funds as may be necessary. corporation fund, reimbursement for net realized losses, such sums as may be necessary to reimburse for losses sustained, hazardous limitation on expenses. title 2, conservation programs. office of the undersecretary for

natural resource and environment, $898,000. conservation operations. $843 million to remain available until september 30, 2016. watershed rehabilitation program, $25 million. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. broun: i have an amendment at the desk and i ask unanimous consent that mr. duncan from tennessee be listed as a co-sponsor. the speaker pro tempore: an amendment may not be co-sponsored. the clerk: amendment offered by of roun offered by mr. -- georgia. after the dollar amount insert increase by $25 million. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 616, the gentleman from georgia and a member opposed each will control five

minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia. brown mr. broun: my amendment would eliminate funding for the watershed rehabilitation program. across the united states 11,000 dams have been constructed in local communities under this program for the purpose of mitigating flood conditions. most of these dams were built in the 1940's and 1950's and thousands of them are suspected in need of attention. of this amount, only about 120 dams have been repaired as to extend their use into modern times. indeed, given the advances of engineering technology in the last 50 years, these refurbished dams may well last into the next century. mr. chairman, federal funding to maintain this many state infrastructure projects is simply not sustainable. under the farm bill passed earlier this year, the watershed rehabilitation program was

authorized to receive increased mandatory as well as discretionary funding. however, the president has not requested funding for this program in over three years. in large part because he recognizes that the responsibility to maintain these projects must ultimately fall on the local proper jects' sponsors. likewise, over in the senate, zero dollars have been provided via discretionary spending in recent years and according to the congressional research service, is expected that the mandatory spending will ultimately be canceled permanently. in fact, the watershed rehabilitation program has never been allowed to spend mandatory funding. so why is the house falling all over itself to fund this program? mr. chairman, as long as the federal government is involved in this dam program, the process of identifying problem dams and

implementing rehabilitation plans will be much like everything else in the federal government. it will be slow, painstaking and way too expensive. in my home state of georgia, we have many dams that we depend on to mitigate heavy rains and prevent floods. but i have to say, mr. chairman, i agree with the president here. don't agree with him sometimes, i do agree with him in this place and i do agree with him many times but at this place, i agree with him. we ought to leave the maintenance of these projects to the states. they know what works for their communities. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment to limit spending that we just don't have. now, i reserve the balance. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition? the gentleman is recognized for

five minutes. mr. lucas: i'm pleased to hear that my friend from georgia agrees with the president. that's a fascinating turn of events considering his traditional record, but let's focus on what the upstream flood control dams do. this is a program that began in the 1940's to small dams too small to fall within the army corps of engineers' jurisdiction to protect people, property and assets below the structures wherever they may be, all the way to the atlantic ocean or all the way to the pacific ocean. but the problem you see is, as meritorious and wonderful as these 3,000 structures of work, time takes its toll on everything. and if we don't pursue this program to rehabilitate them to extend the life not only will they not continue the protection of people and property and wildlife, not only will they

restrain silt and manage floods, they will be taken out and all of the good they have done will be undone. what does this language in the bill do? it provides cost-share money so local entities can rehabilitate these structures. and my colleague was exactly right, the advance of technology is tremendous. the work that's done should last instead of 50 years, 100 years or more. we've got 3,000 of these structures and they are getting older. spending a little money to extend their life to continue to protect wildlife and people and property from every structure all the way to the ocean, seems like a wise use of resources. now, i understand that there is something like $900 million in requested funding in 2014 to meet this need.

this farm bill language doesn't meet all of that need, but it takes a huge step in the right direction. we spend a lot of money around here on things that last just a few minutes or a few hours or a few days. this is an investment that will last a century building on a previous half century's investment. a wise use of resources. the government built these dams to protect life and property. and many of these structures are hitting their life expectancy. let's spend a little bit to continue that wise investment. and yes, let's keep the silt out of the streams and yes, let's enhance the wildlife qualities up and down these streams. but don't ever forget not just the property, but the people who can sleep at night without fear of what mother nature may do because the upstream flood control dams. i urge my colleagues to reject

this amendment. i urge them to continue to support the investment that has been so wisely done since the 1940's. please vote no. yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia is recognized and has two minutes remaining. mr. broun: thank you, mr. chairman. my good friend, chairman of the ricultural committee is very eloquent in the -- against the amendment. the facts are these, in this bill, $92 million in mandatory spending that are being appropriated in this bill and i'm not touching that whatsoever. the mandatory spending has never gone out. i certainly know about farm dams and how flood control works.

in fact, back in 1994, i was living in georgia practicing medicine there and we had a hurricane that parked itself over georgia. 24-hour period, we had 25 inches of rain. 35 people died in georgia because of the upstream dams failing one by one in a fashion that was just like dominoes falling over and the water ran into a lake and then went from there down to albanny, georgia and tremendous flood and all of southwest georgia and 30 people got killed. i have a great feeling for that. but the problem is the mandatory spending has never been spent. and what i'm doing in my amendment is i'm striking the $25 million extra in discretionary spending and i

believe we ought to repair those dams. we need to help the -- make sure that we have flood mitigation, but we are not utilizing the authorized money nor the appropriated money appropriately. we are in an economic emergency as a nation. let's utilize our money in a fiscal sanity perspective and that's what i'm trying to do in this amendment. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from georgia. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. mr. broun: mr. chairman, i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6, rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from georgia will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. duncan: i have an amendment

at the desk. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. duncan of tennessee, page 26 line 18 after the dollar amount insert reduced by $10 million. page 82 line 2, insert increase by $10 million. the chair: the gentleman from tennessee and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. duncan: my amendment deals with the same part of the bill as mr. broun and is very similar. my amendment would save $10 million by reducing the increase in this program, the watershed rehabilitation program. let me repeat that, mr. chairman. my amendment simply reduces the increase. it is not a cut. and in fact, this program would still be getting a 25% increase in discretionary funds even if my amendment is approved. in addition, this program has had a restriction on mandatory

spending since 2002. under this bill, this restriction is being removed. this means that without my amendment, spending on this program, which was $12 million this year and $13.6 million last year, with you with with with will go to $117 million. no other department or agency in the federal government is receiving this type of increase, almost 10 times what is being spent on this program during this fiscal year. this is a program for which the president requested no funding, as mr. broun mentioned. and for which the appropriation committee provides no funding. surely republicans in the house are not going to allow the president or the senate to act in a more fiscally conservative manner than we here in the house. most state and local governments are in much better fiscal shape than the federal government is with our $17.6 trillion national

debt. they can carry out this program if necessary or farmers themselves can do improvements. the national taxpayers' union supports this amendment and announced they will be including my amendment in their ratings of congressional votes. mr. chairman, this is a very modest attempt to do at least a little something about our horrendous debt. admirable mike mullen, a very respected man who was our chairman of our joint chiefs of staff a couple of years ago testified before several committees of the house and senate and he said over and over again that our national debt is our greatest -- is the greatest threat to our national security. this amendment is a small step, but an important step toward doing is something about that. and i reserve 9 balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition? mr. lucas: speak in opposition.

yes, in the process of putting the farm bill together we looked very carefully at all of the programs underneath our jurisdiction. many things were reformed, reducing spending. some things that have worked extremely well actually received more resources. i think that's part of being competent and wise legislators is assessing how the resources are used and reducing spending in wasteful areas and enhancing spending in areas that are wisely spent. i think that's what we're about here. now, i know that apparently there are outside groups that have chosen to score this, and i would remind my friends that they score a variety of things. why do you have to pick on the things that affect rural america? why do you have to address the infrastructure areas that dep after public safety, the

preservation of property, life itself? i suppose if you're sitting somewhere typing out scorecards you can pick the things that are less relevant to you. but if these 3,000 structures scattered across america dating back to the 1940's, countless, countless lives and millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars of property have been protected, i think that's a good use of our resources. a wise commitment in how we allocate our funds. now, some of my colleagues have alluded to the way in which the funds are handled. the mandatory dollars coming through the farm bill every so many years and how in the magical process called appropriations some of that mandatory money becomes discretionary. i do not pretend to have enough time to discuss the nuances of

that art form, but i'll say this. as long as the resources are a sufficient caliber to make a major effort in meeting the needs that exist, whether it's through the every five-year farm bill or the annual appropriations process by our friends on the ag subcommittee of appropriations, let's just do the right thing. on this occasion we're doing the right thing. if you care about long-term investments, if you care about public safety, if you care about property, and i repeat one more time, for those that have looked at these structures, they act to control silk flows in streams. that's important to wildlife and fish. that's important to water quality. and they inhibit these floods that come and then they meter the water out in a slow fashion. the overwhelmingly lion's share

of them don't impound water. they simply slow the process down so that the streams and rivers below can handle it. my real regret here is that we haven't put more effort in the last 50 years into these structures. if we had of, if we could or if we will someday, the effect on the environment, the effect on our fellow citizens will be tremendous even more than it is now. again, please reject this amendment. i know my republican friends here are very sincere in following the president's lead on this, but please reject this amendment. let's continue to make this investment. and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. has 2 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. duncan: my amendment doesn't go as far as mr. broun. it will save $10 million if

adopted. it -- this program, if my amendment is not adopted, will receive an increase almost 10 times the amount that is being spent on this program in this fiscal year. it would seem to me that most people in this country would feel it is ridiculous to give any program a ten-fold increase, and i know the congress is very generous in spending other people's money, but they're going too far on this. so i will urge my colleagues to support my very minimal, modest amendment, and i'll yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from oklahoma is 1/-- 1 1/4. mr. lucas: i respect my friend. i don't question his motives. i have great faith in mr. duncan. but this amendment like the previous amendment have

long-term ramifications. they have long-term ramifications on previous amendments made. let's reject these two amendments. let's continue the good work that's been done. let's focus on the things we need to be doing. and with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. mr. duncan: mr. chairman, i ask for a recorded vote on that. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee will e postponed. the clerk will read. the clerk: page 26, line 20, title 3. rural development programs, office of the undersecretary for rural development, $898,000. rural development, salaries and expenses, $224,201,000. rural housing service, rural housing insurance fund, program account, $24 billion for

unsubsidized guaranteed loans. for the cost of direct and guaranteeing loans, $76 -- $76,920,000 in addition for the cost of direct loans, $15,936,000. in addition for administrative expenses, $415,100,000. rental assistance programs, $1,088,500,000. multifamily housing, revitalization program account, $28 million. mutual and self-help housing grants, $30 million. rural housing assistance grants, $27 million. rural community facilities program account, $2,200,000,000 for direct loans. for the cost of guaranteeing loans, including modified loans, $3,500,000. for the cost of grants in rural community facilities, $27 million. rural business cooperative service, rural business program

count, $65 million intermeediary account, $for the cost of direct loans, $5 million. in addition for administrative expenses to carry out the direct loan program, $4,439,000. rural economic development loans program account, $59,456,000. of the funds derived from interest on the cushion of credit payments, $155 million. rural cooperative development grant, $22,050,000. rural energy for america program, $3,500,000. rural business investment program account, $are 4 million. rural utility service, rural water and waste disposal program account, $466,893,000. rural electrification and telecommunication loans program

account, $5 billion. in addition for expenses necessary to carry out the direct and guaranteed loan programs, $34,478,000. distance learning, telemedicine and broadband program, $24,077,000. for grants in telemedicine and distance learning services in rural areas, $20 million. for the cost of broadband loans, $4,500,000. $10,372,000 to have broadband in rural areas. itle 4, nest indicated programs, -- domesticated program, $816,000. food and nutrition service, child nutrition programs, cluding transfer of funds, $23,523,795,000 to remain available through september 30,

016. special supplemental nutrition program for women -- the chair: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida -- from california rise? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. -- clerk: the chair: will the gentlelady send her amendment to the desk? the desk does not have the amendment at this time?

the chair: the clerk will read the next two paragraphs. the clerk: page 44, line 12, special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, w.i.c., $6,623,000,000 to remain available through september 30, 2016. supplemental nutrition assistance program, $82,251,138,000. the chair: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? ms. speier: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will read. the clerk: amendment offered by ms. speier of california. page 45, line 16, insert reduced by $1 million after the

first dollar amount. page 45, line 16, insert increase by $1 million after the first dollar amount. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 616, the gentlelady from california and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. speier: thank you, mr. chairman. i'm joined in making this amendment by my colleague, mr. benishek. this particular amendment addresses the issue of veterans in this country who are living on the edge. the 1.4 million veterans who are living in poverty. the 900,000 who are on food stamps. we do know there's a backlog that exists even now with veterans' disability claims. some 572,000 currently around the country. some waiting as long as 200 days. this amendment is going to make them eligible for snap benefits under the disabled category

which will for all intents and purposes allow them to access food that is prepared and also deduct medical expenses for status. filing for snap under the disabled status can provide much-needed assistance with minimal costs for a veteran with war-related mental or physical injuries. this small amount of help can make an enormous difference. again, i want to thank congressman benishek for his co-sponsorship of this amendment. and i reserve the balance of my ime. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? >> i rise in support of the amendment. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. benishek: mr. chairman, i rise today in support of a very commonsense amendment. i think we can all agree that no disabled veteran should go hungry. those of us who served our nation with honor and distinction and come home as

wounded veterans deserve great honor, not a life of hardship. unfortunately, not all of our veterans have fared well following their tours of duty. tours, over four million veterans are applying for benefits at the v.a. only 1/3 have been granted benefits so far. the v.a. has 600,000 pending disability claims since april with 23% of those of iraq and afghanistan veterans. this amendment would allow veterans to apply for snap benefits while their disability claims are pending with the department of veterans affairs. just like all americans, veterans will still be required to meet income eligibility requirements for snap. however, they would no longer have to wait on the backlog that is so prevalent at the v.a. to find out if they'd be eligible for these specific benefits. mr. chairman, our nation's veterans should never live under the threat of hunger due

to an administrative backlog in washington. they deserve better. this amendment is fully paid for and it just makes sense. i ask my colleagues to support this amendment and yield back the remainder of our time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. does any member seek recognition in opposition to the amendment? the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. speier: as my colleague said, this is a simple amendment while we deal with the dysfunction in the v.a. it's compassionate and appropriate action by this house and i urge its passage and with that i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to. the clerk will read. the clerk: page 47 line 1,

commodity assistance program, $275,701,000 to remain available through september 30, 2016. nutrition programs, $150 million. title 5, foreign assistance and related programs, foreign agricultural service, salaries and expenses including transfer f funds, $182,563,000. food for peace title i direct credit and food for progress program account including recision and transfer of funds, $2,528,000. food for peace title 2 grants, 1,466,000,000. mcgovern dole international food and child knew trishon program ,126,000. 8 mill commodity export credit loans,

6,487,000. food and related agencies, department of health and human services, food and drug administration, salaries and 488,000. $4,442, mammography, $8 ,7,000. $217 million. the chair: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from connecticut rise? ms. delauro: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by ms. delauro. 57 line 5 insert reduced by -- ms. delauro: i move we dispense with reading of the amendment. the chair: the gentlewoman from

connecticut and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from connecticut. ms. delauro: currently this bill mandates that the administration spend $52.6 million of limited budget on information technology. my amendment put forward with my colleague, congresswoman waters of california and congressman heinz of connecticut reduces the i.t. set aside back to $35 million. americans want to see more accountability from wall street and oil speculators and market failures and bailout. that is the job to bring in gambling and prevent undue speculation on oil. but republican and democratic experts both have argued that the current funding level purposely sets the cftc up for failure. the current bill leaves it dangerously underfunded, 22% below the president's request and increased i.t. setaside is

reducing their budget. by returning this set aside to $35 million our amendment gives the commission more flexibility to spend the budget they have on enforcement and examination to put more quote, cops on the beat, as it were, as they see fit. this represents neither a cut or rise in the current level of funding. why i think we should fund them higher, this amendment merely lets them use their budget to do their job and manage to do a lot even with the limited resources we have given them. last year, they brought in just over $1 billion to the treasury, more than the congress has provided the commission in the last five years. according to the acting chairman, i quote, the unfortunate reality at current funding levels the commission is unable to fulfill the mission given to it by congress. the agency's enforcement staff

is smaller than it was in 2002 when the commission was just responsible for the futures and options market. today, the smaller staff has additional important and extremely and complex oversight responsibility. they must oversee the $400 trillion swaps market and responsible for pursuing cases against deceptive schemes. we need to give the commission the flexibility and allocating resources that it needs to do its jobs to oversee risky market behaviors, protect consumers and enforce the law. this amendment will allow them to do that. and i urge all of my colleagues to support it and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama seek recognition? mr. aderholt: i rise in opposition to the amendment. this amendment would severely starve the regulator charged with overseeing the swaps futures and option markets of

desperately needed information technology resources. the bill i brought before the house this afternoon will return information technology investments to just below the f.y. 2012 level and this amendment would reduce i.t. by 33%. this amendment would only accomplish one objective, to grow the size of our government bureaucracy by hiring unneeded personnel to write more overreaching rules and regulations. staff at the cftc is at record high. it is preparing to regulate high frequency trading. this amendment would ignore the reality of a regulator whose 82% of the employees make more than six-figure incomes and 20,000 paper forms per year. this is an exhaustive and costly exercise. this amendment would reward those misplaced resources. cftc has seen 166% increase in

the amount of data it takes in. it takes in hundreds of millions of records per day and does not have the capability to store that data internally. the amendment ignores the advice at former cftc chief and the recipient of the chairman award for excellence in 2010, who made this statement, financial regulations should recognize that automation and increasingly higher transaction speed make it nearly impossible for humans to provide effective layers of risk management. egulators need to vr enforcement practices to be cyber centric rather than human centric. based on that information, i strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from alabama reserves. ms. delauro: can i inquire about

the amount of time that remains, mr. chairman? the chair: the gentlewoman from connecticut has 2 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentleman from alabama has three minutes remaining. ms. delauro: this amendment gives the commission flexibility. that's all it does. it could spend all of that money on i.t.. if they want to spend it on enforcement staff, they would be able to do it. this leaves them the flexibility to make the determination based on what the needs are. and with that, i yield the balance of the time to my colleague from connecticut, mr. heinz. the chair: the gentleman from connecticut is recognized. mr. himes: i join in the amendment. one of the crucial achievements of the dodd-frank bill was to drag a massive and in some cases dangerous derivatives margets by giving cftc to give authority to

look at the instruments that brought down and could create a risk to the system. and this is a market that has been growing very, very rapidly. in 2010, the total derivatives market was $124 trillion, trillion with a t. multiple of the size of the u.s. economy. today it has doubled that $223 trillion. now these are securities that can cause all sorts of havoc if not adequately regulated. this amendment, as ms. delauro prointed out, no way expands bureaucracy. we are not saying expend more money though there is a powerful argument to spend more money. it is simply providing flexibility. the question before this house on this amendment comes down to a very simple question. we are either going to provide

discretion to the cftc to run to where they think the danger is. and if they think their i.t. is insufficient, they can spend the money on the i.t. they are going to run to where the danger is or we are going to decide that we are such crack i.t. officials that we tell them they must spend this money on this system. folks, that doesn't make any sense. therefore, i urge in favor of providing the cftc the flexibility they need in well regulating the market to support this amendment and reserve the balance of our time. the chair: the time of the the gentlewoman from connecticut has expired. all time has expired on this amendment. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. farr: thank you, mr. chairman. look, let's be very practical

about this. you have to put in context what's happened. passed the doved-frank bill because of a financial disaster and the regulators weren't regulating. they couldn't regulate because they didn't have regulations or any provisions about all these derivative swaps. they were inventing new things that weren't even in law. commodity eral futures trading commission is right at the heart of all these new instruments and all these derivative swaps and so on. in fact, we learned from the director ginsler and came before the committee and talked about the massive amount of trading that goes on. $300 trillion. we couldn't even figure out in the committee how to explain how many millions trillions were. it is so much.

and it is scary. we've got to have people on the job to do this. and technology to do it. what do we do? it's just to make sure that people are carrying out the law. you have to have people to review that process. in fact my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have been because the industry doesn't want to be regulated and they say cut this, don't give them the tools to implement it, don't allow them to be the referees they have to be by law. the president -- and we approved ast year $315 million. and we criticize that throughout. and the president came back with $280 million this year and we cut that. ven when he went along knowing

he can't get all the things he asked for. so this bill fences off part of that. it seems a reasonable amendment to adopt and i urge the adoption of it. the would yield back to chair of the committee, maxine waters -- how much time do i have left? the chair: the gentleman from california has 2 1/2 minutes remaining. -- farr: yield 2 1/2 minutes i yield -- i don't yield the minutes, i goods. ms. waters: i would like to thank the gentleman for yielding time. as the ranking member of the financial services committee, i feel it's extremely important to support this amendment. it's extremely important because we know that the work that we did on the reform measured the

d.o.d.-frank measure is so important to try and correct the lack of attention we were given to our consumers and the fact we needed to strengthen our financial services agencies. and so when i see there's an mendment to weaken such as the cftc or o.c.c. or any of our regulatory agencies, it's important for me to speak and have people understand. i urge support to ensure our derivatives to protect our economy. make no mistake, even with this amendment, adequate republican funding for the cftc furthers a larger effort to undermine the oversight of derivatives. while more funding is needed, this measure will prevent layoffs. the cftc stops wall street from manipulating things like oil,

corn and gold. without it, every american will feel the pain at the pump and dinner table. it enforces laws democrats enacted to bring in cops like a.i.g. whose activities led to the worst financial crisis since the great depression. republicans would undercut the cftc under the guise of a modest i.t. increase. just if it had the right computers, it could a limb nature employees. it takes real people to bring about justice and accountability. the cftc cannot operate without temporarily closing valuable talent and causing harm to our macts with delays to agency guidance to investors and businesses, examinations of companies entrusted with your funds, punishment of bad actors and recovery of victims' money. this is a continuation of an

effort by republicans and special interest to undercut laws and regulations that protect our consumers. i'm not going to stand for it. and i urge you to support this amendment. i yield back. the chair: the time of the the gentlewoman from california has expired. the gentleman from alabama has three minutes remaining. >> again, mr. chairman, i just rise in opposition to the amendment. again, this bill is important, or the bill that we have before the house would return the information and technology investments to just below that of the f.y. 2012. mr. aderholt: and this amendment will reduce i.t. by 33%. we feel like i.t. is very important. we think that the bill as written should stand and therefore we would oppose the amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from alabama yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the

amendment offered by the gentlewoman from connecticut. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. ms. delauro: mr. chairman. the chair: the gentlewoman from connecticut. ms. delauro: i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: a record vote is requested. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from connecticut will be postponed. the clerk will read. the clerk: page 57, line 21, farm credit administration limitation on administrative expenses, $54 million. the chair: the clerk will suspend. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, proceedings will now resume on those amendments on which further proceedings were postponed in the following order. first amendment by mr. broun of georgia. second amendment by mr. broun of georgia. amendment number 7 by mr. royce

of california. and amendment by mr. grayson of florida. and amendment by mr. garamendi of california. an amendment by mr. duncan of tennessee. third amendment by mr. broun of georgia. an amendment by mr. -- by ms. delauro of connecticut. the chair will reduce to two minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on the first amendment offered by the gentleman from florida, mr. broun, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. broun of georgia. the chair: a recorded vote has een requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: the yeas are 178 and the nays are 242. the amendment is not adopted. unfinished business is request for a a recorded vote offered by second amendment offered by mr. broun on which the noes prevailed by voice vote.

the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. broun of georgia. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of a recorded vote will rise and remain standing. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 130, the nays are 290. he amendment is not adopted. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 7 printed in

the congressional record offered by the gentleman from california, mr. royce, on which the further proceedings were postponed and which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 7 printed in the congressional record offered by mr. royce of california. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of a record vote will rise and remain standing. a sufficient number having arisen, a record vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the .s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 223rks the nays are 198, the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from florida, mr. grayson, on which further proceedings were postponed and the noes prevailed by voice et. clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by

mr. grayson of florida. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 150, the nays are 272, the amendment is not adopted. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california, mr. garamendi, on which further proceedings were postponed and the noes prevailed by voice

vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. garamendi of california. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the .s. house of representatives.]

the chair: the yeas are 148, the nays are 276. he amendment is not adopted. the unfinished business is request for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee, mr. duncan. the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. duncan of tennessee. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the

national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of epresentatives.]

the chair: on this vote, the yeas are 119. the nays are 303. the amendment is not adopted. the unfinished business is request for a recorded vote on the third amendment offered by the gentleman from georgia, mr. broun, on which further proceedings were postponed and the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. broun of georgia. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of a request for a recorded vote will rise and remain standing. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is

ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: the yeas are 62 and the nays are 358. the amendment is not adopted. the unfinished biss is request for a recorded vote offered by the gentlewoman from connecticut, ms. delauro on which proceedings were postponed. the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by ms. delauro of connecticut. the chair: all those in support of a recorded vote will rise and remain standing. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]