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>> forward march.

>> dear friends, it was authorities that said come to me and i will give you rest. pray for our sister nancy that she may rest of our labors and enter the life of god for eternal rest. receive your servant for he returns to you. everlasting life. , countyhear your word blessed of my father's.

macy gaze upon you lord and taste the blessedness of perfect rest. her andls surround swallow heard in peace. and do your hands, oh lord, we commend -- commit our sister nancy. >> former first lady nancy reagan died over the weekend at age 94. the funeral service will happen on friday.

we will have live coverage here on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org beginning it to big lots -- beginning at 2:00 p.m. eastern we will take you live back to the u.s. capitol. as the secretary of agriculture testifying before the agriculture subcommittee of appropriations on his agency's 2017 budget. has testimony and the hearing just got underway here on c-span. are excited about the possibility over the last seven years reaching nearly $1 trillion in ag exports. a 45% increase over the last seven year period. a covers the $92 billion crop it willcrop insurance provide enough resources to at 44 million acres to an already record number of acres in our conservation program. we are pleased with the reaction and response to the our ccp program which is now leveraging

two dollars for every one dollar invested in conservation. in addition to providing opportunities for credit, we will continue to administer the farm bill safety net programs. last year we provided 900,000 producers. totalingc payments $5.2 billion. we expect that amount to increase this year to provide the necessary bridge to better times. at the same time we will make sure we create more innovation and opportunity in rural america. the budget will support 55,000 new jobs added to the 450,000 jobs we have saved or created as a result of investments in over 100,000 businesses in the last seven years. this budget will finance 167,000 home loans, which allows us to exceed one million home loans in the last seven years. finance nearly 1000 community facilities. provide safer and better water for 1.7 million rural americans,

which will reach nearly 20 million rural americans who have benefited from over 5000 water and wastewater projects financed by the usda since i was secretary. it's a threefold increase in broadband grants. there are a multitude of reasons for business, farmers, and potential expansion of distance learning and telemedicine which will become critically important in rural america if we make sure our youngsters are prepared for a competitive future and deal with the opioid issue. fundbudget will also fully our research initiative, meeting the goal that was set when the national institute of food and agriculture was first established. $700 million of assistance for research. there is never been a more important time in agriculture for additional research, whether it is pollinators, microbial resistance, dizziness because of

a changing climate. we have already netted 429 patents, 950. engines and 714 new plant varieties and the time i have been research -- secretary of the research initiative. resources foring the agriculture research service within usda. on the nutrition site will support 8.1 million wick participants and continued access to the school lunch and breakfast programs. i'm interested and hopefully are able to see an expansion of our summer feeding program. the president has proposed unapproachable ad one million youngsters the opportunity to access food during the summer months. this also will provide an opportunity for us to focus on senior citizens and their access to snap. only 41% of eligible senior citizens are currently receiving the benefits of snap. we would like to see that increase. also willbudget that

allow for an expansion of local and regional food systems in the bio-based economy. i would say even of this is not the purview of this particular committee i would hope this is the year we finally fixed the budget because that's an impact on every other aspect of the usda budget. i'm at the point now where folks have raised concerns about trails and a variety of other facets of the forest service. we will not to what we have done in the past which is to transfer money for fire suppression. hopefully this is the are congress gets serious about fire suppression. that isalso a budget $1.8 billion less than the budget that was submitted in the first full year of this administration. we have been dealing with constrained budgets but we have done this through the administered as services process which saved $1.4 billion and three process improvement program which sh over 300,000 hours of time -- saved over 300,000 hours of time.

all in an effort to try to do better and more with less. i look forward to questions from the committee and i appreciate the opportunity to be here. secretary, we appreciate your presence and the number of times you have reached out to me in providing me with information, meeting in the office, the phone calls and i'm grateful for the working relationship we have. let me just ask a couple of questions and we will move to my colleagues quickly and i last more again later. let me start with a snap issue. february 17, the food and nutrition service proposed rules and regards to snap. this was a significant contentious issue in the farm bill. is thoseon to you rules, those proposed rules have a significant consequence on potentially convenient store setting, perhaps small grocery store setting.

i have a particular interest because in many rural communities there is a grocery store. a convenience store is the sole provider of food in many communities across rural america. i would be interested in hearing your thoughts. my specific question is would you entertain positively the idea of a longer comment period than the 60 days you are currently proposing. sec. vilsack: obviously we respect to request and will certainly take a look at what extension would make sense. they wanted look at the comments and find out what people think and feel about this. we want to give people an appropriate time to comment. this is an important issue from the standpoint of the convenience store. it's also important from access to good, wholesome food as we do with his obesity crisis in the health care costs associated with obesity and that he is a result -- the disease is that result from obesity.

role areas do not have access to the diversity of food that others are fortunate to have. we believe it is not asking too much for convenience store owners and operators to provide andoader array of resources choices for people that are snap beneficiaries. that is the purpose of the rule. i think there was also the belief that we can partner with these stores in an effort to increase and enhance the nutritional value of what is being sold at the convenience stores. appreciate what i think is a positive comment. let me ask about another rural. -- rule. on monday you indicated in conversations in front of an organization in washington you anticipated revised gipsa rules. you respected them to be finalized before you leave

office. given the overwhelming congressional opposition to the whatously proposed rules, changes do you plan to make it when discussion and outreach of you have the stakeholders in this regard? is. vilsack: that process still ongoing in no commitments have been made in terms of what those rules will look like. congress lifted the restriction on our ability to work on these issues. atave asked the team to look what modifications or changes would be appropriate given the concerns expressed in the past and to determine whether or not what we were considering a couple of years ago still makes sense in today's market. they are putting together that work plan. i will be happy when a process is completed and provide you with additional information on precisely what we are thinking. the key is to make sure the playing field is level between those who are owners and those who are producers, to make sure there is not an unfair advantage in that relationship and to make

sure in difficult times that those who have invested a lot of hard-earned resources and time are treated fairly if a contract is terminated over some reason it is modified. we have had examples where folks of been dealt a very serious and difficult blow in tight circumstances. us about theer to importance of that relationship. particularly with identification payments for those that lost birds. we found that all those payments were going to producers who are economically suffering. we want to make sure it is a fair and a couple relationship and that is the purpose of our review the rules. sen. moran: what do you expect the timeframe to be? ic. vilsack: i would say suspect that some of these rules may very well be finalized and some of the proposed. given the nature of the concerns expressed in the past. i would hope would be able to get work plans completed and get something at: be relatively soon

-- omb relatively soon. then there is the review by omb which can take up to 90 days or longer. hopefully that process is in theed and sometime late summer or early fall we are in a position to provide information specifically to the public for their comment and review. any adjustments that need to be made can be made and by the time the year and we knew what the real -- rules will be. sen. moran: you mentioned avian flu. this is a topic of conversation we had one-on-one, but certainly in the hearing we had one year ago on your budget this was a significant issue and concern. is there something usda has learned that we would now be in a better position should this kind of occurrence reappear? and if you would bring us up to date on what has transpired in

other countries in regards to our exports in regard to avian flu. sec. vilsack: we have learned a great deal. we have learned necessity of making earlier determinations and quicker determinations. we have beefed-up the laboratory capacity. we would like to be able to make determinations within a 24-48 time period when something arises on a farm. we like to work to depopulate within 24 hours and we have learned there are a multitude of ways in which that can potentially be done under each particular circumstance. we have learned the need to pre-position assets or have an awareness and understanding of how disposal will be handled and advanced as opposed to after the fact, which can do latest puzzle and in turn create potential greater risk. we have learned it notification systems needed to be altered a an moreeflect appropriate balance between the producer, taxpayer, and usda. we were cleaning up situations in some of these facilities that are not been cleaned for decades

and set a cleaning the specific cause our problem with alien -- avian influenza. providingence between the owner of the birds all the identification and some kind of equitable ratio between owner and producer in terms of indemnification. we have learned the necessity of constantly researching this because it is constantly mutating and involving. we have learned the necessity of these having pre-positioned vaccines, not that we would necessarily use it. there may be a circumstance where it is appropriate and we have war gamed with that look like in but we would have to do in order to utilize vaccine. in terms of trade, we are seeing many of those who initially banned all poultry sales beginning to understand from an international standpoint the need to look at this regionally. we have seen some that have andme even state specific

some are specific to the county or counties. we've seen an expansion of opportunity. exports% of the poultry are currently in the right place. we are still working with some friends in china for example. for the most part people of taking the right approach to regionalization or statewide bans. sen. moran: it seems as if you have learned a lot which means better federal government prepared for an occurrence to arise. is of any legislative changes required to help you accomplish a greater or better response? sec. vilsack: i would only say mr. chairman that the research aspect of u.s. the 80's to continue to be beefed up. we are constantly dealing with things like this. i don't know we necessarily need a legislative change. if there is, we will be happy to get some information to you. i don't know of any of the top of my head. >> thank you very much, mr.

chairman and thank you mr. secretary. we are well along in the journey serving president obama. i believe you're the only member of the cabinet who is been here from the starting line and still with us. and i seem planning to go across the finish line. i wanted thank you for your you havers of service learned a lot. introductionyour you mentioned food, water and shelter. that's everything from snap to water purification programs to housing programs. it really reflects on the essential functions that your department has for millions of americans. in yourant to note march 7 speech where you talked about -- he called upon congress

to pass mandatory gmo labeling. we have a very different definition of what that would look like, but i sam with the shoulder to shoulder in the cause of mandatory labeling. i wanted to turn to the housing component. one of the issues we had last rentis that under reynolds subsidy program, we had a situation where we ran out of money to pay their share of the rent we were responsible for, as the federal government. that appears to be fully addressed in the budget for fy 17, but i wanted to raise it and ask if people across the country who were involved in providing project-based housing can rest assured we have got it covered this time? sec. vilsack: i think we do. that is what i have been told and i certainly appreciate the work of yourself and numbers of

this committee to resolve that aspect of the reynolds assistance programs. we have the other issue of maturing mortgages and loan payoffs which will result potentially, unless we deal with this, and a lot of these units coming out of the program. in which case you have a lot of families that will be looking for housing and not be able to afford it. sen. merkley: you turned to my second topic. we have recently been able to get some data from the department on maturing mortgages in oregon. it's important that across the nation we know in mortgages are maturing so nonprofits can attempt to buy them in places where they would go through much higher market rate. i know your team has been working on this issue. i wanted to emphasize how hard it is to recover this housing if we lose it out of the affordable portfolio. years ago, worked on a program called low-income housing preservation. it was very similar, only in

urban settings. now we have it in rural settings. anything i can do, and i'm sure many members would say the same, to assist the department in trying to make sure we have identified projects and do everything possible to reserve them. certainly we would like to see that happen. sec. vilsack: 75% of these loans potentially will become due and paid off in the next 10 years. that is 75% of the units. one thing do you may want to think about is the ability of answering those folks who are in a position where -- voucheri ng those folks/ we're looking for ways to refinance so the improvements can be made to the property with the savings that results from extension and refinancing. there are some creative solutions that we need to get focused on this in the near future. sen. merkley: i look forward to

exploring the subcommittee the possibilities. this will be very important to the housing stock in america. to the realrn energy savings program. the real energy savings program, the concept was we can create a lot of jobs in rural america if people could take loans on their electric bill and be able to replace their windows or add insulation. often the energy savings would be paying for the improvements themselves. plus, virtually all these products are made in america. we get more bang for the buck because we can get the local construction contractor employed, and it also creates jobs for the american manufacturing. we had the initial program funded last year. i was wondering if you had any information on whether we've been able to get it on its feet and have it running.

sec. vilsack: as you know we worked with a program similar to what you proposed with an interest rate that was higher. we were in the process of influencing that and learning from that. recognizing there were some serious learning curves for the seasons we were dealing with. we announced a statewide initiative in vermont where he learned that and traded a template. the proposal you were the leader on last year we expected and anticipated to stand of the spring, we expect will be quite an interest in an intersecting free or zero interest loan program. by now that we know how to set it up i think we will see more of these projects because i think it is popular and there is a greater potential there. sen. merkley: in oregon the employment rate is not rebounded at all in rural areas. i know this to be the case across the country.

program on-win several levels. sec. vilsack: help us fix the fire budget in that situation in rural oregon will change. >> thank you, chairman. and appreciating your service and really how much you bring to this job. i think every year more than the year before. it's amazing how much there is still to learn and i'm impressed by how you dedicated yourself to learning how important this is. the future challenges and opportunity for agriculture is great if not greater than they have ever been. hopefully we can figure out how to make the most of that. just two or three quick questions. i continue to hear from our friends in agriculture the desire for more streamlining in the reporting process. my friend lakehurst the chairman

of the missouri farm bureau was telling me they have to go to the fsa office and file his report on prop insurance. yes to get his crop insurance agent and the crop insurance agent has to refile the same information with risk management. are we making any progress in timeg to streamline that and cost to employees and people that work for? sec. vilsack: we are. this year, we implemented fsa plus. started with a pilot project in iowa and illinois to test market how we would be able to have better coordination between rma and sma in reporting could we be extended that to a number of other states and are prepared this year to go nationwide.

by the end of this year, he will be much happier than he has been and he will be able to access all of his records come all of his maps, all of his information from his home computer with fsa plus. i look forward to seeing it come to a conclusion. my mom and dad were dairy farmers. i connect this next topic with my own personal point of view, which is strongly held. there are significant parts of the country now where packaged bottled water is being offered as a substitute for milk in school cafeterias. historically, usda has recommended the school children consume two point 5-3 servings of milk or other dairy products every day -- 2.5-three servings or other dairy products every day.

packaged -- is packaged bottled water a reimbursed program? sec. vilsack: i think it i don't know that. we are encouraging more dairy products. it doesn't necessarily have to be milk. greek yogurt is now a protein substitute. to be responsive to what school districts are asking us to provide them. i will check on the reimbursement. >> i'm not a big advocate for us buying water as one of the alternatives at lunch. there's other ways to get water, i would think. , you thinkbeing used that is through the national school lunch program, then? and you will check and get back to us. sec. vilsack: i will check on that. >> we wrote a letter to the fcc

chairman -- our concern is that the remaining funds available under phase two of the connect america fund, critically important that rural constituents have the same access to fiber optics and other advanced networks as their urban counterparts at a comparable price . sec. vilsack: we conveyed those insane sentiments to the chairman. -- those same sentiments to the chairman. as they looked at connect america and the other programs, we will continue to see an expansion of rock band. -- of broadband. that's why our budget reflects a significant increase in the broadband projects. >> may be the social access may lead to my last question.

theand i talked about president asking you to play a leadership role in this effort oine and opioid use. as we are trying to move through this bill, i made the point that more people die of drug overdoses now and rural america than urban america. more people die outside a metropolitan statistical area -- even thoughve that area might be quite far from the hub of that. talk about the challenge to rural america of this epidemic of opioid and heroine use and overdose. is avilsack: it complicated problem and one that requires a series of steps. we have to have more prescribers trained in the appropriate prescription of pain medication.

we have to have reasonable expectations on the part of patients as well. towill be important for us have access to the overdose reversal drugs that are available. consider ant to general prescription that would allow family members to have ,ccess to that reversal drug being able to respond quickly. it will be necessary for us to look at ways in which we can to have astates better monitoring program so we can prevent doctor shopping. many states have these programs but they don't communicate. if you are on a border community, you can gain the system. we to increase support for ion assistance programs

bird -- assistance programs. broadband,ed telemedicine and the access to services. that may be a way of providing services without brick-and-mortar investment. we need people to understand that mental health services and abuse services are now covered by insurance. there is a lack of understanding about that. we need to engage the entire community in making recovery support efforts more readily available. struggled, she would have never been able to recover but for a a and the support she got from people similarly situated. there aren't places today in rural communities where those meetings can take place. faith-based organizations have an opportunity there. did ministration looks forward

to working with you and others to make sure we put the resources behind these solutions. tens of thousands of people are dying and hundreds of thousands of families are being affected by this. thank you for your leadership there. >> thank you, mr. chairman for allowing me to speak and giving me these glasses so i can read. it is good to have you here, secretary vilsack. know all the information about the station in sydney. repurposed or taking steps towards closure. i want to get some input from you on what's going on. these guys do incredible

research in an incredible .acility these facilities are really, really important. can you give me an idea what the plans are for that? sec. vilsack: the budget requests an increase in the part of that targeted toward the facility you mentioned that currently supports 41 scientists. i don't know of any plan to reduce the number. research projects come in, some good concluded and new ones begin. not sure necessarily that is repurposed in, but perhaps there's a different focus. i don't know of any desire to close or reduce the importance of that. >> that's what i wanted to hear. research for smith lever

-- these areat also very important. is the use of those also flattened out? or is demand far exceed? sec. vilsack: it is a overallion of having an number for our budget and the challenge in our budget where -- we areession trying to look at our other grant programs in a way of encouraging more collaboration between universities and many are receiving resources from that. it is a balance. >> i got you.

you've done some positive things for research. you know how important research is. for farmers to do trial and error is a good way to go broke. you are in office for another 10 months? >> for another day, for sure. never knows what might happen to you. i stand corrected. you confident that this budget you are putting forward, those priorities on research will be heading in the right direction moving into the next administration? sec. vilsack: i'm confident it we've addressed short-term and long-term traditional and nontraditional challenges that agriculture is going to face. this is an incredibly complex and changing world that our farmers are living in. i think we've figured out a way in which we can provide them assistance and help it our research budget is adequately funded.

-- if our research budget is adequately funded. >> $244 million for loans and grants toward businesses, funding broadband. ,here is a reduction, though and loans for water and waste disposal programs. if you look around this country -- i know i'm preaching to the choir here. these systems are, for the most out. were out -- wore why the reduction? sec. vilsack: it is about balance. we are looking for leverage opportunities to get the private sector more engaged in investing in these water projects. there is interest in this.

pension plans, some of the private investment we've been cultivating to leverage our scarce resources are now seeing 3% or 4% payment on a 30 year loan quite attractive. look at ourng to own portfolio to seep we can maximize the value of that portfolio and create an incentive for the private sector to invest millions, if not billions of dollars. it means we have to be great if where the financing is going to come from. we are being very creative at usda. >> we appreciate that creativity. i want to talk about something that's we had a roundtable. dr. johansson was at it couple weeks ago. one of the things that is going on in rural america is the population -- depopulation.

rural areas drying up at a faster rate than i've seen in my lifetime. since iast 40 years -- it is high school two thirds smaller than when i went there. outow there's big equipment and it's more efficient and we do have more technology. where i live, 1000 acres is an average farm. that farmks around me 20000 and north of that, even. is this something that is going to continue? or are there things we can do to encourage smaller farms, maybe? ,ou've got schools closing down cities that have to build schools.

americanack: agriculture has increased its productivity whenever 70% -- 170%. in the past, we did not create a companion economy to the extraction economy that was part of our rural america. we've supported nearly 1000 infrastructure investments in local regional food systems. we are beginning to see that prosper. we are seeing conservation. conservation can be profitable. warren buffett is proving it. the bio-based economy, the ability to transfer and produce a multitude of materials and fabrics from a bio-based system. we are headed in the right direction. poverty rate has come down

faster than any preceding 25 years. we are beginning slowly to turn around. we will not get out of the things you mentioned overnight. we are headed in the right direction and i'm hopeful that this companion economy that you will help up to support with farm bills and budgets continues. >> secretary vilsack, thank you for being here today. agriculture is montana's number one industry. last year, i was pleased to work with the montana grain growers. arensured montana farmers protected from what happened at the port of vancouver. i remember farmers jumping off of combines in the middle of

harvest. i look forward to making sure this new law is implemented this i want to shift gears. there is a significant bison herd within yellowstone. department coordinating and cooperating with state agencies in montana like the fish, wildlife and parks of montana on disease management efforts particularly regarding -- sec. vilsack: a number of years ago, we entered into an arrangement with the folks at yellowstone to address this. i can get you more information on the success of that. isolatewe were able to

and provide a much better environment relative to the bison and other animals. i would be happy to get you more detail about that. we happen working collaboratively. >> speaking of collaboration my -- and prior years, there was extensive collaborative , it was called the greater yellowstone -- it tought together stakeholders further efforts to provide sound science surrounding wildlife management throughout the yellowstone area. unfortunately, this effort lapsed in 2006. no similar working group has filled that void. that thed concerns

result has been a deterioration in communication between the regarding disease management in the greater yellowstone ecosystem. with the usda be supportive of orstablishing that committee perhaps something similar? sec. vilsack: i appreciate you bringing this up. my understanding was we were in the process of a focused collaborative effort. if that is not the case, i will go back and ask our team to figure out a way in which we can be more collaborative as a working group or whatever it is. are trying to stress collaboration with the local folks at every level. if that is not happening, we have to make it happen. we canpreciate that bring that concern and bring folks together again work from back home is that it really was

valuable. i want to talk about what's going on in the area of gm owes and biotech. last weekend, you were quoted at a commodity conference referring 's stating i'm here to say they are safe to consumers. the topic of discussion as we sit here today. is there any sound scientific research that would warrant the mandatory labeling of gmo's? no, but that's not the issue. folks in stateat have made decisions based on referendums and state legislators to create labeling systems that are applicable within state borders and that creates a circumstance in which inwill have a hodgepodge

which individual states or individual companies will make their own decisions about what they will put on the package. it will create confusion and additional expense. it may limit access to food or increase the cost of food. , in my view,y where you can respect to the consumer's right to know, but doing it in a way that does not convey the wrong impression about the safety of the food. >> the issue of mandatory versus voluntary -- it would not be based on safety concerns or sound science, but on other factors? sec. vilsack: balancing the desire on behalf of a growing amount of consumers to want to know. companies are in the business of selling to consumers. a way that does not send the wrong message about the safety. labels tot, we've had

talk about caloric content or nutrition or known risk. about,not what this is which is why i suggested the establishment of a smart label process which would give consumers information they are interested in but not in a way that conveys a false impression about the safety of the product. wewe agree it is critical addressed this issue in a timely manner. i have no issue with voluntary programs that meet market demands or consumer preferences. priority the usda's should be with making determinations based on sound science regarding the safety of biotech products, not on labeling or mandatory efforts. >> i'm trying to avoid a chaotic circumstance. i hope there are 60 of you who feel the same way i do.

cochran: thank you to the panel for being here in helping us sort through the one of the bright spots in what appeared to be are costingns that too much or contributed to the things, all kind of bad -- to put them in agriculture is one victory in the labeling of domestic produced fish, farmed fish grown and sold in the united states, we are having to compete with fish from overseas that were mislabeled or suggest

superior in some ways to domestically produced fish. thank you for the good, strong support and effort in defining the new limits and new requirements that helped give customers and consumers an opportunity to choose. they are choosing to buy on the speech.and if my end of my speech. ,> thank you, secretary vilsack for your service.

you were a governor before that and you would like to get things done. , thank youilsack very much for your service and thank you for being here. just a couple things i wanted to ask your support on. the new mexico delegation recently sent you a letter in support of the navajo promise loan applications amid by the navajo technical university and the navajo nation for what is .alled a tribal promise zone it is an extremely high priority for me. the navajo nation faces a significant challenge of high poverty, lack of basic infrastructure, lack of housing, public safety deficiency, among others. the unemployment rate there is totally unacceptable, near 50%.

an equally large percentage of the population is below the party level. -- poverty level. they miss any progress but they need a boost -- they have made steady progress but they need a boost. this promises own will help the navajo nation tackle the issues outlined in their application. i simply urge you to give consideration to their request. i know there are many communities in need but few face the externally difficult conditions we see on the navajo nation. sec. vilsack: that's one of the reasons we have already included that area in our strikeforce initiative. the promises own would extend that kind of approach to all federal agencies. i will take that back to the team. >> could you tell me a bit about the strikeforce effort? sec. vilsack: strikeforce was

designed to focus on the areas of persistent poverty. they are in rural areas. inwere not doing enough work those areas to get folks to understand how to apply for help.ms they could get was told to go to areas where there's persistent poverty and work with the community building organization to identify projects and need we could address through usda programs. it is now operating in 920 counties, 21 states and several tribal areas. billion inted $26.3 strikeforce areas. a significant percentage of those would not have been made

before the work relationship with credit. work with 1500 community building organizations and partners. it has been a successful endeavor and that has led us to take a look at the promises own -- promise zone. >> thank you very much for that initiative. i have many communities in my state that need that kind of initiative and kind of push that you are making their. -- making there. this issue has yet to be resolved. two communities in new mexico -- designated colonialists it means neighborhoods or communities within 150 miles of us-mexico border that are economically distressed.

they are ineligible for some fundsule developable based on proximity to a municipality. , because of their proximity to el paso, texas, even though they do not benefit from any support or musical services from a city or county like el paso and they are not in the same state, these communities have high poverty rates, limited public-sector funding separated by 40 miles from las cruces. these communities need rural al funds coming for --ucture improvements waivers have been used for similar situations in the past.

but we are experiencing difficulty with waivers in these cases. to ensurework with me that these two communities do andfall through the cracks are made eligible for rural development the students -- assistance? sec. vilsack: i turned to my staff to ask whether or not waivers are available and we will work with your team to figure out if they are. how to use them and if not, what else we could do to provide -- it is part of our strikeforce initiative. we are cognizant of the challenges of that particular area. we will try to find a creative solution to the problem. >> thank you very much. i cannot think of a better person to be secretary of agriculture because you served ,s governor for a rural state you know rural communities and how they are struggling and i sure appreciate this effort in

terms of the strikeforce and look forward to working with you. i yield back, mr. chairman. >> senator from north dakota. >>senator from north dakota? senator: thank you. our farmers and ranchers, we want to make this bill as farm friendly as possible. that is particularly important right now with commodity prices. we are seeing real stress out there on the part of farmers and ranchers with these commodity crises. one area that we can help in terms of making sure that the farm bill is farmer friendly is the national statistics service data. i think that you are already working on this with your fsa director. data, some cases that

because there are not enough survey forms sent in for some badties, we are getting a result. for example, it's not unique to north dakota -- it's occurring in other states as well. i believe iowa, i don't know about kansas. a number of states where you have counties where there are not enough of the survey forms that come back. information is not used. instead we are using risk management agency information and we are getting a bad result. what i mean by that is that if you take counties in north dakota, logan and l'amour, compare them to similar counties in average -- for example, for the year if you use the -- excuse me, if we don't have enough nas data and we are using the rma data and we are

getting a result that doesn't , soelate with like counties other counties that typically have the same yield get the same payment but it is disqualifying farmers in logan, for example. that is one example. there are other examples around the country. we have asked fsa to allow us to allow to work -- allow us to work with the director in the respective state and use comparable counties with so that wenas data don't get a skewed result. so, what can you tell me in terms of your willingness to provide this flexibility? i know that you are doing and interagency analysis or study, i think that's the right term for it. yourhat can you do to help secretary so that we can get this fixed? secretary vilsack: well, as you

know, congress made the decision to do a county program. i think they did that because of the cost of the program. they needed to generate savings in the overall program. we obviously have to deal with the program and have a process by which we can try to treat as many of the several thousand counties that we are dealing with as fairly and equitably as we can. we have come up with the proposal in the outlined the you addressed, which is that we look at the nas data first and we should be focusing on getting theers to respond to surveys. if we don't, we go to rma. we are not satisfied that is appropriate, enough, or correct, then we have the power to let committees take a look and provide some direction. we think that we have some degree of critic ability and consistency without necessarily creating a circumstance where we

can't address the anomaly or the inaccuracy of information. i'm more than happy to go back to our team and basically make sure that we are in a position to be able to explain why we are making the decisions that we are making. if we can't, we obviously need to do something different. senator hoeven: my understanding is that it is currently in his interagency review and i don't know what the results of that are. if the state to pin -- committee is empowered to, i think that's where we need to go. getting discretion out there in the field to your directors to make a good decision. secretary vilsack: well, that's the key. a good decision. we don't necessarily want to create a circumstance where everybody is unhappy ultimately with what they get the as you create a confusing circumstance with an individual program when by statute you are directed to have a county program. there is a balance here and i'm more than happy to try to be flexible but i think we have to have some system. i hear you.en: no,

and of course we want the forms to come in so you have adequate data and good data. but where that hasn't occurred, just so that state committee or the director, harvey, wanted to see you do it, they are empowered to say that this is a nonsensical result and we will make an adjustment. my question is -- i don't think we've gotten that response back. they are still doing this interagency review and this has been going on since november and i'm asking for your help to get an answer. secretary vilsack: well, you deserve an answer and we will try to get human quickly. -- get you one quickly. that's great.: i'm also very concerned about any reductions from to the support for crop insurance, our number one risk management tool for farmers. you are probably not surprised to hear me say that. you and i have had this discussion before. but i am very concerned about

that and will make sure that we supportthing we can to crop insurance. in fact, we included language in the farm bill to make sure that that didn't happen. side, though, i appreciate the support you have researchfor ag service areas and for the national institute of food and agriculture. i think that's incredibly impactful for our farmers and ranchers. if you have some thoughts there, i would welcome them. secretary vilsack: briefly, on the crop insurance. there are two areas. one is on rented a planning. our inspector general and general accounting office have an critical of the way that that program operates. i think it is appropriate for us to be responsive to those criticisms. loste price of harvest option we are proposing a slightly different arrangement between the producer, the

government, and the insurance company where we are currently financing 62% of the premium. we think that it is probably fair to taxpayers that it he more of a 50-50 partnership. those are the proposals. senator hoeven: i would point out that since 2008, $12 billion $12 billion has been taken out of crop insurance support. you want a robust number of companies out there providing insurance to have a competitive market. you have to be careful or you will not have enough competition out there for a robust market. secretary vilsack: that's true. our projections on this return on budget are 18%. senator hoeven: for which they have to cover all of their costs. secretary vilsack: well, there is also an additional resource. senator hoeven: but again, at the end of the day if they can't make enough money to continue to stand as a business and cover their costs, you will not have a

robust insurance group out there providing crop coverage. i'm not suresack: that either one of these two proposals impacts the issue you have raised, but i'm certainly sensitive to the fact, which is why we continually look at the return on the investment. it was difficult, but we are beginning to see more profitability in that part of the operation. again, i think it was 15%, 13% last year. 18% for this year. i understandn: your point of view, though i don't agree with it. but again i want to emphasize that crop insurance support has been reduced since 2008. there are a lot of programs across the federal government that have not contributed as much in terms of help with finding savings as crop insurance. secretary vilsack: you don't have to tell me about reductions, senator. my overall operating budget is less than it was in 2010.

senator hoeven: thank you for your willingness to take a look at the nas data. i appreciate it. senator: senator? senator: i thought i would take a look at an issue i hear a lot about. rural broadband. folks note the important of it to the success of their rural communities. -- importance of it to the success of the rural communities. it, the usdand recently rewrote the broadband loan programs to reflect the 2014 farm bill. it has just gotten going but i believe that you are now eliminating the -- this. meanwhile, the grant program that has increased is a distinctly different program. the grant program serves a small number of poor, unconnected communities.

fy 15y's focused on in were five communities. i think that there was a concern that there was going to be us -- sacrifice of these large expanses for assisting a small number of communities and whether or not that really reflects the demand for rural broadband -- there is probably a lot more thinking behind it, i just thought i would give you a chance to explain it. well,ary vilsack: senator, i appreciate the question. what we have found is that it is not impossible for companies to secure loans, but to the extent that they can get grant funds that either reduce the amount they have to borrow or reduce the interest rate on the loan, that makes it much more likely that they are in a position to do significant improvements and expansions. listening to what we believe the industry is telling us is necessary to get more broadband in more places, combining that

with, hopefully, what the fcc is attempting to do and hoping that morerks properly to create incentive and resource for expansion of broadband. the combination of those two. that is why we are proposing an increase in the grant program, we think that will generate more activity than simply a loan program. thank you fory: the explanation. i look forward to tracking that. it is of so much importance. from wisconsin has arrived. i want to turn this over to her. just closing on my comments, thank you again for your service over seven plus years and counting. there is many more questions that i have that i will be submitting to you for the record , but i don't need to address them at this point. thank you. senator: the senator from

wisconsin. intention is to have the senator from wisconsin ask her questions, i have a few follow-up questions, and then we would anticipate concluding the hearing. think the chair, mr. secretary, in wisconsin water issues on everyone's mind. our rural communities are facing many challenges to protect their water quality. in particular, q1 he and door kewanee and door counties have nitrate bacteria in their water. testing is showing that more and more private wells are contaminated. groups areholder working with the state department of natural resources to talk about long-term solutions.

but as those deliberations continue, rural families remain without immediate solutions to these very pressing concerns and the obvious need for safe drinking water. mr. secretary, i believe that your department can help. but it is going to take some really, really hard work. i would ask you how you see the usda playing a role in these communities in wisconsin. you commit to working with me and the local communities to offer both immediate and long-term solutions that help watersheds in this vital region of our state and country? offhand, dolsack: you know what the population are -- what the population is of those communities? senator baldwin: i would have to -- secretary vilsack: is it greater or or less than 10,000? senator baldwin: i believe they are both greater, but they might be close.

counties, or? yeah. they are freshly populated. -- sparsely populated. secretary vilsack: the first line in your question, to the extent that the infrastructure can be modernized, obviously the usda has a wastewater treatment program available. we also have a partnership with co-bank and other agencies that are providing infrastructure loans that the usda can't do or want to do. it's leveraging our resources. we have had a series of partnerships with the farm credit system where we will fund half a project and co-bank will fund the other half. infrastructureat across the united states. the third alternative on this side of the equation is to work

with us to identify potentially private sector investors that might be willing to provide the financing to improve the systems. so, those are three basic avenues of financing infrastructure. we would be more than happy to work with you and have our rural development people to work with you in those two areas. you asked for a long-term solution. obviously, long-term is to try to work with conservation programs to try to prevent the problem from getting worse and ultimately reversing it. actually, wisconsin has a number of communities, like green bay, working on the fox river, trying to create ecosystem markets where they would be able to pay farmers for conservation that would allow them to satisfy a particular ecosystem regulation. or there may be a corporate entity looking from a social responsibility perspective. we just did an event with .hevrolet in north dakota

so, we are trying to create more ecosystem market opportunities in wisconsin. that requires us to be able to verify the results. -- and in do that would encourage those folks to consider a conservation grant which we have used in the past andelp create a measurement certification qualifications system. there is also -- one other piece of news -- there is also another regular program and, in fact, -- there is a continuous program that could potentially be used to develop in thosers conservation programs that would allow for better filtering of contaminants. nitrates and so forth. there is a body of steps they can be taken, short-term and long-term, to address this. senator baldwin: i appreciate

that. there has been, as i mentioned, good local collaboration with and i know of a real interest in these collaborations on long-term solutions at the federal level. that many ofestate the residents impacted have private wealth. and they therefore have an immediate need for clean drinking water. so, i hope that we can follow up this exchange with ways in which the usda can help to meet those very important and immediate needs. what we weresack: able to do in a slightly different situation in california where there was drought but no water in the well, we took a look at where they were adjoining areas of municipal systems that could potentially be extended to those private homes or service i have private well. -- serviced by a private well.

i don't know if that's possible. secretary vilsack: i appreciate your commitment and we will certainly follow up. i did have one other question that i wanted to address to you, mr. secretary. in addition to being america's dairyland, wisconsin also produces a lot of specialty crops. we have a very vibrant and rapidly growing organic sector, second only to the state of california in the number of organic farms within our state. and organicy crop farmers have a great need for new varieties and animal breeds and are adapted regionally respond to market demands that can help them grow their market. so-called seeds and breeds. in response to the work last year and the direction in gear 16, the spending bill, i know that the usda is producing a report on classical greeting

investments. this committee also directed the agency to create a specific competition for the classical breeding. proposals for this specific type of research compete against each other and not against other, different research fields. so, we have yet to see progress on that particular front. for wisconsin farmers it is not about the academic competition. it is about having the varieties that they need right on the farm to help them make it through tough years. i hope that you will commit to resolving this issue this year and pushing forward with that specific competition for class a foot -- classical breeding research. secretary vilsack: i will certainly take a look at that. i will tell you that there is an

intent and interest in this area. a bit more time and energy in it. we are also making sure that our available ins are the event that there is a situation where we don't have past.n the so, it is a combination of preserving the past and preparing for new varieties. i said earlier that our research has been created over the time -- i've been overseeing 700 plus plant varieties. got genomic information using that, or we don't, and we use breeding. it is a, nation and the balance. senator baldwin: thank you to the chairman and -- ranking member for their leniency and watching the clock. senator: thank you for joining us and thank you for your questions to the secretary. let me editorialize, mr. secretary, for just a moment, with regards to agricultural

research. the 2016 agricultural appropriation bill provided $350 .illion for avre we worked hard under the toocation that we had provide additional support for agricultural research. you mentioned its importance, as have a number of my colleagues. my editorial comment is that we cannot compete with the administration's budget when they use mandatory spending as the solution to funding this and many other programs. not just in your budget, but across the federal government. federal government wide. again, this is a budgetary issue isond your scope, but it important to that the administration recognize that when they make a budget request to us as appropriators, we do

not have the ability to provide funding on mandatory spending. i think they know that. bar.ts of our -- it sets a perhaps it's just posturing to administratione and your department is more interested in agricultural funding than we are. but when we come to our ,urisdiction to provide support in my view, we have been there. you have been kind enough to attempt to include me in a visit to cuba. i appreciate that invitation. been a longtime advocate for lifting the embargo. particularly as it relates to food, medicine, and agricultural commodities to cuba. i had some success in that regard as a member of the house of representatives. your budget includes some funding for changes that may occur in our relationship or isn't occurring in our relationship with cuba. what is the circumstances by

which you ask for dollars for agricultural representation in cuba? secondly, knowing that the appropriations process in which you are asking for this money to be included maybe a controversial request -- i'm not certain -- but even if it's not, this process takes a long time. what are we doing in cuba today to export and assist in the sale of agricultural commodities? secretary vilsack: [chuckles] well, senator, the embargo statute basically prohibits the department of agriculture from using any of its market assistance programming money. so, we can't directly help promote, as we do in other countries. that's one of the reasons we need to get rid of the embargo. even if we covered of it tomorrow, we wouldn't necessarily be prepared -- even if we got rid of it tomorrow, we wouldn't necessarily be prepared

to do everything we could in cuba to regain the market share we have lost over the years. we don't have the relationships or the people on the ground to basically know the people that we need to know on the cuban side to effectuate more trade. that's the reason we would ask for more personnel to go down to cuba, to be permanently located down there to create relationships so that when the embargo is in fact lifted we can use promotional resources in a position to take advantage expeditiously. i don't know the amount of dollars you have requested off the top of my head. secretary vilsack: i think it is $1.5 million. senator moran: that's right. the point you are making is that that is not to assist directly in support subsidization e-marketing program. it's directly about having personnel in cuba, developing relationships with potential

customers. and also tolsack: do an evaluation of the potential pests and diseases we may confront when the relationship becomes more bilateral. the second piece of this is -- you know, there are commodity groups very interested in doing business down there. a competitive advantage we have not taken full advantage of. they are asking us to explore ways in which they themselves can do what we can do. can they be more aggressive in their promotion efforts? we are looking for ways for them to be more aggressive. so that without the direct support of the usda, the state agate commissioner, commodity groups, commissioners, will be able to promote the product. ,enator moran: in that regard my understanding of the current state of the law to cuba is that we can sell agricultural commodities, food and medicine,

to cuba, for cash. it's harder, but we can. so, commodity groups could promote those sales today. secretary vilsack: yes. the question is whether any or resources checked off could be used by those groups. we are in the process of trying to figure out the answer to that question. we don't necessarily want to create a circumstance where we are violating the law. we want to understand the law. but this is a tremendous opportunity for us. senator moran: dr. johansson, in his conversation with us last week, indicated significant opportunities and compared it to the dominican republic. 80% of cubansack: food is imported. i think we do about 10%, 15% of the needs today. we should be doing 50%. senator moran: we've seen significant improvements in the

opportunity to sell. i think it was in 2010, or 2011, regulations were altered as to what point in time the money had to be exchanged. and then the third-party financing issues. but those are regulatory issues that, perhaps, will be addressed. will be issue of cuba one of broad interest in .ongress it has its opponents, which i've discovered in my time working on this issue. let me return to a topic we have visited before, last year, in this same setting. i encourage you, and you said you would do and continue your conversations with the federal communications commission. i expressed an ongoing concern about the ability for particularly rural telephone companies to be able to repay loans that they oh the rural based on theces

decisions that the fcc has and is continuing to make. and i would again highlight this issue for you in the sense that it is important, i assume, to you that we allow those companies to expand broadband opportunities in rural america. but also you may have a default rate of significant magnitude if the fcc makes commissions. particularly as it relates to the universal service fund, which would have consequence to a telephone company -- let me broaden that -- a broadband providers opportunity to repay. secretary vilsack: we are congress and of that and i can assure you that we indicate to fcc the concern in that space. so, we are keeping an eye on it. and we have advised them of your concern and our concern. on the same topic a broadband, i'm an advocate, obviously, of the expansion of

those opportunities in the places unserved. i worry from time to time that various programs perhaps more related to the stimulus package than the programs under your loansment have provided and subsidization for companies to compete in already existing territory in which broadband services exist. could you tell me the current state of your programs that you are responsible for and their ability to obtain support from your department to compete with existing providers? we don't haveack: unlimited resources. we have to make sure that we -- that they do the job and that we are mostly focused on unserved and underserved areas. we are not creating a circumstance where there is competition. unmet trying to meet an need. senator moran: you use the few

words there to cause me to ask you -- would you confirm that to me? secretary vilsack: sure. i'm not trying to be evasive. it is not based on a place where there is already service. we may be in at situation where we are trying to upgrade the service that is being provided so that download speeds and upload speeds are increased. i don't know if that falls in the scope of your question about working with an existing operation. i know moran: circumstances were loans or .rants were made in order to make that , there werepossible areas that already had service.

they were larger communities and i assume the revenue generated at larger areas makes it economically more viable for service to be provided in places that are much smaller and has no service. , my view isrocess the government program is the subsidy. and taking the revenue generated there support areas that don't have service. you deserve aack: more detailed answer and i will make sure you get it. senator moran: i'm almost done, mr. secretary. food aid. the mcgovern program. reductions ining spending in that area.

position,e with your your budget request, how would usda absorb those cuts? are there ongoing programs that would be affected? countries that you would exclude from the program? how would you spend the money you have remaining. >> there are countries as you know. it is designed not to be a permanent support for countries but designed to show the wisdom of linking education and food with the hope that the host country would take over that responsibility. there have been countries were we are active and involved which we think is time for them for them to pick up the mantle.

there is not a circumstance where we can cut off or cut out people without assistance without some substitute. possibility, for local purchases. we focus on individual programs.

to be very candid, this is an area that has frustrated me more than any since i have been secretary. everybody knows this is a problem. , i had to give out seven american flags to family members that lost loved ones. themhe reason why some of were lost is because we have not been able to do the job we need to do in making our forests more resilient. and to me, a fire is no different than a flood or tornado or hurricane. where we fund not out of an operating budget that from an emergency budget. if we could just create a circumstance for the uncontrolled fires, it would

create more flexibility within and budget which we share could be more adequate. senator moran: thank you for your passion and your compassion. i appreciate you being in manhattan, kansas. thank you very much. i would highlight as the transition occurs, my impression is that there may be employees that do not relocate. we want to work with you to make certain the training and the existtment opportunities to make certain that when the day comes, you are fully staffed with significant expertise. and finally, your budget

proposes a $5 million increase. it is for something that i find very appealing. certain they intend to have a hearing. how to bring veterans to agriculture. secretary vilsack: after a good deal of effort, we have secured commitments from the department of defense to begin the process. receive a series of briefings. now we are getting permission to be part of that process. provide veterans with the opportunity to find out how they might be able to access the

chance to be a farmer. you can go in now and plug-in your wish list of what kind of farmer you would like to be. if it is conservation, whatever it might be. more education and opportunities that exist, the greater the interest will be. we also know that 70% of worlds farmers are women. participateerest to

and it requires outreach and time. an easy way for people to get information. that is the purpose of this. he was a great proponent of this. our work has been very successful. you're going to see an increased interest in working with other veterans groups. efforts.aud those we have seen a number of individuals that have created opportunities for veterans returning with traumatic injuries. in this case, beekeeping. incidentally, legislation that i to create aned

opportunity for veterans to use to use their bill and become farmers. i hope they say no. secretary vilsack: i just wanted >> senator whiten and i we workedworking with very hard to persuade the administration.

it is absolutely important. we will wait and see what it looks like. you are absolutely right. the fires should be treated as a natural disaster. we have constantly robbed that

for fighting fires. at the point of disaster rather than treating the force on the front and. >> i am not going to authorize transfers. secretary vilsack: not from this committee, to another. it basically takes everybody off the hook. >> i also want to add my words agreement.

certainly wisconsin is not a state where we have many. we have significant part with small businesses. working on a number of issues , i did not have a which is refer promoting agricultural innovation.

the chairman and secretary, i am a big fan. >> we look forward to working with you on that and other issues. thank you for your kindness and the working relationship you have. i would add my complement to you. i have been on it. i am impressed, pleased about the level of the knowledge and detail that you know. thisss it shouldn't assume

is your opportunity to appear in a budget hearing. i would like to thank you for being a secretary that apparently knows what's going on. that is pleasing to me. becomerything to i want to be knowledgeable as well. public you for your service. secretary vilsack: it is an honor to appear before this committee and i really feel blessed that i get to work with incredibly dedicated people and we all work for an amazing group

of people that do so much for this country. they are sometimes underappreciated or not appreciated at all. i consider it a deep honor. i won't diminish what you said by sounding very formal but there are words i must say. the question that you would like to submit or the records to be turned within one week which is wednesday, march 16. we appreciate it if you can respond within four weeks of that time. i think the general men that accompanies you today and i believe that concludes our hearing. inc. you. -- thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the

national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

[inaudible conversations]

in >> joint is this thursday for live coverage of the white house state dinner for canadian prime minister justin should go -- justin trudeau. on c-span. former first lady nancy reagan died last sunday at the age of 94. and right now at the reagan presidential library, her body is lying in repose for visitors to pay their respects and guarded by members of the police. we'll watch for a few minutes.

nancy reagan of brought to the presidential library about two hours ago for visitors to pay their respects.

he won't be able to make it to the funeral friday, we understand. we will have it lie for you on c-span. this is a little more than an hour. >> we can go straight to questions. >> do you have anything to add to reports if u.s. special -- [indiscernible]

>> i have seen the reports. at this point, i am still about commenting on you do know, however, that there are u.s. military forces that are on the ground in iraq that are part of the forces that are dedicated to carrying out raids, collecting intelligence, and where possible, getting access to high-value targets. but i just am have the information for you about that. any information that does come will be distributed by the department. >> was the president surprised by hillary clinton's upset? >> i have not talked to him about the results of yesterday's election, but i think many people have