that is the way washington should work. -- the global food security act. if passed, the act will solidify the incredible progress made by seed the future and position the u.s. for continued leadership in the global fight for malnutrition -- in malnutrition. gains build on the ranging from 33% drop in ghana in bangladesh. when we work together, we are powerful force for change. i'm glad to have all of you by my side as we work to lock this coming year what we have accomplished and to meet the challenges ahead of us. i'm enormously proud to lead u.s.a.i.d. and confident of what

we can achieve together. let me thank you again for all of your being here. an evera.i.d. is evolving institution. for too long, it has been viewed as the u.s. agency for foreign assistance. theas long since abandoned notion that the solution to development is assistance alone. trust me -- assistance is important. i'm cramming for my first budget hearing and i will make a very strong case. but we've also learned that how many dollars we spent is measure of our commitment nor the means by which we measure our success. because we have adjusted to a new landscape. founded 50i.d. was years ago, donor governments were responsible for three quarters of all finance flowing to the developing words. no we account for less than 10%. u.s.a.i.d. is acted on the fact that it take multiple streams of

capital to finance sustained development and we can make much more of our system -- as the senator has said. we are making smarter investments with our assistance, leveraging private capital and supporting governments, small businesses and entrepreneurs. the results are nothing to scoff at. thank you, senator, for your comments. u.s.a.i.d. and the other agencies have mobilized 4$43 billion. in latin america, we have $5.00 for every $1.00. rs have helped entrepreneu secure financing -- and partnered with coca-cola to improve access to safe drinking water and access to medical supplies. our our challenges going forward are scale and sustainability. we help economies become less

dependent by driving study flows of capital. the u.s.a.i.d. that i lead is also acting on the fact that development is not just an aspiration, but it is also disciplined. i'm very proud to see that since adopting a new evaluation policy in 2011, u.s.a.i.d. has averaged 200 at turner -- external evaluations the year, and staff are using this to adjust projects. we are doing more to measure impact, even in areas like democracy in governance, where impact is harder to measure. creating ais now feedback loop needed to ensure that what we learn is still impacting everything we do. our challenge going forward is

to institutionalize this practice, including my strengthening our viewer for policy planning and learning to ensure that we can thrive with excellence, scale what works, and be fully transparent and accountable. on the.d. is also acting fact that local ownership matters. hase 2010, u.s.a.i.d. doubled the percentage of funding obligated to local governments, civil society partners and local businesses. in ending preventable child and maternal deaths, improving reading skills and building stronger institution has derived from the leadership of communities and countries. the success of fee the future has much to do with the fact that african leaders acted on their own to increase, to call for an increase in spending on agriculture and every country should have its own food security plan. u.s.a.i.d.'s acted on the fact we can achieve more when we join forces with others, including many of you in this room. the's why we partner across

u.s. government with agencies from the department of agriculture to the overseas private investment corporation to nasa. that is why we revitalize relationships with great institutions of higher learning here in the u.s. and abroad. we have strengthen relationships with communities of faith and engagement with the private sector is not fully invested in the way we do business at our challenges to marshal these partnerships not just for good but also for the scale we need to keep pace with demand. we are acting on the fact that development solutions are manifold. i think many of you know that for decades this field has been characterized by the flavor of th ee month phenomenon. depending on who you ask -- i have been through all of these -- the one really critical key to development has a different -- at different times been world agriculture, infrastructure, human capital, democratic systems, gender equity. the fact of the matter is that

development requires all of these and more. only tochallenge is not integrate these but we also have the opportunity to integrate our newest force multiplier, the global development lab, to spur and integrate innovation across and beyond the agency. finally, and this is a new and i think extraordinarily positive development, u.s.a.i.d. is acting on the fact that our role is -- as a developing agency is to bring analysis, solutions and expertise to the mix. when it comes to seizing opportunities and tackling the challenges that confront our government every day and in every corner of the world. earlyeans using our warning systems to enable the u.s. to respond early to crises, sharing our analyses and log experience with transitions to help shape effective policies, and garnering decades of experience in the individual countries to help inform our next steps. our challenge now is to build the systems to ensure that u.s.a.i.d.'s extorting her

foundation of knowledge is brought to the policy table with rigor and regularity. even as i work with the men and women of u.s.a.i.d., and i want to say it is an absolute privilege to do so, i've also the challenges we face as a broader community. i've been in this field for 35 years not, which means that sender purdue -- senator purdue father, because he is really not that old. but i can't remember a moment as pivotal as the one as we face now. like everyone in the room knows, this is a moment of extraordinaire progress. over the last 30 years, extreme poverty has been cut in half. boys and girls are enrolling in primary school at equal rates and there are half as many children out of school today as there were 15 years ago. the number of children who die from preventable deaths has been

cut in half since 1990. every continent has seen substantial gains with individual incomes growing by more than 1/3 in every region of the developing world. it is also a moment of global consensus. in the last 12 months, the world has agreed to the new sustainable development goals, a policy for financing development with assistance, private capital domestic resources, and a plan to curb climate change. thislowing against all positive momentum are what president obama has called "the dangerous currents that risk pulling us back into a darker, more disordered world." you can see these currents at work around the world in the volatility of world commodity prices and shifts that knock economy is off balance and punch families back into poverty. in the conflicts that tear regions apart and are spawning record waves of refugees. and the willful abuse human rights, the denial of humanitarian access.

and the rise and expansion of predatory terrorist networks. the weather inof the china mosquito bites that become a health emergency overnight. -- the tiny mosquito bites that become a health emergency overnight. we have to answer despair with opportunity and conflict with peace. even with all the gains we have seen, that is no easy task. and when you step back to see the full picture, it is almost as if the good and the bad, the signs of progress in the dangerous trends, are in a dead heat with one balanced against the other. now, our work at this moment is made easier because there is a global and national consensus that development matters. we just heard it from our senate leaders. theyears ago when he signed first-ever presidential policy directive on global development, president obama committed us to making sure that the united

states would be a global leader in international development in the 21st century. the steps were -- we're taking at u.s.a.i.d. are helping the nation live up to the president's pledge. and going for it is the latest national security strategy of firms come the united states will continue to meet with all the instance of american power. defense, diplomacy, and development. a commitment to strong u.s. leadership, there are some challenges we cannot tackle alone. to conquer the dangerous currents, there are questions we have to answer with one voice. the global community committing together to a better world. i would like to pose three. the first is whether, even as we respond to the urgency of now, are we bold enough to invest now to manage of future of rapid and tumultuous change? when humanitarian need across the globe is as great as i can remember. every time a disaster hits, the world is there with was -- to

respond with food and medicine and tools to rebuild. we are good at it. nobody is better at it than the united states. over the last seven years, u.s.a.i.d. has deployed 23 disaster assistance response or dart teams. 23. responded to an average of 60 emergencies per year. no matter the crisis, syria, earthquakes or ebola, u.s.a.i.d. has been there to save lives and meet people's needs on the ground. but many of these crises are chronic, complex and severe. they require more time, more money, and more people to respond. this year's el niño has been unfolding on a global scale and threatening the livelihoods of people from latin america to africa. in too many cases, like in south sudan, governments make an effective response even harder because those charged to leave have turned their backs on the people who need the most. andre today feeding --

responding to el niño on four continents, just as we will continue to respond wherever there is need. the american people expect it and respond themselves with generosity. but even as we respond, we need to make sure that the urgent is the-- does not drown out important. we need to make long-term investment to prevent the crises that shatter the lives of millions and cost the taxpayers billions. investing now means staying the course for years to come on t global health security agenda. he propelled in this initial phase by congressional approval of our emergency ebola request last year, so that every country in the world has the capacity to prevent, detect and respond to diseases like ebola and now zika. it means scaling some of the most effective but least visible work u.s.a.i.d. is doing to foster resilience. where the capacity of people, communities and countries to withstand external shot.

theeans building institutions needed to sustain democracy and governance by taking a page from what the world has done to strengthen global public health and marshaling resources and cantical buy ins that generate scale, and model success. we must also maintain a steady drumbeat to uphold the basic norms without which we cannot succeed. against the corruption that undermines progress, for the rights of all citizens in civil society, and for the obligations of government to prevent discrimination against women, against people of faith, against tinorities, against the lgb community, against the disabled or any other person. the second question we have to answer is whether we have the strategic patients to support the transition before us until they succeed. interruption.

our partners work and some of the toughest environment you can imagine. brand new countries working to build institutions of governance. countries reeling from decades of civil war. countries consumed by insecurity and instability. women risk everything, sometimes paying the ultimate sacrifice as they and our partners strive to plant this use of dignity and opportunity. that would be incredibly difficult under any circumstance. but try with limited funding, too few donors, security constraints and ever-growing expectations and most people would give up. but our people do not and we owed him our thanks and a commitment to pursue change that as take.lisa's long progress cannot be mentioned -- yearred in four or eight increments. that is not how development works. it is not how transitions work , either. the world bank found that even

the fastest transformers took 20 years to achieve functioning government systems, and another seven to bring corruption under control. these are countries with a solid head start. they began with conditions that help expedite the process. like a history of working government or relatively literate populace. given all of the enormous difficulties, there were some who say the hard work is not that to, but tell president santos of columbia which 15 your's was on the brink of being declared a failed state. colombiansays the people see the future with hope. and that is because colombia with our study support did the hard work to tackle the structural conditions allowing drug cartels to run rampant, to climb out of recession and two and the decades long war. -- we were with them every step of the way. kosvar woman who works

at a -- as a foreign service national serving her country by helping kosovo write its constitution and build institutions where there were none less than a decade ago. today, she sits at a judge on her country's constitutional court. now consider what will take when the time comes in syria. change takes time and hard work. it also takes strategic patients and managing expectations of administrations, of the congress and of the media. but it is worth it and if we know anything, it is that the cost of impatiens are far too great. the last question i think we have to answer is this -- are we willing to adapt our systems and our institutions to the world we face? if there is one thing we know we need is agility. path to leftrsue a in progress, we must move's to

seize opportunities where they it's supportr elections in sri lanka or burma are set up education centers for nigerian families displaced by boko haram. that means we need to adapt our systems and institutions for a rapidly changing world. this year, we have two opportunities to do just that. first in may, the united states will participate in the world humanitarian summit in istanbul. as a work together to meet the needs of millions, we also have the opportunity to strike on new grand bargain that leverages more efficient donor actions to spur parallel changes in agencies so that we are more strategic, more effective, more efficient and more nimble. we will also have the opportunity and the obligation on -- head

in september, president obama will host a summit on refugees in the margins of the u.n. general assembly. there is no question the global refugee crisis is putting her systems at host countries to the test. it is also putting people to the test. most refugees face features about education or jobs or normalcy. often for generationa. the debate on the global refugee crisis has sparked has been more about rhetoric, some of it hateful, then about solutions. the president's summit provides an opportunity to change that by challenging the world to commit to solutions, to sustain humanitarian funding, to resettlement and other legal channels, and to enable refugees to secure the protection, education, and livelihoods they need for their families. finally, let me come back to u.s.a.i.d. the agencyof where is today, and i know that what

the united states needs regardless of administration or party is ineffective, agile and impactful u.s.a.i.d. one that's ready to handle whatever the future brings. so, iend where i began and leave you with the hope that perhaps more easily offered by an administrator near the beginning but also the end of return -- of her term. it is kind of interesting. that we can strike our own grand bargain. shown the development is an endeavor backed by bipartisan commitment. we have shown that u.s.a.i.d. can deliver. i have told numbers of congress that i will be transparent and accountable, a pledge made easier by the hard work and rigors of the men and women of u.s.a.i.d. i've also said that i will not be shy about coming to congress to ask for what we need. last month i met with the former u.s.a.i.d. administrators who spent four administrations in both political parties. each of whom maintains the same fierce love for a commitment to

the agency they held while in office. i'm looking at one of them as i say, i know they would agree, when i say that all of us, across party rides and from one buildingration to keep a stronger u.s.a.i.d., one that delivers accountability and agencylexibility and an with the agility and needs, the agency we need in the world deserves. threemeet these challenges, we can usher in an era of progress. if we persist through the setbacks, shocks in the country's transformation, in years to come, we will have capable and responsible partners. if we come together as a global community and say we can do this better, we will have systems worthy of our complex and changing world. the men and women of u.s.a.i.d. are ready to leave. and we need all of you by our

sides. thank you very much. [applause] are we going any particular place? on. think i've got mine can you hear me? three tech savvy people. gayle: goodness me.

you are going to start off to >> gayle, thank you very much for that address. a themeo pick up on that we started talking about before we all came out here and senators talked about really the venue -- i pt an! on the bipartisanship afford assisted. it is a start political period. it is really striking how over the past 15 years there has been a common support in backing for the range of initiatives that have been undertaken. in addition to what you say, i look at the signature aspects of the millennium challenge corporation, the transparency, the ownership, the evaluation, accountability, and this

administration, largely under your leadership, took those themes and concepts and took them from one agency and spread them across the whole for assistance program. eign assistance program. you mention electrify africa, which republican congress enacted. and the foreign assistance accountability and transparency act which passed the house and will hopefully be poised to pass the senate. tomorrow the senate foreign relations committee case of legislation that would in the act into law this administrations feed the future program. your consultations during your hearing, you say you never had to make the arguments on assistance. why do we have this strong support for foreign assistance? that inton we tie what you call for, which is a grand bargain of greater transparency and accountability in exchange for more flexibility and agility?

will say i find it striking and is one of the things about this job, despite -- this is quite pleasurable. literally and no meeting did i have to say, development is really important. you hit on ta a few of the thins that have made this happen. pursuitthere is room in of development for everybody regardless of what your point of entry is. behind it, given that it is an expression of our values. some because it makes economic good sense and some because it is a national security impact. i think we have been able to show mcc from the beginning. u.s.a.i.d. is doing an external job with this. it works. show the actual result of good investments.

i think there is greater awareness that it matters because we are seeing a lot of evidence of what happens when the world is not making investments in development we need to make. a basis forthere is the bipartisan support that is rooted in a lot of fact in a lot of evidence. i think, my sense of the grand bargain is this. any administration serving in washington needs a strong u.s.a.i.d. the u.s. government needs a strong u.s.a.i.d. to have a strong u.s.a.i.d., it needs -- the steward of taxpayers money. i'm aware of that every day. i think all of us are is the figure out what we do and how we do it. as in order for aid to be nimble as a needs to be in the world changing as quickly as this one is, i think learning the flexible and that will allow us to be agile is something we should strive for. i think there is a willingness to do this. there is an ability on the part of u.s.a.i.d. to show results,

to be transparent. one of the great things about evaluations was sometimes they show you are doing things really well and you can go to scale. that one ofey show your assumptions was wrong and you need to make a midcourse correction. and that is what happens. and sometimes they show that it sounded like a good idea but maybe it needs to stop. that is what happens. it is my hope that we have the confidence and the recognition of the need to overtime provide this agency with the flexibility and needs to be the agency i think we need. thank you. great talk.a thank you, all, very much for being here. fewnt to tug on threads ona of the things you talked about. you mentioned private capital, public private partnerships, markets, rule of law, institution building. music to my ears. things thatof the

is clear to anybody who cares about the transformation of the developing world is the understanding that democratic capitalism, that entrepreneur ship are the things that will allow them to propel themselves. they are not taking money, they are changing their lives. obviouslyres -- that requires the kind of systems in place that permit that. i know there has been a huge change in focus at a.i.d. from the old days when you did think about handing out money as a metric. handing out food. you are so much more than that now or perhaps you can just talk a little bit about this transformation, and think about is optimally. configured. is an organization that can propel the centrality of this public-private partnership in this emphasis on markets and on entrepreneurship into the next generation and change the way that businesses are perceived?

gayle: yes and no. yes, in the sense that i think has proven to adapt very well and to do a lot of different things. i think the capacity to work on increasing private capital, which is basically what's part of the mission is whether it is entrepreneurs, whether it is larger businesses, whether it is domestic investment or foreign investment, is now pretty much in the dna of the agency. i find with all the mission directors and every regional bureau, it is something that missions do. it is something that the leaders of those bureaus do. we have additional capacity with things that have been built over the last few years to provide initial capital to entrepreneurs and innovators and to get those things started. i think the moment that we are on now -- it has to do with the capability of the agency but it has to do with the partnerships

themselves. when i said, this notion of what is a systemic public-private partnership. there are extraordinary partnerships across the agency and all over the world that bring together private sector actors, local partners and u.s.a.i.d. the question now is whether in some of these, can we look at the kind of scale that might come from looking systemically at one? systemically at some of the think were we have i have the potential to take it to the next level. the agency is doing it. it is a different question to ask, to optimize the ability of otherency to do it or things we could or should do over the coming years to give us greater capability. absolutely, yes. thing that i think is probably confusing, morph the outside -- more from the outside, is how a.i.d. and mcc the othernd all

organization focused on not do similar things, how do you work together? >> let me make a point of clarification, because this isn't usaid abandoning everything else to pursue this mission. there's a lot of work we do in global health, for example, that is helping provide the health services, build the capacity for health services that is not predominantly a private capital exercise. it's interesting. i worked on it a lot at the n.s.c. the o you bring together clementary with every agency. we've got every agency in the government that has a capability in this area. we all came together and what does each agency have to contribute and how do we bring

them together rather than having multiple agencies doing a bit on energy and poverty and here a bit on energy and regulatory policy there? i think we found some ways to bring back compliment airity together. we work with m.c.c. on a certain basis developing power in certain agencies. and power africa, we brought m.c.c. which has a compact and usaid who brings assistance and advisors and opic is able to provide risk insurance and other tools. the department of energy has expertise. it's about bringing the complementary together and i think there's one other thing. the presidential policy directive on global development we did in the first turn, on the surface it sound like oh, that's just a piece of paper and directive and sounds very obvious. what it did through the course of a nine-month study that

proceeded it and the promulgation of the directive and agencies acting on it was i think brought together agencies in a way that is noncompetitive but again complementary in a way i actually think it's working. i'm getting some head nods on the people working on it. >> gayle, you talked in your address about local ownership which has been a key initiative and focus for the administration of aid across the programs and you also reference domestic resource mobilization and both are aimed at building up the local capacity of government and nongovernmental institutions and organizations and countries. and give us a little bit of the rationale for local ownership&the role domestic resource mobilization can play in that.

>> development isn't something we do to people. it is something that happens and people do with our support. local ownership is a prerequisite for the entire enterprise. varying vare yeaing -- degrees in ownership. we were able to build that on a compliment of african leaders spending on agriculture and all countries having a plan. local ownership in another sense means working with local partners. in that it's extremely important because we get a two-fer out of it and are able to contribute and help the development process but work with partners that themselves are developing as our partners in building capacity. on a global resource mobilization side it's my personal view this is one of the most exciting trends we're seeing and it's early days i

think in a lot of cases. but we've found, for example, a subject that sound like it would not be the most exciting for a major conference or event, how can we have effective tax administrations him, is one of the issues that comes up a great deal. came up a lot in the negotiations around the financing for development agreement where a lot of countries are saying we need to figure out ways to develop revenue streams that will enable us to fund our budgets including health and education and some of the things that have for a long time been financed by foreign aid. i think there's a lot that we can do -- it's not a major amount of assistance on the part of the united states to help build that capacity. it's often technical assistance and other means but we're seeing in health, increased expenditure by many, many governments on health. we're seeing a lot of governments, again, look what they need to do to mobilize their own revenue streams.

we're looking at a lot of local financing and increased capacity of local banks and financial institutions to support entrepreneurs. the trend line we've seen over the years of assistance becoming a lesser share of the total, i think domestic resource -- the domestic resource shares are going to grow significantly over time and i think we would be very wise to do as much as we can to support that. >> whereas a lot of emphasize has been on enhancing government revenues and making efficient act systems but also helps to helping generate and mobilize private capital, also. >> absolutely. absolutely. i mean, on something like feed the future and places we've been able to mobilize private capital, a percentage of that is domestic private capital which is the other piece of this and you know, that's critically important. foreign direct investment i think is important to every country but ensuring the

domestic private sector companies and including small entrepreneurs you mentioned, it's the small businesses that really helping them grow makes a huge difference. >> i wouldn't be doing my job if i didn't ask you a hard question. >> ok. >> but we are going to -- after i bogart the microphone another minute, we're opening things up to folks so in the time we have remaining think of your very clever and penetrating questions because we're turning to the audience. i wanted to ask you, you mentioned something that gave me more fodder here. you mentioned attending the world humanitarian summit in istanbul, the turks just closed down their biggest, most independent newspaper. they're vying with egypt in a couple of other countries to have the most journalists in prison of any country. i know they are a nato partner and are suffering from the inflow of refugees but you talked about that. wee talked about egypt. they are a recipient of one of

the largest amounts of u.s. assistance, part of that is camp david but obviously we try to use that in ways that are productive for us and for the egyptians, yet there are more than 10,000 political prisonners in egypt and a lot of political backsliding as well as, frankly, not a lot of economic reform happening that is really necessary to the current government's success. we give a lot of money to pakistan. we could go on here. but i know this is a tough one and a lot of it rests on policy decisionmaking, but help us under how you're able to operate in this environment and how you would address people who look at this and say what the hell are we doing giving money to these people? gayle: all these are cases of a matter of foreign policy but i'll tell you how i thought about it and a lot of it is being able to spend time with the men and women in the agency that work in some of these places where it's different in

some of the environments and that's to think about -- i'm always thinking in buckets but let me tell you about three buckets. one bucket is the work that usaid does that is straight development. we're in places where the conditions are aligned. where you've got a very, very good chance of achieving sustained gains across the board. and that's a huge portion of what we do. but a second bucket is the crisis prevention response and mitigation and those are the places where through things like resilience and other work that we do, we are trying to prevent, obviously, but then manage crises as they occur and do a great deal of response. the third is those places where we work where as a matter of foreign policy, national security we have a presence and we have a need to impact the development agenda in some

positive manner but where, quite frankly, it is much harder. the conditions are not always aligned. it may not always be the priority it is in some other environments. the security conditions are often extremely tough for our people to move around. and in those cases i would be dishonest if i said it isn't much harder to achieve progress. i think we've got records in some cases where we have been able to achieve gains that are slow and it is slower in those environments oftentimes to build up the progress and some cases where it's proven much more difficult. our job as a.i.d. is to do two things. one is to identify those areas where we can make the gains where regardless of the circumstances i think we all would agree there, critically important. that in egypt or pakistan or any of these countries have stable economies and satisfied people and everything else that goes with it. the other is to take what we learn from those situations and share it with the rest of the

government. and i think we're able to provide insights that are often quite helpful. but i do think we've got to reckon with the fact i don't think this is anything that's going to change. it's historically been something a.i.d. has been asked to do and something a.i.d. will be asked to do going on into the future. it's hard. but i would say i think people do a., a very good job the a identifying those areas where we can have some impact. and doing the kind of evaluation, looking at things that enables us to say, quite frankly in the privacy of internal policy discussions and other deliberations, this is working and this isn't, what does it mean for how we move forward? it's hard, no question. but it's very difficult. >> goodness, you are ready. >> go ahead, pick the first person. >> this young lady had her hand up first. >> introduce yourself and be very brief. > hi, rachel os: well,

"congressional quarterly." rachel: you spoke about the need to build resiliency where crisis are happening all the times, oftentimes in unexpected places. how do you hain obtain that goal when these crisis are demanding so much political attention and you also have limitations on the budget. for example, i know in the zika debates on capitol hill, there's been a big push from lawmakers to use the funding left over from ebola and allocate that to the seeka crisis? gayle: the trick is we have to walk and chew gum at the same time. that's why i mentioned the global health security agephardta and that's something the president has launched a year before we were dealing with an ebola epidemic. and the simple premise of that is that we need to do the very long, hard but doable work of building the capacity of countries to prevent, detect and respond to the kind of

health outbreaks that we are seeing increasing numbers of. it's every six months there's a new acronym or a new virus out there. on the resilience front it means even as we respond -- i think there are two things. even as we respond, there are ways to respond in an emergency where you can keep a malnourished child alive or you can keep that child alive by building his or her nutritional base back stronger even as you're helping them survive a crisis. the second way -- this is something again i think the agency is doing phenomenal work on this and something i want to give much more visibility to is again layering in what are the coping mechanisms for people and communities and countries so that when they face shocks like the shocks we're seeing around the world, they are more ready to withstand them. some of that is done through nutrition, some of that is done through things like productive

safety net programs that enable him poor farmers to work together to harvest water, to protect their livestock and have systems in place so that, again, if there's a drought or conflict, they aren't forced into a situation they have to sell and lose their livestock for the duration. again, it's not easy. everything would be easier with lots more money. i think the agency does a superb job of walking and chewing gum at the same time. part of the challenge i'm talking about is we can't just do one or the other. and i think we all know we are going to respond to crisis whenever they occur. so what the agency has taken onboard and i think we'll expand and i think we need to expand, quite frankly, globally is the ability to keep building that base not only through our long-term development enterprise but through building in these layers of resilience because we know we'll see shock of the nature we're seeing now

with greater regularity over the coming decade. >> right here, this gentleman. >> thank you, gayle, i'm john kunwright at the hunger project. i wanted to ask you about how you see as an administrator leveraging the expertise of the different sectoral groups, health, education, wash, d.r.g., into more integrated trategies. gayle: i think it's a smart thing to do and i think it's something we do pretty well. i'll tell you we were in a staff meeting this morning where one of the assistant administrators was talking about doing one of the regular meetings with many of the groups represented here today on a particular region and to get everybody's insights and thoughts on what's working and what's not. and i think that needs to be and i think is in most cases something of regular order.

and i think it's something -- well, there you have it. >> gentleman up front. the microphone is coming. just a moment. >> thank you very much for enlightening us on your vision and addressing the developmental challenges in our part of the world. i would like to really ongratulate you for mentioning the local workings. but how about ensuring ownership and systems -- inaudible] gayle: everybody wants to untie aid.

ok. part of local ownership is country ownership. one of the things we've seen around the world is that when a country takes ownership but the leadership, whether it's at the uppermost levels or the local level is willing to put a few things into the mix, political capital, a commitment to transparency and fairness, that we get gains that last for a very, very long time. so that is -- i think that's one of the most important ingredients for long-term success. so that's key. user friendly systems, we are always trying to be more user friendly. i will say that over the years, there's been a lot of layering of new systems and new ideas and new procedures and i will not put this on the career men and women of usaid as much as i'd put it on the rotating

leadership, new teams come in, we've all got brilliant ideas, and so i think, you know, it's a constant struggle and constant pursuit of the agency to try to figure out how we can manage our systems in such a way we're able to satisfy the congress and the american taxpayers and also avoid burdening our partners with undue levels of systems. and that's a constant challenge and something we continue to work on. it's one of the reasons i mention this notion of flexibility because i think there's a lot that can be done over time to streamline the systems of a.i.d. and totally responsible to taxpayers in the congress but also be much more user friendly and i think that's why i mentioned that one. and there are all sorts of yeah. about -- >> it's interesting when you become a public official as opposed when i used to be a think tank.

>> we don't have to be be careful what we say. gayle: i actually think conditions that are tied to aid or who aid is tied to, all these kind of things i think have a lot to do with transparency, accountability, and evidence. and i think the more we do and the better we do -- this is true for a.i.d. and true for every donor and true for people who receive assistance from any donor, whether it's a government or n.g.o. the more transparent we are, the more accountable we are and the more evidence and data we bring to the mix that shows up or down what the impact is, i think the greater chance over time that there will be greater flexibility with assistance. i see an n.g.o. colleague of mine nodding his head and think it's true not just for bilateral donors but true across the board. but i think it's got to be that mix to ultimately unlock him

the ties. >> i wish we had more time. >> but we don't. >> and gayle, we appreciate you taking the time to talk and i think you've got a crowd of people here who under development, under the challenges that usaid are confronting and wish you well and dani, thank you for joining me today. gayle: thank you. [applause] dani: you clapped prematurely but can clap again if you want to. i want to thank gayle and brookings and all our staff. this kind of important conversation doesn't come together easily even though it looks easy so for all your people at a.i.d. and brookings and mine at a.e.i. and the senator staffs, thank you really very much and to all our guests, i wanted to make sure we said a warm thank you and i know you want to say a word.

gayle: this is a great job and great to come to work every morning and a great job you come to work and try to make the world a better place and it's a greater job because the number of people who care not only about development but about this institution and whether you've got critical things to say, things we can do better, things you think we're doing well. it makes a huge difference to the work we do every day and the work that i do that there are so many people who care about the mission and care about the agency. so i just want to thank everybody for being here and for that caring. it really makes a big difference. [applause]

>> today on "washington journal" from the center of american progress, and carlin

bowen of the american enterprise institute how the u.s. electorate is changing in terms of age and race and how it affects future elections. and n.p.r. policy reporter allison kodjak on the candidates' health care plans including donald trump's recently released health care proposal. we're live with your phone calls at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> this year student camp documentary competition was our largest yet. nearly 6,000 middle and high school students took part alone or in teams up to three. in all we received nearly 2,900 entries from 439 schools across the country and even from schools as far away as taiwan and the united arab emirates. now it's time to award $100,000 in prize money to our winners. for this year's contest, students were asked to produce documentaries using our road to the white house theme, specifically to document what issue they most wanted the

candidates to discuss during the 2016 presidential campaign. through their entries, students told us that the economy, equality, education, and immigration were all top issues. our judges have finalized their decisions for one grand prizewinner and four first place winners and 150 prizes in all. and there's one fan favorite selected by you. and now we are happy to announce our top prize winners. our grand prizewinner is olivia heard from janks high school and her living documentary up to our necks addresses the public debt. >> the united states is 18.15 trillion in debt. that doesn't just happen overnight, people. how does america get up to its neck in debt? every year a budget is formed doling out large sums of federal money to three main areas. the first of these is discretionary spending which in 2015 received $1.1 trillion.

the second section is mandatory spend chg received $2.45 trillion in the year 2015. lastly, there's the interest on the federal debt which received $229 billion. >> as our grand prizewinner olivia hurd wins $5,000 for our documentary and the c-span bus will travel to her school so we can present her a check for grand prize. our first prizes are centers nmia and ava, a fifth and sixth grader in blacksburg, virginia. their winning documentary is titled what should be done about money in politics." >> you see flyers in the mailbox and see it on tv and this is the way the politicians try to get elected. they spend millions on their campaign. as soon as one election ends the funding for the next election begins. every day congress is in session there are fundraisers

all over the country. in 2012 the presidential elections cost $2.6 billion. you can't help but wonder where does all this money come from? >> the first prize winners of our high school central category are 12th grader. griffin, michael and ben all attend troy high school in troy, michigan. their documentary is titled "the 1%." it addresses the scarity of fresh water. >> today americans are drowning in over the debated issues such as immigration, medicare, terrorism, leaked emails. though these are important topics, what will affect most americans is the issue of 1%. >> 1%. >> 1%. >> 1%. >> no, not that 1%. this 1%. the shining blue jewel of the united states, the great lakes. >> truly one of the most unique resources in the world. it's the largest fresh water resource in the world. nothing like it.

>> our student camp first prize winners from our high school west category are the 12th grader and 10th gradeer who attend metropolitan arts institute in phoenix. their documentary is entitled -- rethinking reform: prisons in america." >> the prison systems around the united states have changed rapidly in the last 20-30 years but let me address arizona. 20 years ago our prison population was about 20,000 people. now our state prison system is over 40,000. the composition of the prison population has also dramatically changed. >> finally, our fan favorite was selected through your online voting and we're happy to announce the winners who will seaf an additional $500, are first prize winners for

high school east category, 10th graders ben william and charles from montgomery high school in killer is spring, maryland. their documentary is entitled "driving forward" and tackles the topic of highway and bridge funding. >> americans love moving around. we love fast cars, big trucks, road trips, horsepower and 70-mile-per-hour speed limits. we drive further and have more cars than any other country in the world. but for all our love of what we drive, we tend to take what we drive on for granted. america's $2 million miles of road and 600,000 bridges are aging, congested and often dangerous. >> thanks to all the students and teachers who competed this year and congratulations to all our winners. the top 21 winning entries will air on c-span starting in april and all the winning entries are available for viewing online at student cam.org. >> former first lady nancy

reagan died on sunday at the age of 94. today her body was brought to the reagan presidential lieary in simi valley, california, with her pus is buried and will lie in repose until her funeral on friday. here's the arrival of her casket from the library earlier today.

>> we pray for our sister nancy that she may have eternal rest. servant,oh lord, your for she returns to you. wash her in everlasting light and closed her in her heavenly garments. may she hear your visitation. lord,e gaze upon you, face-to-face, and paste the blessedness of perfect rest. andangels around her shelter her in peace. in your hands, oh, lord, who commands our sister, nancy.

>> joins c-span friday at 2:00 p.m. eastern for the funeral service for nancy reagan. at the ronald reagan presidential library. first lady michelle obama, former president george w. bush and laura bush are among the dignitaries attending the live coveragetop on c-span.org. yesterday, agriculture century thom tillis i testified at a senate hearing on his department putting your budget. white house requested $24.6 billion in a culture spending for 2017. the senate appropriations subcommittee hearing is just under two hours.

>> we will proceed. i call this hearing together, and we appreciate the secretary joining us once again, the purpose of our hearing is to look at the fiscal year 2017 budget request. in addition to secretary health act, we welcome dr. johansson. we thank you for joining us. agriculture supports 16 million jobs nationwide and is certainly

the backbone of my state and community in states and communities across the world. as was indicated to us last week that farmers are facing a dramatic reduction in commodity prices and falling revenues, and we know the facts that net farm income fell 54%. times, it is critical that our nations a safety net performs well and allows them to continue and get the most abundant food supply in the world, as i indicated in our conversations. i would express my disappointment that once again the president's budget proposes significant cuts to crop insurance, even though we had a grassroots effort that successfully reversed the reduction.

that reduction pales in comparison to what this year's proposal in the budget request. as this subcommittee works to craft this years appropriation bill, my priorities will be to focus on supporting agricultural producers in the states in which they live and keeping the strong safety net will be the forefront of that effort. i look forward to discussing these issues at today's hearing, we when the senator arrives will give him an opportunity to make the statements he would like to make. then we will turn to -- we'll begin with your testimony -- welcome. >> thank you for the opportunity to be here today. i think i would take the opportunity to point out that behind each of these numbers

there are individuals and people that we care deeply about, so i thought i would take my time whoy to discuss the people benefited from the agricultural budget. the budget we submitted to the senate and house will support 43,000 farm loans. . we have our new 239,000 farmers need to credit they operate and own their farm operations. 80% of those resources are going to those beginning and socially disadvantaged producers. we will support our export assistance effort and every dollar we invest generates $35 of activity. -- an 18% return on investment.

it will provide enough resources to add 44 million acres to an already record number. we are particularly pleased with the response to the rccp program. in addition to providing opportunities for credit, we also will, as the chairman indicated, continue to administer the safety net programs. last year we provided 900,000 producers. arc or plc payments totaling $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. this budget will also fully fund 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. we also providing resources for 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. this is a budget that also will 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. this is also a budget that is $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. >> mr. 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. my question to you is those 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 a broader array of resources and 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. sen. moran: i 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 previously proposed rules, what changes do you plan to make it when discussion and outreach of you have the stakeholders in this regard? sec. vilsack: that process is 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. i have asked the team to look at 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. it's a reminder to us about the 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? sec. vilsack: i would say i 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 expedited and sometime in the late summer or early fall we are in a position to provide information specifically to the public for their comment and review. at that point 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 bit to reflect an more

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. the difference between providing 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 become even state specific and some are specific to the county or counties. we've seen an expansion of opportunity. about 77% of the poultry exports 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 eight years of service you have learned a lot. certainly in your introduction 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.

i just want to note in your 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 year is that under reynolds rent 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 -- vouchering 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. i want to turn to the real 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. it is a win-win program on several levels. sec. vilsack: help us fix the fire budget in that situation in rural oregon will change. >> thank you, chairman. i want to join 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 trying to streamline that time cost, both to federal employees into the people they work for? sec. vilsack:we are. this year, we implemented fsa plus. we 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

of milk or other dairy products every day. he's 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. we are trying 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. usda funds being used, you think that is through the national school lunch program, then? or might be 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. our hope is 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. you and i talked about the president asking you to play a leadership role in this effort to curb heroine 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 if they live -- even though 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. sec. vilsack: it is a

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. it will be important for us to have access to the overdose reversal drugs that are available. we might want to consider a general prescription that would allow family members to have access to that reversal drug, being able to respond quickly. it will be necessary for us to look at ways in which we can encourage states to have a 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 medication assistance programs bird -- assistance programs. you mentioned broadband, 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. my mother 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. i don't know all the information about the station in sydney. it is being 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 facility. 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.

the research for smith lever dollars is flat -- these are also very important. is the use of those also flattened out? or is demand far exceed? sec. vilsack: it is a combination of having an overall number for our budget and the challenge in our budget where fire suppression -- we are 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. >> one 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. there 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 part, were out -- wore out. 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. we are working to look at our 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 depopulation. rural areas drying up at a faster rate than i've seen in my lifetime. in the last 40 years since i graduated high school -- it is two thirds smaller than when i went there. i know there's big equipment out and it's more efficient and we do have more technology. where i live, 1000 acres is an average farm. i have folks around me that farm 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?

you've got schools closing down, cities that have to build schools. sec. vilsack: american agriculture has increased its productivity 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. we insured montana farmers are 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. how is your 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. i think we were able to isolate 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 effort, it was called the greater yellowstone -- it brought together stakeholders to 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. i've heard concerns that the result has been a deterioration in communication between the agencies regarding disease management in the greater yellowstone ecosystem. with the usda be supportive of reestablishing that committee or 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. we are trying to stress collaboration with the local folks at every level. if that is not happening, we have to make it happen.

>> i appreciate that we can 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 to gmo'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? sec. vilsack: no, but that's not the issue. the issue is that folks in state 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 we will have a hodgepodge in 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. there is a way, in my view, 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. doing it in a way that does not send the wrong message about the safety. in the past, we've had labels to talk about caloric content or nutrition or known risk. that's not what this is about, 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. >> we agree it is critical we addressed this issue in a timely manner. i have no issue with voluntary programs that meet market demands or consumer preferences. i believe the usda's priority should be with making determinations based on sound science regarding the safety of biotech products, not on marketing or mandatory label efforts. >> i'm trying to avoid a chaotic

circumstance. i hope there are 60 of you who feel the same way i do. sen. cochran: thank you to the panel for being here in helping us sort through the requests -- one of the bright spots in what appeared to be some questions that are costing too much or contributed to the deficit, all kind of bad things -- 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 that they were 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 ir own -- and if my speech. end of my speech. >> thank you, secretary vilsack,

i am a secretary. not a senator. i understand, and you were a governor went what would you like those words stricken? [laughter] sen. udall: a couple of things i want to ask your support on purity the new mexico delegation recently you a letter in support of the navajo promise own submitted by the navajo nation and technical university for what is called a tribal promise zone. high prioritymely for me, and let me tell you why here. the navajo nation faces siif