agriculture across the spectrum, from agricultural vegetation to production agriculture to processing agriculture, industrial technology, we bring a lot to the table in terms of the economy of the state of illinois, largest economy. one other thing i should mention is the marketing of illinois products, we do wonderful job, over -- almost $12 billion of agricultural products are produced in the state, of which almost $5 billion are exported. we not only feed a lonely and the midwest and the nation but we help feed the world. it is a very good investment in this department of agriculture. we work on $113 million budget verses the secretary's $113 billion. read the rubber meets the road we hit it very hard, and we do protect you. appreciate the opportunity to be here today. [applause] >> as i said before, gary flowers is no stranger to this crowd, national field director of rainbow/push coalition. i have travelled with him from south side of chicago to south-central los angeles to south carolina to south africa. the reference have a broad sense of being a national field director and as

peterson and the agriculture committee for this effort. with that, let me just yield two minutes to the the gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney, for the purposes of a colloquy. chairman chirm the gentleman is recognized -- charmede the gentleman is recognized. mr. courtney: i rise to talk about the desperate state of our nation's dairy industry which has experienced collapse in prices. i had the honor of accompanying chairwoman delauro to the greenbacker in connecticut and we heard firsthand from dairy farmers across connecticut about the difficulties that they're facing, particularly regarding the cost of production and the rapid decline of dairy prices over the past year. could the chair woman speak to this issue and what relief might be available to these farmers. ms. delauro: i thank the chair woman. on behalf of the dairy industry, dairy farmers have been challenged like never before. i support efforts to provide increased relief to these farmers. i thank you, courtney and other members for their efforts. i'm committed to helping

it's tough enough many times for folks in agriculture to deal with the state department of agricultureand other regulatory agencies at the state level let alone big brother in washington telling them how to run their farm and business. so that's my big concern. and we'll continue to watch this whole process relative to the bill and the issue we're addressing here in the committee. with that i would yield back. >> we'll go to one more round here before we get to the next panel. miss pegg, here's another example of something farmers have a problem with. calgama identifies a number of sources of potential pathogens that must be avoided for certification. these includes birds, ferrell pigs and wildlife and cattle. farmers are paying for measures such as the building of large measures but the sooipsz hardly concludes it, miss pegg. the wildlife was a likely source of contamination -- let me go over that again. the science is hard to conclude that wildlife was a likely source of contamination in the 2006 spinach contamination. isn't that so? >> well, in the 2006 -- actually in the outbreak,

department of agriculture. conservation, we know that conserving our natural resources, cleaner water, reduce soil erosion and more wildlife habitat is critical. the bill makes a significant investment in usda's natural resource conservation programs by appropriating $980 million. the bill rejects the administration's cuts to the natural resources conservation service farm bill, conservation programs, including the wetlands program, the farm and ranch lands protection program, and the wildlife incentives program. in addition, the bill restores funding for other valuable programs including the resource conservation program and others as well. withegard to nutrition, to help those who are hit hardest by the economic crisis, the bill provides $681 million, a 10% increase for w.i.c., to serve our nation's vulnerable populations to support the participation of 10.1 million people. the bill also includes record funding of $180 million for the commodity supplemental food program, or cfsp, and expands assistance to six

forest and agricultural lands in the u.s.take up more greenhouse gases in the form of carbon dioxide than is released from all of our agricultural operations. the situation is different in developing countries where agriculture and deforestation play a far greater role in emissions. land uses are responsible for over one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. it's difficult to see how greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere can be stabilized without policies that target emissions and carbon sequestration on agriculture and forest lanz. as a result it's vital that america demonstrates how the inclusion of agriculture and forests in a domestic approach to climate change can, in fact, produce real and lasting benefits to both landowners and the climate.9y under climate change legislation the farm sector will experience both costs and benefits. energy price increases can impact rural crop production and other agricultural activities. for example, fertilizer and fuel costs account for 50 to 60% of variable costs of the

the commissioners had expertise in animal agriculture, production, animal agriculture, public health, medicine, veterinary medicine, ethnics and state and federal policy develops. we were to buy former kansas governor john carlin who would also been in the end one of our members was former secretary of agriculture dan glickman. we also have any audience today who will be speaking later one of our commissioners, mr. fidel bowsher was a leader among our commissioners as well. the general charge of the commission was to develop consensus recommendations to solve the public health environment and the welfare and rural community problems caused by industrial farm animal production. as i said, we develop consensus recommendations using a fairly exhaustive process. we conducted 11 meetings around the country, spent 280 hours deliberating on the information. we receive. we received thousands of pages of information for an animal act industry and all interested parties. we had two public hearings, one in north carolina and one in arkansas where over 400 people attended the two meetings. we vis

those of us involved in agriculture care about food safety. it's a matter of life and health for our consumers and for the farmers and ranchers it's a matter of their livelihood. even the rumor of unsafe food causes commodity prices to fall and farm incomes to decline. while i'm unable to tell my colleagues the exact details of this bill, can i say with certainty there are significant adverse consequences to farmers, especially our smallest ones, and those consequences include on-farm performance standards, record keeping requirements, arbitrary record access requirements, registration fees none of which may actually improve food safety. the reason i'm unable to describe the details of this bill is that those details became available only this morning. the bill before us was amended striking everything after the enacting clause and inserting a new text. the entire bill has it existed yesterday was deleted and new language put in its place. there have been few hearings on this bill, constant redrafting by a few people outside the committees, an

, damage to agriculture. to act on the heels of the passage of the waxman-markey bill in the house. today i expect you'll hear fierce words of doubt and fear from the other side of the aisle regarding our legislative efforts. this is consistent with a pattern of no -- no, we can't, no, we won't. i believe that when the vote is eventually taken on our bill, the committee will reflect the president's attitude which is, yes we can, yes, we will protect colleagues, this is a challenge to our generation that offers hope, not fear, anyway out of the environmental and economic challenges we face so that our children and our grandchildren will have a bright future. thank you very much. senator in hounhoffe. >> thank you. despite the -- on june 26, by just one vote over the margin, in other words, the majority in the house is 218. she got 219 votes. against this backdrop, the senate will process another cap and trade bill. the senate is not new to this like the houses. we have debated this five times. we've had three

the barbon of agriculture.committed to ensuring the food block continues to be among the safest in the world. president obama has made a personal commitment to improving food safety. on july 7th of this year the multiagency food safety working group the president is that it used its key finding and had to upgrade the food safety system for the 21st century. the working group recommends a new public health focus approach to food safety based on three core principles, prioritizing prevention, strengthening surveillance and enforcement and improving response and recovery for qxd is an integral part of the group's efforts to establish these principles. fresh produce the topic of today's hearing present special safety challenges as the chairman outlined in the number of illnesses associated with press-- fresh produce is a concern for fda. the increased consumption of produce in its pression roth form including ready-to-eat bagged product reflects growing consumer interest which is of course they desirable friend fro

for agriculture specifically, a number of provisions are included to begin with. the plan would permit payments on farm activity to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. the legislation would remove oversight from the epa to the ag department. despite these provisions, many farm groups believe the plan will be a financial drain on producer by driving energy prices higher. early analysis by the american farm bureau shows at a minimum net farm income would dip by some $5 billion annual by 2020 if the legislation becomes law. along with higher energy costs, some ag groups are concerned about trade sanctions in the proposal that would impose tariffs on imports for any country that doesn't take the same climate change steps as the u.s. this week, the environmental protection agency has accepted an invitation by charles grassley to visit the hawkeye state. as you may remember, last month the republican senator made the offer after he learned some epa staffers who would be writing regulations pertinent to farmers had never bean on a farm. >> probably -- never even been o

by the department of agriculture. would your agency adapt the role i do not think the usda has tried to assume over the years? take that, if you will. we have a situation where the epa has adopted or is considering adopting usda conservation standards as a way for farmers to show they are meeting and quality requirements. i do not know if that is true. >> senator, we already working as partners on an number of environmental issues. i see this as a partnership with all of my fellow colleagues at this table. obviously, usda has unique assets in terms of its ability to be in virtually every county of the country. it has technical expertise in this area, but i certainly see this as a partnership. i think the epa has a set of unique tools as well, and we need to figure out how best to use our unique assets. >> great, thanks. >> because of our limited time, secretary chu, i am going to focus all of my questions on you. i want to come back to nuclear power. there are so many issues we want to deal with, but the issue of nucl

, damage to agriculture. to act on the heels of the passage of the waxman-markey bill in the house. today i expect you'll hear fierce words of doubt and fear from the other side of the aisle regarding our legislative efforts. this is consistent with a pattern of no -- no, we can't, no, we won't. i believe that when the vote is eventually taken on our bill, the committee will reflect the president's attitude which is, yes we can, yes, we will protect colleagues, this is a challenge to our generation that offers hope, not fear, anyway out of the environmental and economic challenges we face so that our children and our grandchildren will have a bright future. thank you very much. senator in hounhoffe. >> thank you. despite the -- on june 26, by just one vote over the margin, in other words, the majority in the house is 218. she got 219 votes. against this backdrop, the senate will process another cap and trade bill. the senate is not new to this like the houses. we have debated this five times. we've had three

boswell and i do on the agriculture committee.ad a hearing earlier in my committee last year on the question of the peanuts and the salmonella. and i happened to be one of the individuals who got sick on the peanuts i sat on my couch continuing to vote. it's a very serious concern. we take this very seriously. the other thing i will tell you is that farmers are the some of the folks who are concerned about this because they don't want anything to affect their product and put a taint on their marketing ability, and i will still say -- submit this. american foods are as safe or safer than any place else in the world. consistently, we get testimony from that effect. now, mr. boswell put his testimony that there is 10 times the consumption of antibiotics in humans and in pets as there are in farm animals. on a per-pound basis. and i want to make sure this is the same kind of pounds because we were talking with the other gentleman that quantity and the strength of those pesticides, and the other thing i'd like to point out is that in d

they will hear from the agriculture and interior department, as well as the head of the epa. barbara boxer will chair the meeting beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern live on c-span. you are watching c-span, created as a public service by the nation ' s cable companies. here is a look at our schedule. up next, president obama and president medvedev at a joint press conference in moscow. that is a look at topics to be discussed with russian leaders this week. later, senator-elect al franken.

to my immediate left in your right is the director of the illinois department of agriculture. i want to thank the panel's. [applause] let me start with the two mayors because most of the time we think of mayors as the big cities, we think of them in urban areas, we don't think about the impact of the small areas. starting with mayor grant, the director was explaining away to apply for these moneys, you identified a problem that role mayors will have, access to technology. tell us, what is the issue that you see, that we need to think about in terms of small communities, trying to make sure the stimulus is not just through the banks but down to the people

the congress and it is a particular honor to be here with my colleagues and friends, secretary of agriculture tom vilsack and secretary of transportation ray lahood. i was sworn in as president obama's secretary of interior just over six months ago. we were in the throes of a crisis which is the worst economic crisis we have seen since the great depression. we are losing 700,000 jobs a month. bank lending was frozen and we were at the risk of falling off an economic cliff not seen for over 100 years in america. the economic crisis, president obama and this congress inherited was years in the making, years of lax oversight coming years of irresponsible behavior at the highest level, years of problems that

he didn't respond, but because of what he did, he was in agriculture and a consultant, he could be in areas that did not have good cell reception. but i didn't think anything about it. i came off and i got off at 83, off the interstate 83 and there was a lot of traffic on 439 at the time. >> it did turn out to be your husband who had been killed in an accident, and some of the people, witnesses said that they thought the young man in the other car had been texting. that young man was issued

and a refocus on agriculture. despite the expansion of u.s. engagement in africa over the last eight years agriculture and sustainable food security has been missing from u.s. policy. really since the late 1970's when we did do much more in that front. the food crisis last year woke a lot of people up to this issue. i think we're going to see a shift in food security from kind of emergency measures to hopefully longer terms, sustaining engagement in building african capacities in agricultural growth. surely there will be a strong emphasis on health, education, and social services generally. building on the strong focus on h.i.v. within the bush administration, this administration has agreed -- more than doubling under the bush administration to help. and broadening the scope in that to malaria, t.b. and importantly maternal child health and family planning services. again, areas in the expansion under the bush years got kind of push add side and shouldn'ted -- shunted aside. so i think broader health issues and challenges and how do you build

he is also promising me support for agriculture. training from america has already helped them quadrupled their output. the west willpen up subsidized markets. >> we wand to open up afri to european rkets. >>among tose ploys to welcome obama are going to ghana's traditional chiefs. >> he is my brotr. i'm happy he came here and hope th he will help improveur lives. >> of course, there's no quick fix, and obama's message will inevitably getodel and watered wn. but with his popularit, his first ack president does have a unique opportunity, to ske up this contint. >> we wl look at a school to find out what children thk. but first, it met with the pope for the fit te and a half ho in a private audience. details have n been released. they agree on helping t poor and clate change but disagree on aboron and stem cell search. people died from drinking illegallcohol. a hundred have been detained in raids across the sta. for the fit time in 14 years, a man has been ged to death at the ruing of the bow. a 27-year-old spaniard was caught by a bo

currently, -- issues in agriculture as animal feed additives. among them are penicillin, tetracycline, and so far--- and sulfonamides. penicillin is used to treat infections from a stripper to meningitis. it also treats the ammonia. tetracycline is used against anthrax. drugs are added to animal feed has growth proponents. in other words. these are not animals that are ill. this is the most accurate number of all. 70% of the antibiotics and related drugs produced in the united states are given to cattle big bucks and chickens to promote growth and compensate for crowded, unsanitary and stressful conditions. the noun therapeutic use of antibiotic used in poulterer skyrocketed from 2 million pounds in 1985 to 2.5 million pounds in the late 90's. in this kind of habitual non therapeutic use of antibiotics has been conclusively linked to a growing number of incidents of antimicrobial resistant infections in humans and may be -- and may be contaminated groundwater. the national academy of science states that a decrease in antimicrobial use in human m

they are not cherished because theç factory jobs, the agricultural jobs have gone away.everse sold out to china for one. at a great benefit to the sellers which was congress and if weç ever restore ourselves o the agriculture or to the industrial leaders of the world, the technology leaders of the world, we can employ everybody and this is the answer. but i'd like to hear anybody tell me to blame the victims. thank you. >> host: this is from the washington times, at cia director defense al qaeda initiative. for the clinton white house defended a george w. bush administration initiative to assassinate al qaeda leaders and the agency's decision to keep the idea top-secret. it doesn't appear as if they actually did anything with respect to these projected for possible assassinations. tom, republican. >> caller: how are you this morning? i think that's obama is concentrating on the wrong thing. he is blaming racism for the problems of the black community. i think it is the black community themselves. they are not working to try to get to their own ship in order their, their

construction is set to begin on a 9 million-dollar agriculture center in hunt valley. it will have greenhouses, classrooms and office space. county officials say viz dollars be able to learn more about the importance of agriculture. they have will an exhibit on farm activities. it's expected to be finished by the end of next summer. >>> you may have noticed there's a lot of sailers on the horizon. the hmas opened to the public today. sailers on a six month deployment all over the world. they will play a game of australian rules football. >>> still to come tonight, toddlers firing guns in two separate incidents young children are shootout the hands of their play mates. >>> rumors swirl of michael jackson's fourth child. the family is speaking out about this young mystery man. >>> coming up, why dentists are teaming up with volunteers to help patients. that story is straight ahead. >>> in separate incidents, a set of toddlers are hospitalized tonight after each were shot. in nevada a 2-year-old girl is listed in critical condition. she was shot in the torso by her 4-year

the second question for you, i am sorry but this is all agriculture. we are in a situation where north carolina we have probably the most diverse agriculture in one of the most diverse in the country as you well know. in our pork and poultry operations they are suffering big time. exports are a major part of it, but i want to as a change of operation to the economic times, i would like for you to commandante direct loans in the recovery act. how many of those loans have been made so far and are there more loans in the pipeline? specifically, we have a number of farmers in my district but in our state but there really spread across ten states. as a result of the economic downturn, a lot of these corporate contractors have pulled those contracts. in many cases these farmers and you have been trying to help us, i will go ahead and say that of front because we need to do something to get it resolved because they pulled the contract because these guys are sitting there and we are protecting the homestead. the home has obligated all of the land of livestock

the g-8 has announced a new $15 billion of agriculture program.president obama is having to offer care for his first official trip later today. -- is heading to africa for his first official trip later today. >> the g-eight would not be complete without a celebrity or two. and sure enough, george clooney along with the american comedy actor, bill murray, put in an appearance, much to the delight of the locals. >> [unintelligible] >> agencies are warning that more people len ever are going hungry -- more people than ever are going hungry. agencies' budgets have to window. gratz we are very underfunded at this point. -- >> we are very underfunded at this point. it means that we are cutting russians in half. kids are getting half a cup of food -- we are cutting rations in half. kids are getting half of a food rather than a full cup. >> the shift is on to his dovish a multibillion-dollar fund to help poor countries grow their own food. >> it is time for us to switch because food security is not just food aid. it is the ability of people to produce foo

over-the-counter derivatives are similar to what the house agriculture committee passed earlier this as part of hr-977, which would strengthen overside of futures, and over-the-counter markets. however, the devil is always in the details, and i look forward to hearing additional details about the administration reform ideas, and i hope secretary geithner's appearance will get us into the weeds on how this will work. i now want to yield two minutes of my opening statement to a member of both the agriculture and financial services committee who has done a lot of work and has some knowledge in this area. the gentleman from idaho, mr. minnick for two minutes. >> chairman peterson and frank, i am a farm boy who grew up skeptical of wall street wondering how a loaf of bread could cost a dollar when it contained only a few cents worth of wheat. i also spent over 20 years as the ceo of substantial companies which relied on wall street and used customized derivatives to hedge currency and interest rate risk. i learned these financial instruments are essential to the proper functioning of our

this is the agricultural appropriations bill. technically this point of order is about whether or not to consider this rule and ultimately the underlying bill. in reality, it's about trying to block this bill. any opportunity for debate and without any opportunity for up and down vote on the legislation itself. mr. speaker, the bill -- the underlying bill we want to consider here is a bill that provides food and nutrition to some of the most desperate people in this country. it's a bill that will provide much needed help to farmers in rural areas all across this country. this is an important bill for a number of reasons. and i think it's wrong to try to delay this bill or block this legislation from coming to the floor. and i hope my colleagues will vote yes so we can consider this important legislation on its merits and not stop it on a procedural obstructionist motion. those who oppose this bill can vote against it on final passage. we must consider this rule and we must pass this legislation day. mr. speaker, i have the right

agriculture. on this trip, we saw the first indications that it might work. those indications came from british and american forces. they targeted interdiction. they made interdiction a goal. using modern technologies, they located marketplaces that sold the drug paraphernalia, laboratory equipment, poppyseeds, and a vast amount of opium -- the vast amounts of opium to buy and sell. cnn wrote a piece and it was shown all over the world repeatedly. our no. 3 ambassador out there who all of you know was in the middle of this area. it is hard to figure out what the equivalent was, but it was probably several years of useless crop eradication. in fact, counterproductive. to me, and all the trips i made out there, this was the most gratifying thing. it is nice to have theories and policies, but you have to see how they work on the ground. interdiction seems to be working, they have some other targets ahead of them. agriculture. the most well received a change in american policy has been our dramatic up

greta: bad news for the agriculture department. the trip is off.ad to cancel a meeting in, ready for this, australia. yes, your government had planned a meeting in australia, as far away and as expensive as it can get. they were going to spend all of that money to go halfway around the world. and there is more. in the office of thrift supervision, they are saving $320,000 cash by identifying unused telephone lines, and there is more. homeland security will save thousands of dollars by emailing documents instead of printing them out. president obama's cabinet was meeting a challenge said in april. that is a lot of money, but think of this. it is just 0.006% of the deficit. plus, why did no one think of these cuts before? -- was meeting a challenge said in april. steve moore with "the wall street journal" joins us. go ahead. tell me what you think about this. i am speechless. >> i am, too, and this is the fiscal responsibility that we heard about from the obama administration. you mentioned some of these. let me just mention a couple of others. depar

agricultural products there. >> you talked about good government. the president will speak about democracy and hopefully that will spread on the continent and said there are national security economic and environmental reasons why this region is important to the united states. >> yes. absolutely. with global warming and some of the things going on throughout the world, because of global warming, africa is also being affected seriously. some of the ice tap -- caps on the top of mount kilimanjaro and kenya are melting and in the next decade maybe gone and that affects crops and water and a whole range of things. so that is something they are concerned about. the other issue is development. africa needs a lot of things but one of the most important thing is trade and business. it is an important aspect of the obama's visit to ghana. economic development in gun ma and the region is critical for u.s. africa trade relations. there's oil which is discovered in ghana. it was just discovered two years ago and i understand this particular oil field will yield

department of agriculture. the mission of the food and nutrition service is to provide children and low-income families better access to food and more healthful diet through food assistance programs and comprehensive nutrition and education efforts. f.n.s. administers the most important federal nutrition programs such as the supplemental nutrition assistance program, formerly known as the food stamps program. the school lunch and school breakfast programs, the special suppmental nutrition program for women, infants and children, known as the w.i.c. program, the emergency food assistance program which provides various commodities to our nation' food banks as well as our children and adult food care programs. f.n.s. is better able to serve our nation's hungry because of the bounty of america's food and ranchers. it is able to use surplus commodities in various feeding programs thus ensuring those in need receive foods produced by the american farmer and rancher. many people do not realize that funding for domesti

the agricultural community is in a state of crisis. farmers are getting a very small yield from their crops, if anything at all. cattle men are having to sell their herds because they can't afford to feed them. agricultural losses now are estimated to be near $4 million, which will likely reach the record for the state of texas. agricultural officials say that this impact is going to be felt across the entire country. >> real consequence is not just today, but it's long term. it means a reduction in farming families when that's one of the biggest threats to domestic food supply today, is having our farmers and ranchers sustainable in the agricultural business. that's what really all american consumers should be worried about today. >> reporter: while the agricultural community is suffering, so is recreation. here at lake travis, marinas are having to close their doors, and all but one boat ramp is closed. you can see this right behind me, this is normally a floating dock and the water here should be about 30 feet over my head. this res

. >> we're really, looked at agriculture markets pretty good. i'm going to shift gears a little bit here. that is with having all the outside money to come into the markets from time to time. particularly in the market. now the ftc is looking and saying our prices went to high. because of the outside money and that sort of thing. if they come in with some sort of regulation in the federal level to affect the types of trading going on. what could that do or could it do to the agriculture market. is it good or bad. any one of you? >> i don't think it matters. >> you don't think it matters? >> if they reduce the limiting on how much you can buy. >> yes. >> right now funds are actually short wheat and their neutral on corn and long on beans. maybe it's going to limit a bigger position that you can put on. that also goes buyers and sellers. not just one. >> agreed fully. last year was an extraordinary year. extraordinary event we're going to see that over time. getting positions that long takes a long time. i think this is a reaction to something tha

it's called community-supported agriculture. here's a local farmer to find out how it works. zachary and jason lubinski love their veggies. but why are they picking up their vegetables from a garage? they are part of a growing number of consumers joining csas, community-supported agriculture programs. their vegetables come from here, golden earth worm organic farm. consumers pick up their share east week. >> we get money at the beginning of the season when we need it. so you pay in advance and you reap the bounty. i'm having a little salad. >> reporter: ed mcdougal's garage has been part of csa for six years. he says 100 people pick up their veggies every week. >> a lot of people bring their children. i think it's nice for kids early on to learn something about healthy eating. >> reporter: csa members say they like knowing exactly where their food is grown and getting to know the farmer who produces it. and they love the appreciate quality. >> fresh vegetables, local and you can't get any fresher than this. they were picked this morning or yesterday. >> so they taste better?

they need real-time access to weather, commodity pricing, agricultural information. i had a chance to visit yesterday with a senior computer clinic in downtown .. >> commissioner mcdowell and i spoke this week about his hands on visits to alaska where he saw broadband making a real difference in people's lives. but if we do our jobs right at the sec, we can accelerate economic growth -- at the fcc, we can accelerate growth and ensure we have a sustainable economic engine in the united states. the weekend make america a world leader in mobile. the weekend improve small businesses so they can commit -- compete every where, help to deliver better health care at lower costs, extend the benefits of broadband resolution to our hnmpolice and firefighters who depend on communications for their own safety and hours. these are mentz goals of importance. we are the beginning of the development of a plan to help the country deliver on this. i am looking forward to an energized united commission, blair, which you coordinating pursuing this effort. just because we can dream of an

so much for collaborating with the department of agriculture. mr. speaker, we must stop rushing legislation through congress without careful, thoughtful, and complete consideration. congress rarely gets things right when we have ample time to properly consider policy changes. but it never makes good decisions when rushed to arbitrary timetables. h.r. 2749 needs to be referred to the committee on agriculture to allow necessary improvements to this food safety bill that will actually improve the food safety of our country and not shut down agriculture. we do not need f.d.a. from farm to fork. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. ms. kaptur. for what purpose does the gentleman rise? mr. boozman: i ask permission to claim her time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. boozman: thank you, mr. speaker. i share the views of my constituents of the third district of arkansas that we need health care reform. i believe all americans deserve access to quality, affordable healt

government so usaid, the agriculture department and other entities are not working at cross-purposes. we do that by establishing a new position, a special coordinator for food security in the white house who would report directly to the president and would forge a comprehensive u.s. food security strategy. secondly, the bill expands u.s. investment in the agriculture productivity of developing nations so the nations facing escalating food prices can rely on emergencied for assistance and instead take steps to exexpands their own crop production, a leading agricultural expert recently estimated that every dollar, every dollar invested in agricultural r&d subsequent rates $9 worth of food in the developing world. i'm grateful to senator lugar for his bold proposal by the acronym hectare, to establish a network of universities around the world to corroborate on agricultural research. and thirdly the bill would modernize our system of emergency food assistance so it's more flexible and can provide aid on short notice. we do this by authorizing a new $500 million fund for u.s. emergencied

this will be the central subject of discussion, food security, long-term reinvestment in agriculture as a solution for that. this will be the central to mention of the g-8 meeting with the central african leadership. . . a sense that's driving the u.s. policy calculation, that there was a disengagement, there's chronic hunger, we've seen all of this exposed very dramatically last spring, as food prices spiked and food and fuel prices spiked, and you had food riots across the continent and elsewhere and it was becoming elsewhere and it was becoming clear that there needed strategy both for changing the way we go about doing our emergency food relief towards more reliance on local purchase, but beyond that, to reengage in terms of ag productivity, infrastructure, research and education, renewing university exchanges and public-private partnerships. those are going to be the big themes that are put forward, along with trying to make sure you can find worthy africa country partners that are going to pick this issue up and push on it. there's a sense that this is an area that's been negle

. >> county executive jim smith says it's important to support agriculture. next wednesday, the county will break ground on a $9 million agriculture center. >>> loyola college may bid on the senator when the historic theater goes on the auction block tomorrow morning. a loyola spokesperson would not say what the college would do with the theater, saying only that the york road corridor is part of a strategic plan. baltimore city bought the theater's mortgage in may with the intent to foreclose and sell the property. but officials fear that sluggish economy would prevent additional buyers from bidding. >>> a new partnership take on the aids crisis. how religious leaders and the university of maryland are coming together to help those living with aids and hiv. >>> got warmer today than i thought. i had a 2-degree guarantee for today of 77 degrees. we warmed up to a high today of 81. 4 degrees higher than our 2- degree guarantee. we've got the humidity around the region and some pop-up showers. we'll be back with our forecast coming up right after this. >> watch

currently, -- issues in agriculture as animal feed additives. them are penicillin, tetracycline, and so far--- and sulfonamides. penicillin is used to treat infections from a stripper to meningitis. it also treats the ammonia. tetracycline is used against anthrax. drugs are added to animal feed has growth proponents. in other words. these are not animals that are ill. this is the most accurate number of all. 70% of the antibiotics and related drugs produced in the united states are given to cattle big bucks and chickens to promote growth and compensate for crowded, unsanitary and stressful conditions. the noun therapeutic use of antibiotic used in poulterer skyrocketed from 2 million pounds in 1985 to 2.5 million pounds in the late 90's. in this kind of habitual non therapeutic use of antibiotics has been conclusively linked to a growing number of incidents of antimicrobial resistant infections in humans and may be -- and may be contaminated groundwater. the national academy of science states that a decrease in antimicrobial use in human medicin

we've always had an agriculture policy -- david: doesn't mean they're right. >> by the way, in italy, they also do subsidize cheese manufacturing, especially there. dime and look how well that government runs. >> but it does happen, and this is part of agriculture policy. why wouldn't it be part of the broader stimulus? david: it doesn't stimulate the economy, and you've never been in favor -- you've never been in favor of these sub siddies. >> and we had a president who was supposeding going to bring new politics into town, not calling ham pork or pork or ham or whatever they're doing. and 10 allowed these porksters to write the bill. why didn't he write that bill and exhibit real leadership? hello. that's what we're paying him for. disappoint again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. you go through the stimulus package, and find countless examples, $600 million for the digital conversion when we already paid for that. >> great point. they basically passed the stimulus bill to give themselves an excuse to pass all sorts of nonstimulative spending bills. but the real issue is don't

the devastating effect that this would have on animal agriculture is incalculable. mistreated livestock do not perform well. american farmers and ranchers work every day to make sure their stock is cared for in a humane manner, and yet they would still face a tremendous threat from frivolous lawsuits under this misguided they're rivmentz even though claims would be baseless, they would still bear the financial costs of reckless litigation. that's a cost that would put most family farming and ranching operations out of business. professor sunstein also made off-hand remarks during lectures that perhaps hunting ought to be banned. while he offered assurances during his nomination hearing that his personal view supported hunting, i'm not a member of that committee and, thus, was not able to question professor sunstein personally during his confirmation hearing. i greatly enjoyed the time i spend hunting with my friends and family, and i was also very disturbed by this statement. the administrator of o.m.b.'s office of information and regulatory affairs must have a firm

joe leonard, he is currently an official with the united states department of agriculture where he received a presidential appointment. previous to that he was executive directer of the congressional black caucus, and before that he was a staffer with the rainbow push coalition. please welcome joseph leonard. [applause] >> thank you very much, janice. it's always good to come home, it's always good to come home. i'm very proud of having spent four years as the washington, d.c. bureau chief of rainbow push coalition, and it's good to come on, come on home. i'm very proud that my son cole is a push baby, and i tell him that all the time. i have the awesome task of introducing reverend jackson. but i really want to take the opportunity to kind of not only introduce reverend jackson, but also kind of illustrate the similarities between my, my new boss and my old boss, and you'll understand why i went to work for my new boss, and that is the 30th secretary of agriculture for the united states, and that's secretary tom vilsack. you won't see, youil

department of agriculture.oin the discussion. and we talked about how we're going to integrate all of these efforts, and there's not going to be an a.i.d. or u.s. department of agriculture in helmand. and we are going to help rebuild the ag sector. they used to export food, now they import it. we've gotten tremendous positive feedback on that. >> i'm wondering what the ultimate goal is here, to bring peace and stability to afghanistan? to eradicate the taliban and al qaeda? boost the strength of afghan security forces so that they can take care of the country? when will you be able to say you've got a success in afghanistan? >> first of all, we're not going to abandon the country as happened in 1989 and 2004. but we do have to transition over time from a combat-driven operational effort to a situation, which the afghan security forces can take care of their own security while we help them rebuild their country, which has been torn apart by 30 years of war since the soviet invasion in 1978. i think you put your

i will be visiting and agricultural facility, because india is really hoping to continue to expand agricultural productivity but then they have to create an infrastructure. that is the market. we have to have roads and storage in refrigeration facilities. i think this is an extremely rich area. i am excited. i am very much looking forward to my meetings with the prime minister and with minister krishna we are going to do everything we can to broaden our situation. >> you mentioned todd stern and senator mitchell. do any members of your staff want to ask a question? [laughter] i wanted to -- in the back. i see you in the third to last row. i cannot see to it is. >> there have been reports that in the discussions between george mitchell and the israeli defense minister that on a certain number of settlements have already begun with construction, that there was some agreement to allow the construction of these houses to go forward. can you confirm that? >> i am certainly not going to step on the negotiations in any way. i think any decisions that are made will be announced officially. it is only f

the agriculture committee has been wise advisors and helpers in coming to the bill that can be agreed on by the two committees. representative levin, chair of the subcommittee of -- on trade of ways and means committee has been extremely important. as has representative delauro -- chair of the appropriations subcommittee. and jenny ireland, former staff member of this committee, has been of enormous help in the drafting of this legislation. we have a long list of supporters. the obama administration, grocery manufacturers association, the people who sell are going to understand that they're being charged a participation fee. the wine institutes. the wine america. disstilled spirits council of the united states. center for science and the public interest. consumers union. consumers federation of america. center for food borne illness, research and prevention. food and water watch. government accountability project. national consumers league. charitable trust. safe tables our priority are all active supporters of this legislation. as -- and these agencies which previously had concerns a

for agriculture it's been devastating. parched andwithering, texas has lost at least half of its corn crop. >> all through this field, you see ears that don't have anything on them and they're dead and dying. >> reporter: the drought has ripped cattle country. with little to graze on, ranchers have been forced to sell herds early. >> our pastures are dry, yellow, it looks like winter to me. >> reporter: in dallas, houston, san antonio, and other cities, officials or the lookout for illegal watering. residents can even rat out their neighbors on a 24-hour hotline. >> looking back at the historical record, we really haven't seen a drought like this, this severe, since probably the drought years of eat 50s. >> reporter: 77 texas counties are in extreme or exceptional drought. no other state has a region in either of those categories. there's no relief in sight. >> we still have many, many weeks to go through and we think the drought is only going to be getting worse before it gets better. >> reporter: a scorching summer as dr

the second thing is agriculture. interdiction seems to be working. agriculture.the most well-received change in american policy has been our domestic upgraded agriculture. i would simply note that both senators obama and clinton proposed things like this last year when they were campaigning. it was a pleasure to take something proposed during a campaign and see it converted into a reality on the ground. everywhere i went, the -- -- the realizations was dawning that we would get hundreds of millions of dollars from the agricultural development teams in some of the provinces run by the national guard. i spent some time with the texas agricultural development. they are doing all these terrific projects. it is combined -- it is a combined integrator with the u.s. department of agriculture. that this is the beginning -- this is just the beginning of it getting rolling. forget the long answer. i see this all interconnected. getting rid of crop eradication, increasing interdiction which hurts the drug kingpins and be corrected, and addressing what' matters, te agricultu

share a common border and immigration issues, trade, economy, the water we use for irrigation and agriculture. we are closely intertwined. the violence that threatens us greatly because of our integrated economy and the integrated nature of our society. it is not only a source of much of the drugs that are consumed in the united states. instability and south of our border creates problems on a much broader scale. >> let me ask you this -- from the homeland security standpoint, it represents a vulnerability in terms of our borders. we have to be concerned about any smuggling network that introduces contraband on our borders, we have to be concerned about them. from those reasons, we need to leverage all of our efforts to shut down these networks collectively. >> i appreciate the comments. >> the laundering of the profits. that is something we do not talk about. the requiring identification open at the time of opening a bank account -- they have been opened with less than secure identification. are we doing anything to shut down that opportunity to have thousands of bank account opened up to wh

we have similar agricultural economies, so i feel i can relate to the kind of economy we have agriculturalife. the administration had what i thought was a good proposal in its budget to capitol direct payment for farmers with over $500,000. but resigned when 7 billion in savings over ten years. mr. blumenauer and i come here on the budget committee tried to pass that amendment and failed to do that in the budget resolution. i encourage you to continue advancing these things as we have got to find savings. what is the administration's proposal to continue on this and have you had other success in other committees suggest agricultural committee? >> representative ryan, we are working hard with the treasury department to try to make sure we first and foremost in sure the payments that are to be received or received by those entitled to them. as you probably know there were reports on anecdotal reports of people who were not farmers receiving payments. we are working with the irs and we hope to ensure and verify people receiving payments are in fact entitled to them and we think there will be