i serve as the president of the south dakota farm bureau and the vice president of the american farm bureau association. i will focus on the growing concerns of farmers and ranchers across the country due to the impact of terrorist on farming and -- on tariffs on farming and ranching. we are facing a lot of challenges right now. in 2014 the american farmers income has fallen 52%. farmers are dealing with shifts in the commodity market because of trade and tariff threats. they have survived by expanding their operations. today that operation is fairly untouchable because of the lack of qualified label -- labor and access to land. the ingredients of this perfect storm create threats, -- trade threats, lower income, and no or -- and no farm bill will be more than we can handle. agricultural has traditionally been a bright spot in our country's balance of trade. in 2017 we had a positive trade balance of $21 billion in relation to ag exports. we will quickly lose our place if we can't be trusted as a trading partner and our farmers no longer have access to markets they depend on. multiple

e american farm bureau says the costf a summer cookout will average $6 per that's about 1% less than last year. items on the menu includes hot dogs, cheeseburgers and potato salad. >> i like chicken wings on the grill. >> and some corn. some corn on there. >> can you actually cook? >> i have been known to put some meat on the grill. i'm not saying it's necessarily edible when it's done. but i participate. >> you know how to eat the food, though. i know. >>> it's probably not surprising to hear a dog is livin at a county.se in fairfax >> but that is not a dalmatian riding the tcks to danger. this is a different kind of fire house dog andow he is helping some of f the braveirst responders there. >>es wally l making people feel good. he lives a dog's fe. fetches a ball. answers commands. this 2-year-old goldendoodlehas a special job, certified canine therapy. he is believed to be the first therapy dog that lives full-time at firehouse. he has a personalized crate i the family room. >> now,now, wally is an additio. >> reporter: wally comforts paul stella. >> i like it. i'm a dog person.

president of the south dakota farm bureau and vice president of the american farm bureau federation. and i would yield to representative gnome for any additional comments. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm proud to introduce my friend and fellow south dakotan paul vanderwall. it's imperative we have folks testifying that live the reality of the tariffs and the retaliation from other countries against our farmers and ranchers. scott has been a leader for agriculture across the country. his farm and ranch is just about 45 miles south of my ranch. i've known him for many years and appreciated his leadership not just at the state level but at the national level as well. him and his wife michelle have been active. they raise corn and soybeans. they have a custom kalgt feeding operation. he's here to tell the story of what every south dakota farmer is going through during these difficult times. thank you, scott. >> our next witness is co-owner of goose neck cattle. representative farmers for free trade and national association of wheat growers. our sixth and last witness is jarod be jarod be

the read from the american farm bureau federation talking with me earlier on fox business network.mit to our patience because we're getting hit hard right now. when you think about it, everything from soy beans to white, barley, they all trade on the commodities markets, future markets. a lot of those prices were headed south long before donald trump became president of the united states. this trade rift that has turned out to be more involved has obviously accelerated that. the read now from republican oklahoma congressman tom cole. congressman, good to have you. farmers have been very loyal to the president and the fight will justify whatever headaches they're putting up with. but there's a limit to that, is there not? >> there is. i'm from a part of the country that doesn't gain from the tariffs anyway. big agricultural district. a district that is big oil and gas producer. the price on metals hurts us and the aeronautical industry as well. very metal sensitive. there's not much upside in this fight but there's a lot of confidence in the president of the united states. he's aske

the american farm bureau estimates the cost of summer barbecue less than $6 a person, 1% less than lastear. higher production helped push down retail meat prices i. items on the menu as always include hot dogs, cheeseburger, spare ribls, salad, watermelon. the overall cost for ten people about 55 bucks. >> calling malarkey on the farm bureau. >> you had us over for a lovely party at your house. >> more than that. >> more than $6 a person. >> fancy barbecue. >> that's what we were thinking about. grilling, getting outside. spending time with family and the weather is going to be really nice heading into the fourth of july. which, of course, great news and coming down from the sizzling temperatures over the weekend. a live look outside and san francisco right now still cloudy and it will take a little while longer before we can mix out this marine layer for sunshine there. at least air quality improved just a bit as wildfire smoke from the further north bay we'll see that drifting mainly adolof and south bay looking good. it is moderate air quality in the day. a live look outside in dubli

. >> i've talked to soybean producers today, i've talked to representatives of the american farm bureausame thing. we're supportive of the president, we get that we don't have really good trade deals out there, but it's gotten a lot worse in the last couple of months. so what's the plan? where are we going with this? we need to know as well because time is running out for us and it's going to hurt our pocketbooks if we don't get something done. that's the message we're trying to send. they ask us, so why don't you go in and tell the president that? i say i think sometimes the president listens a whole lot more to the folks back home than they do to those of us in congress. so what they need to do is share and continue to share their concerns and ask that the white house and the administration remember that the actions they're taking now are having real consequences on real americans who want to be supportive of this administration. >> senator mike rounds, republican from south dakota, sounding an alarm. we'll see if the folks in the west wing hear you. thanks for coming on and sharing y

president of the south dakota farm bureau and vice president of the american farm bureau federation. and i would yield to representative gnome for any additional comments. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm proud to introduce my friend and fellow south dakotan paul vanderwall. it's imperative we have folks testifying that live the reality of the tariffs and the retaliation from other countries against our farmers and ranchers. scott has been a leader for agriculture across the country. his farm and ranch is just about 45 miles south of my ranch. i've known him for many years and appreciated his leadership not just at the state level but at the national level as well. him and his wife michelle have been active. they raise corn and soybeans. they have a custom kalgt feeding operation. he's here to tell the story of what every south dakota farmer is going through during these difficult times. thank you, scott. >> our next witness is co-owner of goose neck cattle. representative farmers for free trade and national association of wheat growers. our sixth and last witness is jarod bernstein.

that letter is endorsed by the american farm bureau federation and national cattle man's association. this amendment is endorsed by the american exploration and mining association, american encore, amigo oost, the competitive institute, the arizona farm bureau, the arizona pork council, concerned citizens, eagle. rim country rod and guns, and others. smith amongst i thank the chairman for their good vote. i urge a yes vote. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. grijalva: i rise in opposition to the amendment. i rise in opposition to this amendment that seeks to eliminate the monument which is in my district. the fact it is in my district it is secondary to the callous disregard to the public input to the wishes of the people of southern arizona, the history of the area and the biodiversity that this amendment attacks. this repeals the monument returning the lands back to multiple use status and opening them up for mining and other harmful activities. the sponsor of the legislation says it is necessary to restore access for recreational shooting and generate revenue which is

the american farm bureau president on whether farmer consist deal with this now.ou know, it's interesting, you think of where we are now, it's only official now. but the pain has been very real for farmers for many many months, hasn't it? can you hear us? >> it has. i can. i can. yeah, the pain has come on several months ago. and you know, we started this trade war and farm income was down 52% before we started this war. so we're not starting at a good level. we're already in very bad farm economy. neil: what do your members say? what are they saying now? obviously they would like this wrapped up sooner than later. i don't know how likely that is. how much can they absorb? >> well what they're saying is nathey're real proud of this president regulatory reform, tax reform. a lot of things they're very supportive of him. we're concerned about what's going on in the trade arena and the tariffs are making the markets move prematurely. they're very concerned because the crop is in the ground, it's growing. they got operating loans out there they're going to have to ser

thend our fourth witness, president of the south dakota farm bureau, vice president of the american farm bureau federation. and i would yield to representative nome for additional comments. >> i am proud to introduce my friend and fellow south dakotan to everyone today. i think it is imperative when we have these discussions that we have folks testifying who live the reality of these tariffs and the retaliation we are seeing. scott has long been a leader for agriculture around the country, and his farm and ranch is about 45 miles south of my ranch. i have known him for many years, and have appreciated his leadership not just at the state level, but at the national level as well. him and his wife michelle have been very active. they raise corn and soybeans and have a cattle feeding operation. i'm grateful he's here to tell his story, but also the story of what every single stop the coda farmer --south dakota farmer is going through. >> our fifth witness is co-owner cattle,eneck landing president of the montana grain growers' association. our sixth and last witness, jared bernstein, senior

is supported by citizens against government waste, the national mining association, and the american farm bureau, and has previously passed the house of representatives on three separate occasions, all by bipartisan votes. i encourage my colleagues to join me in ensuring that the u.s. fish and wildlife service follows the law, the letter of the law, in the endangered species act. and that we do not allow the agency to spend money that would violate current law. i ask you to once again support my amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from colorado reserves his time. who seeks time in opposition? the gentlelady from minnesota. ms. mccollum: thank you, mr. chairman. i seek -- claim time in opposition. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for five minutes. ms. mccollum: the service attempts to comply with the statutory mandate to review the status of listed species every five years, to determine whether their classification is threatened or endangered is still appropriate. however, the service has a backlog of such reviews due to funding limitations such as 42%

why don't we listen to what the american farm burewrow -- bureau federation said. agriculture is an energy intensive sector and a carbon tax leff have ied -- levied on farmers and ranchers would be devastate, let's listen to what the americans for tax reform said. a carbon tax would kill american jobs by the millions. why would we want to allow the possibility -- believe me, there are some people in washington that are talking about trying to bring a carbon tax. to kt a like there is no talk at all, clearly there are people here in this chamber that want to impose a carbon tax. let's be clear about how devastating that would be to the american economy. everybody gets to take a position on this today, mr. speaker. you are either for a carbon tax or against it. i would urge strong support for house concurrent resolution 119. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, mr. speaker. i wonder what the farm bureau says about the tariffs on agricultural

also the vice president of indiana farm bureau and board of directors for the american soybean associationf what he speaks. thank you very much for being here. the $12 billion, how does that go over with you? >> obviously we appreciate the president having our backs as farmers and he said that he would do that as this trade issue has continued on. he said he would be supportive of us and while we appreciate that, obviously we would just like to have a deal done would be what we would really like to see done in the long run. >> martha: what kind of deal? you want to see nafta, tpp put back on the table? >> obviously nafta is what needs to happen first. nafta is very important to the agriculture economy. it not only indiana, but all farmers in the united states. there are both of those, top five trading partners for the united states. a lot of corn, a lot of soybeans, a lot of meat products are exported to both of those countries and i think what we are being told is that would be the model. so we would like to see nafta done so we can continue to see trade agreements with other countries. t

scores of 4-h teams competed in the challenge based on the american 4-h science agriculture challenge farm bureaus -- bureau's, pillars of agriculture diversity literacy. the marketsing team from clarion county came in second. the third place went to the armstrong county idea makers. teams from allegheny countin and washington county rounded out the top five winners. 4-h plays an incredible role in the lives of american students who are learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills. i'm proud 4-h help so many reach their full potential. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition. >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. rent my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. schneider: mr. speaker, another week, another two blatant attempts by this administration to sabotage the affordable care act. on saturday, the trump administration announced it's ending payments