the honorable donna shalala, she oversaw the department during one of the most important periods in terms of food and health. this was a time when our nutritional labeling information package was being designed, and the theme of her administration was making sure consumers are betting informed about the quality and ingredients of the food that they were eating, enormously important time. >> we are leaving this now for a brief pro forma session in the city. they have been out this week for the memorial day recess, returning for business on monday.

and doug being senior adviser for rural affairs at the white house is really at that point which donna shalala talked about today. if we want to for the rest of the afternoon program we can call him the czar, but -- >> no, you can't. >> we won't. but doug is at that confluence of the coordination point that we really need, have needed and will need going forward, even in a new administration, to deal with the issues to ensure that the emerging context of food, markets, policy, health, wellness, access, and security, all come together. so, with that, i'm going to introduce doug o'brien, you all have his bioin your folders. i think it's far more important that we hear from you and get a chance to ask you some questions. doug o'brien. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you for the introduction, and i do want to thank the school and the georgetown law center. that collaboration around the rural opportunity investment is a -- i think is a great example of what i want to talk about today and that is how -- from the federal level, we need to think about collaboration, think about ways to eithe

with respect to whether or not there should be a czar, i rarely disagree with my former boss, donna shalala. czar i don't know but appointed real coordination in the white house is really important. we never knew who to talk to in the white house about our issues. we assumed often mistakenly that people within the white house were actually talking to each other and we often found ourselves in the situation where important issues were not being taken up because of a failure of a person in the white house who was fully knowledgeable and accountable and frankly an advocate for our issues because of all the competing priorities. sometimes these issues would drop lower on the agenda. i don't know if i should tell one story. would i get in trouble? one shocking moment for me -- >> nonpublic stories. >> when we were trying to move forward with the -- the proposed changes to the nutrition facts label which was put out in final form just recently, but we were trying to get a briefing with the white house and it wasn't getting done and it wasn't getting done and i finally called over and said what's

the honorable donna shalala, she oversaw the department during one of the most important periods in terms of food and health. this was a time when our nutritional labeling information package was being designed, and the theme of her administration was making sure consumers are betting informed about the quality and ingredients of the food that they were eating, enormously important time. >> we are leaving this now for a brief pro forma session in the city. they have been out this week for the memorial day recess, returning for business on monday. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c, june 3, 2016. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable mitch mcconnell, a senator from the commonwealth of kentucky, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: orrin g. hatch, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 2:00 p.m. stands adjourned until 2:00 p.m. >> tha