mr. farr is vice chairman. mr. crenshaw, when i could not be there on certain days, outstanding work by them. this bill reflects bipartisan input and cooperation and that is the tradition of this bill, and we've honored that tradition and worked well together and it truly is a bipartisan bill. i want to talk about a couple of initiatives in the bill without going into specific numbersing because chairman edwards will highlighted many of the numbers. the garden reserve initiative is -- the guard and reserve initiative is extremely important. because we've been fighting terrorists since 2001, our guard levels remains at a high level. it's likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future. they've had more than 17,000 activations, including the current level of 142,000. i'm pleased to join chairman edwards in supporting the additional $200 million in this bill to address urgent, unfunded requirements for the army and air national guard and the reserve forces of the army, navy, marine corps and air force. on brack,

mr. farr: will the gentleman yield? mr. flake: we're running a deficit that could reach $2 trillion. so we have to prioritize here. and i would suggest it's time to say that we can no longer fund these business incubators that have kind of a nebulous mission that is provided by a lot of private sector organizations. mr. farr: will the gentleman yield? mr. flake: i reserve the balance of my time. i believe the gentleman still has time remaining. the chair: the gentleman from arizona reserves his time. the gentleman from california. mr. farr: there is absolutely no competition with the private sector. they've endorsed this. they're the members of the board of directors. they're trying to assist this community to get on their feet. why i take umbridge with this, there are 201 earmarks in this piece of legislation. the author of this amendment has chosen 11 to go after. and if they are, they're about attacking poor people. the poorest of poor. that's what incubator centerers are about. to get people on their feet. people who ca

speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. farr. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. farr: thank you very much, mr. mcgovern, for yielding. and thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of the rule and in support of the underlying bill. i wasn't going to speak on it, but it just gets bothersome sometimes to see how much time we spend on debating a rule. i mean, this process is very open. there's no other process in the world that is as open as the process inside congress. and to say that you're denied access to the hearings, to the markups, all of these things are very opened. i served for 14 years in the california legislature, full-time professional legislature. we didn't have rules for each debate that we were going to conduct on the floor. so i find in all the years i served in congress, i've never been asked, how did you vote on a rule? or was the rule an open rule or closed rule? these are prettiess owe taric terms -- pretty esoteric terms in terms of congress. to deny a pe

mr. farr: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you for yielding. always a delight to work with your committee and on this very important bill. the southern sea otters are a keystone species, as the chairwoman pointed out. if they break the chain, the whole ooco-logical system falls apart. essential -- the whole ecological system falls apart. the sea urchins, they are like the snails of the ocean, they eat the seaweed. if they go unchecked, you'll clear cut the oceans and have no habitat for fish and other thing this is a live in kelp beds. sea otters, by eating urchins, and we have a big urchin industry in california as well, have been compatible for years and years. the problem we have with the southern sea otter is its remarkable recovery and it's a tribute to federal law that listed them because there were less than 100 animals, now they're up to about 2,000. but guess what? they're not growing, and there are less than there were a few years ago. there is something happening to this species that nobody can understand. that's why you need specifi

mrs. lowey: i yield one minute to sam farr a former peace corps worker. mr. farr: i rise in strong support of this and the president has not endorsed your position. he has not asked us to cut this amount. the reason is there are 12,000 americans that applied for peace corps jobs that can't be filled. there are other countries that want peace corps and we can't pand the program because there isn't enough money. this is the most effective foreign aid program, most effective domestic program. if we are going to curtail violence in the world, we have to do it through initiating what's best in america, by sending more peace corps vol un tears. to the people who applied for the jobs, this $450 million is what president obama said in his campaign speech that he wanted to double the peace corps. you can't double it without putting more money in it. i object to your opinion that president obama is opposed -- supports your amendment. he does not. and neither does people in this house or the other house including i would like to submit for the record, senator christopher

mr. farr: thank you. nd would this bill necessarily require small farms to participate in the expensive and unworkable electronic traceability system that f.d.a. would set up? mr. dingell: the answer to that question is yes. mr. farr: i'll yield the remaineder of my time to my colleague, mr. blumenauer of oregon, to make sure that the organic and small growers have a voice. mr. blumenauer: thank you. i appreciate the gentleman's courtesy, as i reesht the leadership -- appreciate the leadership of the chairman. it's great to see that food safety receive the attention it deserves. i'm especially concerned about the language regarding interaction between the wildlife, livestock and farming practices. biodiversity is a prerequisite for a healthy farm. we should not penalize farmers from utilizing techniques such as naturescaping and national hedgerows to enhance soil quality. we should target reform and safety towards practices which have been directly linked to food disease outbreak rather than limiting appro