ms. sewell: i'd like to yield time to the gentleman. the chair: the gentlelady reclaims her time. >> i thank the gentlelady, i understand you're trying to get the cormorant damage extended to other parts of the country. that's an important thing. this is getting to be a bigger and bigger problem. we've had the problem in the midwest and in the northeast but there's a lot of problems in alabama, mississippi, and some of those states as well. these birds migrate. as i said earlier, the reason we got into this program is because we entered into the migratory bird treaty with canada and mexico in 1973. in mexico, black birds are sacred. part of their culture down there. so there's a prohibition in that treaty against any hunting of any black birds, whether it be crows or cormorants or whatever it is. that has tied our hands in terms of trying to deal with these issues and we have been able to make changes on kind of a pilot basis in certain areas but we need to do this all over the country because the birds migrate from canada to mexico and

ms. sewell. ms. sewell: i rise to talk about the disasters that touched the people of this nation. there must be a commitment to rebuilding communities across this nation. my thoughts and prayers are with the people of joplin, missouri, who suffered the most recent wrath of nature. we in the seventh district of alabama suffered massive devastation during the april tornados. 9-12 counties in my district suffered tremendous damage. these pictures only show part of the story. homes were destroyed, schools, churched, businesses and communities were destroyed and many of my constituents lost the lives of their friends and loved ones. i want to thank the president and first lady for visiting my district and seeing the devastation firsthand. mr. president, you told us then you had not seen such devastation before. you also said that you would make sure we were not forgotten. thank you, mr. president, for your commitment to rebuilding alabama. i want to thank your administration for responding so quickly. within hours fema administrator craig fugate was on the scene to survey the widesprea

ms. sewell, for five minutes. ms. sule: mr. speaker, i rise rise to honor mr.f birmingham, alabama, and the documentary of his wife called "the barbour of birmingham: foot soldier for life." it was part of the sundance film festival and later won best documentary short at the ashland independent film festival. in march the city of birmingham hosted a red carpet screening of this wonderful movie and it was attended by over 2,000 alabamians. it was featured at the alabama theater a venue that once refused admission to african-americans. tonight, we will celebrate the "barbour of birmingham" with its -- "barber of birmingham" and will be screened at civil dots festival in silver springs, maryland. mr. speaker, the screening of this film and its historic accounts are deserving of tribute. i commend the independent filmmakers and co-directors, robin friday, and the late gail dolgen for their collaborative vision and capturing mr. james armstrong's life. a birm --ingham legend, it told the thousands of foot soldiers that were not written in the history books. i appla

ms. sewell, for five minutes. ms. sewell: today i rise in support of farmers and producers across these united states and especially in the seventh congressional district of alabama. as we debate and discuss issues sur surrounding the agriculture -- surrounding the agriculture appropriation bill, let us remain mindful of the enormous impact the agriculture sector has had on the united states and our world economy. agriculture employs more than 21 million american workers. and accounts for 15% of the total u.s. work force. in my home state agriculture contributes nearly $5 billion to the state's economic sector every year. any agriculture appropriations bill must take into account the potential economic impact and the strengthening of agriculture sector that is needed for the 2 is -- 21st century. i understand we are making very difficult budgetary decisions, however i am concerned that the types of cuts proposed in this year's agriculture appropriations bill are ill-advised and disproportionate. this bill reduces the f