the usda with $600 million to expand high-speed internet. sick and critical for farmers as well as businesses and families. over $1 billion for rural water infrastructure treatments. the bill fixed the forest service is broken budget and provided new tools to protect rural communities from devastating wildfires. congress worked on a bipartisan basis to give the usda important resources to fill vacant positions at the department which improve customer service. i urge you to use these tools to ensure farmers and communities are getting the service i know you're committed to providing. we look forward to hearing more about your work to implement wes budget as well as your organization efforts at the department. we appreciate you being here today. >> thank the ranking member for her comments. hailing from the great state of secretary perdue is our nation's 31st agriculture secretary. mr. secretary today marks one year since and to the day since the u.s. senate voted to confirm you to that role. hearing yourrd to perspective on the state of rural

secretary, i've called on the usda to protect the cherry growers from the competition by approving a bonus by asking where we are and i urge you to take action on the request as it is essential for the cherry growers. given the state of the economy, we need to be investing in the future of the farmers and rural communities and that is why i was disappointed the white house decided to double down on the proposed tax cut or budget cut that would hurt agriculture and rural families. i know mr. secretary at your confirmation hearing you found to be boundto be a strong and ts advocate for rural america in this administration and i believe you. maybe we need to ge give you a megaphone because not every one in the administration seems to be getting the message that we need to do more to improve the quality of life in rural america nonetheless. recognizing this, congress acted to reject to deliver much-needed investments and in the recent bipartisan on the bus, we provided the usda with $600 million to expand high-speed internet. we know that is a basic and absolutely critical for our farmer

you said the usda is a department and this year i'll hit 360 of them had ag issues come up. a lot of the ones cut in here are the ones that the farmers are raising for me. then rural development. an agency that was very important to you personally but more than 43 programs are elimina eliminated the entire rural business service and entire water and waste program because as goi to small communities they talk about how the changing standards for clean water and waste water treatment, the expansion needed for their towns to grow and their manufacturing to come in and just where -- the fact that they have worn out and a very expensive element and very difficult element and how important these water and waste programs are. so those are just some of the concerns i wanted to raise. i hope to get a better insight on your strategy and your thinking. thank you so much. >> then i'll turn to you for opening comments. >> thank you for the opportunity to visit with you today. it's no secret that there's a good bit of anxiety out in the farm land today that a lot of concerns. i want to tha

beef being recalled because it was not properly inspected by the federal inspector according to the usdameat was shipped between 9 states, alabama, arkansas, indiana, louisiana, mississippi, missouri, oklahoma, texas and wisconsin. so far no one has gotten sick which is good but if you have any of this meet you with a mark on it from the usda, 34715, throw it out or kick it back to the store, donated to be safe. heather: dunkin' donuts rolling out heat for breakfast deals. >> rolling out their own value member, you won't see any donuts or coffee on the menu, it is mainly sandwiches, two egg and cheese wake up racks for $2 and request sandwiches on an english muffin for $3 and two egg and cheese bacon sandwiches on a croissant for $5, you need to get two sandwiches to get the deal. >> one for yourself and one for a friend? >> there you go. >> 15 minutes until the top of the hour, multiple red flags missed, the brand-new bombshell revealing 50 democrats wait background checks on the man who gains unauthorized access to sensitive data. our next guest. the lid off the report calling in a cov

the former usda undersecretary testify before congress. i quote, mexico' new mexico is y the most followed up snap system in the united states. imagine asking them to oversee new massive snap bureaucracy. at most two halves that barriers that will increase the length of time that people left away and at worst it will kick people off nutrition support and create an environment that discourages people from applying in the first place. even though he was exempt from work requirements due to persistent homelessness. >> you time has expired. >> own associate myself with remarks; who will i have demonstrated that nt tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands will lose their food benefits. new hampshire we have 92000 and rituals and 37 families relying on supplemental nutritional assistance to put food on the table. over half include individuals living with disabilities. 47% have children under the age of 18. one third have elderly individuals. the average net benefit per person per meal is $1.11. $1.11 per person, per meal. we've had discussi

you obviously gave the secretary a lot of discretion in that from the usda. and we want to honor that confidence byic maing you pleased with the way we deploy those resources. hopefully within a week to 10 days of the announcement of the provisions of that. >> appreciate that. and you have put some amount, for example, drought funding is an area where you have put it out there. i want to ask you about that and thank you for that. >> we have, but not for the programs set in place. not the wildlife and the hurricane wildfire and hurricane issues, but the place where is we're ready for predetermined farm bill programs. we've already got that money out the door and deployed. >> right. which dresktly affect ldirectly example, our ranchers, which is helpful. i want to ask you about your conservation business center. it looks like you're looking to realign staffing. talk a little bit about your vision for the business center, the services that it's going to support, and what kind of time line are you looking at to put this in place? >> excellent question. i know ther

delegation at the world food summit when i was at usda and we had a press release at the world food summit where i was tilted by totally disrupted protesters with signs on their bodies. of course i didn't muck, but the sign said no gene beans in the truth. my mother was very upset at my father was more interested in what it looked like rather than what it said. but we can't stop science from proceeding. there were a lot of key issues in the area of gene editing and i think usda will soon be publishing proposed rules for bioengineer for disclosure act and i assume there'll be a lot of comment from folks in this room. the key issue will be in the rulemaking on this issue of gene editing. do you require highly refined ingredients like soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup or refined beet sugar or other things to be disclosed. how is this debate going on the future of technology. are we going back into the hole gml or are all side going to be a positive contributor to a collaborative situation? that is a big issue in the coming years in agriculture, the whole issue of biotech in gene editing,

by protecting this role, we give our consumers continued trust in the usda organic seal. i ask my colleagues to support this amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. mr. conaway: mr. comer, five minutes. mr. comer: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you and your staff that has worked with me on amendment 10. including a county in my district. according to the u.s. census bureau, adair county has a population of 19,485 people. adair county is home to a regional jail a facility created by coalition of surrounding counties, including my own, to fund and build a single jail that houses more than 100 individuals. when it comes to rural development programs like community facilities loans and grants or rural broadband loans and grants where the definition of rural is capped at 20,000 people, 100 individuals in the county like adair can be the difference. the underlying farm bill addresses the issue of individuals incarcerated at federal and state institutions being included as residents in a community when determining if an area is defined as rural for the purpose of rural

in the area of gene editing usda will soon be publishing proposed rules to implement a national bile information food exposure acts. the key issue will be in the rulemaking. you require highly refined ingredients like soybean oil or high fructose corn syrup or refined beet sugar how is this debate going on to the future of this technology. going back into the old debate where people are killing each other all the time. our all sides can feel like their contributor. that's a big issue is biotech in gene editing which is a different technology. another issue is research. i'm on the board as some may know the model here is partnership across food and egg sector to bootstrap additional funding on more cutting-edge projects that u.s. government and usda cannot afford to do and they keep going down. so, leveraging federal dollars. i wanted to give you a few examples. one were trying to harness the power of photosynthesis. there must be scientists in the room but largely we have not had what we call transformational breakthroughs in photosynthesis decades. how to increase yields and make pla

the exclusion. this only about ensuring that usda can actively count the members of a community for the purposes of rural development programs. this will ensure that usda understands the community's tax base and its needs. denieds should not be the opportunity to address the needs of their rural communities because they are working with their neighbors for the benefit of the entire region. my amendment helps them ensure they are on a level playing field to compete for rural development funds. anchors my colleagues to support rural america by voting for the farm bill today. mr. chairman, i yield back. thank you mr. chairman. i want to thank you and the committee staff or allow me to implement this and include this in the en bloc amendments. of the simplest ones we may entertain throughout this process that allows the secretary of agriculture to establish a program recognizing the service of hamas web operated farms contiguously in their families for 100 years of operation. i think with see less than 2% of the american public operating on our farms. recognizewe can do is that service and sacrifice. >>

at the usta, i had oversight on the two agencies in usda. so i have taken a lot of attention back in two when congress passed legislation, setting up a bipartisan commission on evidence-based policy commission. evidence-based policymaking. and the commission came out with its report and recommendations last fall and it was a surprise to my fellow panelists because they never knew that this commission existed or much less that it came out with this legislation has been introduced in congress. theinted out a copy of cover of it so you could see that there is a report. of this commission. of importance is to the community that is interested in food policy. because as we have moved from the kind of evidence that we have been talking about for specific nutrition or food safety policies into the realm of the kind of research that is being done in a food systems and the changes that we need to have made in food systems to promote healthy systems for long-term sustainability and healthy those fooding in a lot of the recommendations in this report are

chairman it is parliamentary people from the usda are able to ask them questions or just direct them to you? >> direct them to me. >> okay. in the cbo analysis with workforce solution there is reduction $9.1 billion i am curious what does that represent? what are the assumptions? >> gentlelady we will break those numbers down we have to work with you to find the specifics but you are correct on the 9.1. >> so from the groups that i have talked to what the center for budget that the new work requirement could cause 2 million people to lose benefits so that number represents that loss and that $7.6 billion for the administration? can we impact that number as well? >> and then they put against the training programs we talkha aboutg or physician or it? is it growing the program or government? it could be a 5050 match as well well. >> another question that i had as we don't want to get the data can someone share what research was used to create this program? >> we will have plenty of time for the states to have that flexibility should they bear fruit and be used to access and use that data

secretary and the strong commitments you have shown on behalf of the mississippi farmers -- thank you for two things in particular. usda elimination of the regulations that were burdensome and the cotton share program,

they analyzed tests done by the usda. ientists washed and peeled produce and still found pesticides on 70%. strawberries ranks the worst on the dirty dozens. one strawberry contained the residue of 22 pesticides. >> the list also includes spinach, nectarines, apples, cherries, pears. we posted the list on our website abc7news.com. >> eat organic produce, and always washing your produce. >>> next, another look at tweat and how much rain we will get. >> today's storm is level 1 on cholula hot sauce is teaming up with jack in the box for the cholula buttery jack. a little hot sauce there... woah. what's happening? jack i'm trying to film this commercial! oh my gosh, sorry. with delicious cholula hot sauce and crispy jalapenos on a signature bun. the new cholula buttery jack. part of the buttery jack family. made with delicious cholula hot sauce,ack. crispy jalapenos and pepper jack cheese on a signature bun. yep, this is my third one today. the new cholula buttery jack. part of the buttery jack family. only at jack in the box

they analyzed tests done by the usda. washed and peeled produce and still found pesticides on 70%. strawberries ranks the worst on the dirty dozens. one strawberry contained the residue of 22 pesticides. >> the list also includes spinach, nectarines, apples, cherries, pears. we posted the list on our website abc7news.com. >> eat organic produce, and always washing your produce. >>> next, another look another k and how much rain we will get. >> today's storm is level 1 on >>> an effort is on by the vallejo neighbors and get g city together. >> eric thomas has the story. >> the oldest military cemetery on the west coast. >> reporter: took me on a tour today. a place of strong emotion that dates back before the civil war. >> it's the passion and the love. it is the magic of the place. >> reporter: from 1856 to the 1920s. enlisted members and families who died were buried here. a total of 900 graves. but when the navy closed the base in 1996 the city of vallejo it left more money for the cemetery. volunteers cut grass and kee

and when secretary purdue testified before the ag committee shortly after he became the head of the usda, what i asked him about the idea he said if it ain't broke, don't fix it. they are making changes to this program and it will hurt a lot of people. alan: some of these are dealing with more money for employment and training programs. that is something democrat seven asking for for years. why the opposition now? rep. mcgovern: we have existing programs that the republicans continue to underfund. this will create a whole new bureaucracy that will not even meet anywhere near the needs of the people who could essentially be thrown off this benefit. alan: they're saying it could work during rep. mcgovern: we've done 23 hearings on snap at their request. if this was such a good idea, don't you think at least one of those hearings would have been about this? these ideas, these changes and these so-called reforms that are any ag bill, none of them were reflected in the hearings we held. i don't even know who wrote this. on the ranking democrat on the nutrition subcommittee. we didn't see this

emails by the associated press show the usda preparing an announcement requiring drug testing for foodecipients for months. officials they will only impact 5% of people in the supplement alliteration assistance or snap program including workers considered able-bodied and have no dependents. 15 states require drug testing for food stamp assistance in 20 have introduced legislation on the matter. the white house is concerned welfare programs are being taken advantage of. >> a lot more fun to spend money than to reduce. it is harder to reduce spending long term than it is to spend. it is incumbent upon all of us to make difficult decisions. heather: donald trump signed an executive order to increase work requirements for welfare program saying the federal government should do everything within its authority to empower individuals by providing opportunities for work including investing in federal programs that are effective at getting people into the workforce and out of poverty. agencies have 90 days to submit requisite policies and regulatory changes. it is unclear when we can expect an

accurately counting the size of community that usda understands that counties should not be denied the opportunity to address the needs of the rural communities for the benefit of the entire nation my amendment ensures they are on a level playing field and i encourage my colleagues to support the en bloc and support rule america by voting for the farm bill today i yield back. >> thank you mr. chair i just want to. >> one of the simplest ones to entertain that allows the secretary of agriculture establish a program to recognize the service of those who operate services with over 100 years of operation may be less than 2% of the american public operating our farms it with the contribution they make to our national security. i yield back thematic. >> to look at research and trade priorities and look at that second congressional district and for the record i want to keep my remarks brief and thanks to the members on the other side of the aisle to work collaboratively with me and each amendment that those two have topics as fundamental and until then your secret is safe with me. >> i yield

emails obtained by the associated press show the usda preparing for an announcement requiring testinging for food stamp recipients. it will only impact 5% of people in the supplemental nutrition's assistance program including workers considered able-bodied and have no defendants. 15 states are requiring drug testing for food assistance and 20 have introduced legislation on the matter. the white house is concerned welfare programs are being taken advantage of. >> is more fun to spend money than to reduce, harder to reduce spending long-term than it is to spend and incumbent on all of us to start making difficult decisions. >> reporter: donald trump signed an executive order strengthening work requirements for welfare program saying, quote, the federal government should do everything in its authority to empower individuals by providing opportunities for work including investing in federal programs that are effective at moving people into the workforce and out of poverty. agencies have 90 days to submit a list of records policies and regularly changes and it is unclear when to expect a f

they analyzed tests done by the usda. ntists washed and peeled produce and still they found pesticides on 70% of conventionally grown fruits and vegetabl. strawberries ranked the worst on the dirty dozen list. one third of all strawberries. it also contained spinach, nectarines, cherries, pairs, potato and sweet bell peppers. we posted both lists on your website. what's the big take away message eat organic produce and always wash your vegetables before you eat. >>> more to come here. six months ago wildfires tore through the north bay leveling homes and businesses. next you're going to meet the cannabis farmers who perseve >>> all this week we are marking six months since the north bay wildfires which left 44 people dead, thousands of home destroyed and countless lives disrupted both personally and professionally. the devastation even affected some of the north bay's cannabis growers. abc 7 news reporter laura anthony takes a closer look tonight at one farm that the pushing forward to come back. >> so this was -- yeah, th

of raw beef, diced bacon preseasoned beef because it was improperly checked by heirs according to the usda the meat has this number in your screen, and 34715, throw it out, take it back to the store you bought it from. just don't eat it. you want to be safe. the meat was shipped to alabama, arkansas, louisiana, mississippi, oklahoma, texas and wisconsin. no one has gotten sick, but because it was infected they want to get it off the shelves. lauren: wow, thank you. cheryl: we've still got a lot more coming up on the show this morning. the market up to us were second quarter ever. stocks falling and the possible trade war, china hitting u.s. companies with 3 billion worth of terrorists. in a meeting with putin? that didn't stop russia from showing off its new satellite killer missile. taking a look at futures after a big selloff that we had yesterday for the dow lost 1.9%. nasdaq more than 2.5. we have great numbers. we will leave it there. nasdaq up 24. you never know. this could change in two seconds. lauren: stay with us. ♪yea, you can be the greatest ♪you can be the best ♪you can be the

last week, the usda released a forecast saying this year's soybeans will top corn. n't know what to plant. shery: will they start diversified away from soybeans into corn and other grain? >> if you're in the dakotas or kansas or oklahoma where people grow wheat and corn, it's different there. indiana, you grow soybeans. but thatwitch to corn, is a depressed market facing tariffs as well. shery: talking about south america going back to those countries, when we say china could diversify toward brazil and argentina, those countries over the past decade have had a hard time keeping up with chinese imports of soybeans. would they be able to supply the demand? >> in the short time when you have different harvest seasons, you do see the crops coming online as we speak. china could probably live with this for a while. in the next couple of months, china will be trying to do some buying, stocking up inventories to ride out this trade war. what favorsering you can pull in from other crops to make this new market need work. . talking abouteen soybeans for some time as a possib

since people from the usda are in the room. are we able to ask them questions or just direct them to you? >> you'll need to ask them to me. >> to you. okay. so i have a few questions. one, in the cvo analysis, when i look under work force solutions, there's reduction of $9.1 billion. i was curious if someone can unpack those numbers. what does that number mean? what does it represent? what are the assumptions? >> that's cvo doesn't break the numbers out. but we'll be happy to work with you on finding the specifics. but you're correct on the 9.6. $7.6 into the programs. >> so from groups that i talked to in the five days i've had to look it through, like the center for budget and policy priorities, they said that the new work requirement could cause about 1 million low-income households with about 2 million people to lose benefits. maybe that number represents the loss of benefits. and the $7.6 million for administration. could somebody -- by administration can we unpack that number as well? >> that's the money that is block gra

>> we based on the usda testing which analyzed thousands of roots and vegetables samples.hese are products that had been carefully selected and watched and in many cases peeled before tested for pesticides. make -- we find that 70% of conventionally grown hats pesti drew watson. >> we are looking at the good list. why do these see less pesticides and the ones on the dirty dozen list? >> from year to year there is very few pesticides on these clean 15 crops, perhaps because of the way that they are grown. it can be from the protective outer peel that you take off before you eat it. these are consistently food that you can find, conventionally grown that has few if any pesticides measured on them. >> what do you say to people who still love strawberries and are still going to buy them? should they can -- should they be concerned about the level of pesticides? >> we know that eating a lot of fresh vegetables of all sorts is key to a healthy diet. >> >> we try to fill up on those healthy foods. it's important for people to know that among the dirty dozen crops, there's pestici

the usda indicated that, that is what we had a big rally. e flipside of you have china and they will not be importing soybeans. it is a bit of a tug-of-war. the long-term trend has been down because technology improves production, and it lessons demand because people use it more efficiently, so if you add the china uncertainty annual export less, and is going to hurt prices. this is part of the irony of people getting hurt by unintended consequences. joe: if we did have a trade war and the tariffs went through, would be a knock on the effects for the economy? peter: the knock on effects are always much larger than you anticipate. you do not know how that will play out in today. prices are going down, farmers are in debt. housing in the midwest. so the implications can be far wider than just thinking about the narrow price of an individual product. as you noticed, the president tweeted today about aluminum while thatg down, may mean, he says it is kind of positive. be because there is a lack of demand and it does not have implications as it sp

china and we have been watching soybeans in particular, i want to bring in our reporter who covers the usdae been watching all of the ripple effects today throughout the agricultural markets. talk about soybeans and how important the chinese market is for u.s. soybeans. how those a look at prices for commodities have been fluctuating today. a lot of it is due to how important these markets are to china. incrediblye export-dependent and dependent on china. one out of three u.s. soybeans , a $40ped to china billion market for the united states. with beef,ee it because beef exports reopened in china within the last year. they are not a big buyer and u.s. producers are not dependent beef,na from beef -- four that areependent on grns beforeo cheaper prices for them. it is bullish news for life stocks. -- livestocks. the ceo of oracle said -- they will be raising amazon's contract fight with trump. this is related to the catz contract both are involved in. very literal reaction as far as amazon. sessions for amazon right now. no further reaction related to the share price, but we shall see. we wi

but we also want to know that there are -- the usda is looking out for us and in tandem with the environmentalto help us. the iller ha er hasilver liningn ask questions and wash our footfoot foods. >> this is the clean 15. >> you might want to start here. avocados and sweet corn came out on top. 1% of any of the tested samples came out with any pesticide residue. >> you still rinse them, right? >> no matter what. the immediate threat is bacterial if you want to break it down. then, we can consider pesticides. you can wash it, rub it, peel it and buy conventional. organic is a good way to go, as well. supporting our organic farmers puts more organic food into some of the big stores, some of the g grocery stores are supporting it, as well. >> it begs the question, 70%, isn't somebody going to the source and monitoring how much pesticides are used? a lot of this is falling on the consumer that maybe should be backed up. >> it's an excellent plan. part of it is a misconception because detectable doesn't mean it's at unsafe levels. there's levels of thresholds that are set at 100-times to 1,000-tim

through the usda, the three-year $13 million food for progress program, known as feed project, helps to improve yields of meat, milk, eggs, and other products by increasing the vaibility and quality of livestock feed. the u.s.' international military education program, and that is called imet. it was put together many years ago so when our troops go into other areas, they mingle with the troops there and then we invite the troops from various countries to come into the united states and get your training here and we found out once the training takes place in this country, we have their allegiance for the rest of time they are there. they have been working to train future leaders here in the united states and create a rapport between the united states and the ethiopian military. they had 200 members from 2010 to 2015. along with their own successes ethiopia has established itself as a world player. they belong to a number of the same international organizations including the united nations, international monetary fund, and the world bank. the nation is an observer to the world trade o

the history, but now, i think when it really impacts the pocketbook, in particular the farmers, the usdady said that nonfarm income will be down 8.6% this year alone. this was before the tariffs. imagine if they told all of us your income is going to be 8.6 last in the morgan add-on to that. i don't think there's a patriotism that's going to translates people having their pocket picked from this but don't get me wrong for the president is on the right track with wanting to do the right thing, but it seems to me he should've stayed part of the transpacific partnership. >> that was the single biggest lever we had, sort of an asian counterpart in china with the united states helping to lead the way to counter this influence. by bailing out of that, we took away the hammer. >> and don't forget, it's not just the trade relationship with those 500 million people, but it's also the military relationship because as china is expanding, and that's what nations do, they are also expanding their military in the south china sea and we would be much better if we had this alliance with these 11 partner

an drat life cycle analysis of the dpreen house benefits of corn ethanol, like those at the usda and the department of energy has already developed. epa could address these unders through regulation without the need for new legislation. in addition, auto makers should warranty new vehicles throughout concentration up to 75%. similar to what bmw has already done for their vehicles. more details on these points and other observations and suggestions are covered in the wr wherein testimony that i've submitted. i'm proud of what we do on my family's farm. i'm proud our corn crop can have a part to place in the high octane future that's heading our way if we're allowed to do so. america's corn farmers are ready to do our part to deliver. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much for joining us today. i'd like to turn to mr. thompson, president and ceo of fuel. you have five minutes. >> thank you, chairman. ranking members and members of the subcommittee. thank you for the opportunity to clean up this morning and provide our views on the subject of higher octane fuels. i'm chet thomas

i love the idea of the 1958 some usda employees sitting down somewhere to write an instruction manual on how to eat a cracker. [laughter] the instruction that came with a cracker said every adult gets six crackers a day, 125 calories every cracker. if you're doing that math real quickly in your head that's not a lot of calories. the suggestion in the instruction manual was that you should break that into six separate meals over the course of the day because there wasn't a lot else to do in the fallout shelter so if you broke it into six, one cracker meals that maximized the entertainment value of the crackers and then after the two weeks when the crackers iran out the fallout would have, in theory, lessened and then we would flee out of the following shelters and out into our national parks. the idea that the national parks would not be targeted by nuclear war and so the friendly neighborhood park rangers would have sent those two weeks while everyone was hiding out in the shelters eating their biscuits setting up refugee camps across the country in places like yosemite and blue ridge

great care and this is a regulated market we have products that are recollected by t regulated by the usdas extremely important to us so we take care to protect our custody of our rice from start to finish. >> what if that rice had gotten to china excuse me, what if the seeds of that rice had gotten to china? >> you know, we're the only company that can legitimately make the products that we do we make a recombinant serum and our rice contains all of our technology so, we have put probably $85 million into the technology and to the development of this, and so we want to protect that and also, i think maybe more importantly, is to protect the creativity and the ingenious developments that our scientific team has made. you know, we've got to protect that creativity, i think, more than anything else, and create a level playing field, you know, where we have civilized laws that are consistent and reciprocal that are consistent and reciprocal so that we can insent the developments of the innovations. >> probably one of the reasons why the trump administration talked so much about intellectual p

from nasa to the usda, i can't help but reach the conclusion that this administration does not prioritize science, and this needs to change. i urge my colleagues to vote against mr. bridenstine's confirmation today. i urge the administration to wake up and make science a priority in the white house and across the executive branch and start nominating respected scientists to the remaining vacant positions. madam president, i yield the floor, and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. cornyn: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. cornyn: madam president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are crch i would ask unanimous consent -- mr. cornyn: i would ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: i have request for committees to meet. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. cornyn: madam president, the senate is expected to vote this afternoon to confirm jim bridenstine of oklahoma

i love the idea of the 1958 some usda employees sitting down somewhere to write an instruction manual on how to eat a cracker. [laughter] the instruction that came with a cracker said every adult gets six crackers a day, 125 calories every cracker. if you're doing that math real quickly in your head that's not a lot of calories. the suggestion in the instruction manual was that you should break that into six separate meals over the course of the day because there wasn't a lot else to do in the fallout shelter so if you broke it into six, one cracker meals that maximized the entertainment value of the crackers and then after the two weeks when the crackers iran out the fallout would have, in theory, lessened and then we would flee out of the following shelters and out into our national parks. the idea that the national parks would not be targeted by nuclear war and so the friendly neighborhood park rangers would have sent those two weeks while everyone was hiding out in the shelters eating their biscuits setting up refugee camps across the country in places like yosemite and blue ridge

going to be incumbent on me to talk about these things and talk about them with hhs, usda, and my colleagues in the white house. the things we talked about today , you're going to hear is continuing to talk about them much more. a lot of our work today, i have been at the agency almost a year, a lot of my work today has been focused on getting the nutrition facts label implemented in an appropriate way. that has driven a lot of our agenda. that has been a very busy agenda. it was not a foregone conclusion we were going to be able to implement these things on the timeline we did. notwithstanding those who lament certain delays of those rules, there are a lot of challenges getting big rules like that. the fact we were able to do it on the timeline we did is a testament to the hard work of people who have been tasked with these things. now we are at the point where we can look beyond that and start looking at framing new ideas, framing the narrative around those new ideas. that's going to be a big part of trying to achieve what you are setting out. >> thank you. you said lots of terrific things on you

california automakers and the federal government have operated a coordinated national program that set rigorous standards for greenhouse gases in fuel economy for cars and trucks. usdandings last year show the collaboration has been successful. it's estimated will save roughly 1.2 million barrels and a half a billion metric tons and save the average consumer thousands of dollars over the vehicle's life. u.s. automakers stay competitive in the global market. it's disappointing the administration recently announced its intention without immediately consulting its partner states to weaken and potentially dismantle the program. the result is huge uncertainty for industry and a huge rest of the public. we are prepared to take action if necessary including legal action to protect the program and to restore the balance to the cooperative relationship. similarly the clean air act gives epa the authority to fight global warning and greenhouse gases. using his authority the agency developed the clean power plan through transparent process to meet targets by 2030. the plan offers an array of planning auction--options in with a plan in place. the trump administration threatens

according to usda, to qualify as a low-access community, at least 500 people and/or at least 33% of the population must reside more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store. for rural areas the distance is more than 10 miles. i know from personal experience the value of federal assistance, particularly w.i.c. when times do get tough. i've also seen the value of obtaining an education only finding a career path. unfortunately, too many americans at the poverty level are caught in a cycle. we want to change that cycle by providing a work force solution and necessary support, walking with individuals on their pathway to self-reliance and success. the house farm bill makes a significant, even historical investment, in snap employment and training to equip states with resources to arm participants with the soft skills, the job search skills, certifications, and education needed to succeed in today's economy. but to ensure this investment yields results, we are also making these work requirements mandatory. we have a unique opportunity to expand funding for these life-changing

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the inspection process. it's knotts just fema that does inspections. it could be federal highway, usda. there is a number of inspections that take place. but when it comes to dealing with specifically the disaster survivor, how do we do one inspection that cuts across. >> right. >> every bit. and we're not there yet. i don't have an answer. but here again, we're trying to kick start the effort to reduce the frustration. >> and i appreciate that. and i also know, mr. chair, that i'm out of time. the one thing i would ask you to think about, because this is something that small states run into a lot is that the federal government tends to look at comparables. and they say, well, this disaster is only a million dollar disaster. it doesn't really need people. in my state, that's a huge disaster. >> sure. >> and we don't have the people or the infrastructure necessarily to receive those dollars from the feds without help because of our scale. and so i just would ask that you guys consider the state scale, not just where the state falls in the federal size. does that make sense? >> here is whe

he testified before the house agriculture committee and has led wsu to be number one in usda research and development expenditures in 2016. jim and i worked closely together since i came to cogget and -- to congress an i'm grateful for all he's done for my alma mater and i urge my colleagues to join me in celebrating his successful career and wish him the best in retirement. go cou fwmbings s. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. >> without objection the gentleman is recognized for one inute. >> i rise to recognize mike clancy for his heroic efforts in saving a -year-old boy in panama city beach he responded to drowning call at a hotel to find an unresponsive child. he took action and his quick thinking and response saved young jackson's life. deputy clancy said in his own words that he's not a hero. but to jackson and to his family, he is a hero. deputy clancy attributes his skills to 22 years in the u.s. army and training at the bay county

the necessary oversight. third, this bill will also allow researchers to apply for competitive federal grants from usda so we can continue to see more innovations with respect to this extraordinarily versatile crop. and finally our legislation will also explicitly make hemp eligible to apply for crop insurance. that will enable farmers to build out a steady business model and put it on a level playing field with other crops. so i look forward to working -- continuing to work with colleagues here in congress and hemp advocates in kentucky and throughout the nation on this legislation. again, i want to particularly thank senator wyden and senator merkley for working with me on this bipartisan bill. i also want to thank again congressman comer, a longtime advocate for heroin, who was a -- for hemp, who was a former agriculture commissioner in kentucky, for taking lead on companion legislation over in the house. i will be proud to continue to work with him on this issue. today is a many proking step. i'm hopeful that -- today is a promising step. i'm hopeful this we can get this bill over the finish line and ont