secretary vilsack: i'm not concerned about that.here are so many more issues we are in agreement on from the expansion of access to health care to improving our education system to raising wages in this country to creating new, innovative opportunities -- i have no question that this will be a united democratic party, notwithstanding we have a division on this particular issue. peter: would it help if hillary clinton came out and said i'm in favor of this? secretary vilsack: what really notters and this is what hillary clinton says. it is what the rancher at home says. we need them to speak up and speak passionately about their support for this, too match their passion and there are over 70 agricultural groups and we need to make sure their voices are heard. k may beecretary vilsac confident, but they need to round up votes. john boehner will have to deliver 200 house republicans. even if it passes, the margin will be very, very close. pimm: peter, it you also got a chance to speak to the secretary about the 2016 election. he is the

vilsack, for being with us to discuss this important issue. more than 60 years ago through the enactment of the first federal child nutrition program, the national school lunch act of 1946, congress recognized that feeding hungry children was not just a moral imperative, but also an imperative for the health and security of our nation because so many of our youth were malnourished and not prepared for military service. in 1946, the 79th congress passed the national school lunch act, quote, as a measure of national security to safeguard the health and well being of the nation's children and to encourage domestic consumption of nutritionus agricultural commodities and other food by assisting the states through grants and aid and other means in providing an adequate supply of food and other facilities for the establishment, maintenance and expansion of nonprofit school lunch programs. today we're faced with another crisis that impacts our nation's national security. our children are now too obese to enlist in our nation's military. one-third of c

secretary vilsack already said there is nothing more that he can do. this is before we lost.e lost that, it was out of his hands and it was congress to fix it. >> so it seems like the basis for it is the country of origin piece is not the piece that linked to health. it's more of a marketing thing. but traceability is the piece that would be linked to health. so i would tend to favor a response to this where we try to actually tie in this -- tie this in to health rather than kind of give up on the whole concept. and i'm wondering whether you're open to that -- >> that's a much broader question. we're simply responding to the narrow focused piece with respect to the country of origin labeling and not looking at the traceability or the other food safety issues that may be out there. >> this would be a good time to do that. because we have a window of time. and you know whether it's this week or next week or soon, we have to act. it seems like the two potential ways of acting would be to either eliminate what we have, which is what this proposal, or to move forward with a more m

secretary vilsack already said there is nothing more that he can do. this is before we lost. if we lost that, it was out of his hands and it was congress to fix it. >> so it seems like the basis for it is the country of origin piece is not the piece that linked to health. it's more of a marketing thing. but traceability is the piece that would be linked to health. so i would tend to favor a response to this where we try to actually tie this in to health rather than kind of give up on the whole concept. and i'm wondering whether you're open to that -- >> that's a much broader question. we're simply responding to the narrow focused piece with respect to the country of origin labeling and not looking at the traceability or the other food safety issues that may be out there. >> this would be a good time to do that. because we have a window of time. and you know, whether it's this week or next week or soon, we have to act. it seems like the two potential ways of acting would be to either eliminate what we have, which is what this proposes or , to move forward with a more meaningfu

tom vilsack urged congress to pass immigration reform. >>> the documentary, bat kid begins in san francisco. you remember bat kid, the little leukemia patient who became te toast of the town when he was the caped crusader for a day. they used a number of scenes from our news. hundreds of people showed up in a convoy of lamborghinis. ama daetz played a big role. >>> actor ben affleck tweeted this message. from one batman to another, thank you, sf bat kid. as for miles, he remains in remission and has just finished the first grade. good for him. >>> another 30 minutes is next. ming up the boston bomber formally sentced to death. the message dzhokhar tsarnaev had for his victims today. >>> and the service after the church murders. >>> and a >>> we continue to follow breaking news in antioch where crews have a large grass fire mostly under control tonight. that fire broke out in contra loma regional park. it burned more than 500 acres, but the good news it's 80% contained. an evacuation center has been set up at mearaista park. no buildings burned. follow us on twitter at abc 7 bay area. >>> dz

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thomas vilsack said the only legislative fix of cool, the repeal of it, would bring the u.s. back into compliance. i thank and congratulate chairman conaway and urge my fellow colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. mr. peterson: i yield to the gentlelady from connecticut, ms. delauro, six minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for six minutes. ms. delauro: i rise in strong opposition to this bill. let me put out the irony we are considering this bill, what could be a matter of days before we will vote on the administration's request for trade promotion authority. last month, president obama said in his speech at nike, and i quote right here critics warn that parts of this deal, the transpacific partnership would undermine american regulation. food safety, worker safety even financial regulations. they are making this stuff up, he said. this is not true he said. no trade agreement is going to force u

thank you, secretary vilsack, for all the great work you've done on improving nutrition. i really commend this administration for being leaders in this area. i'd like to ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a statement of rodney taylor, the director of nutrition services at the riverside unified school district. i'll just -- it's brief statement. in considering the reauthorization of the hunger free kids act, the question we must ask ourselves is how much are the lives of our children worth. the healthy hunger free kids act seeks to reinforce the recommendations made by the institute of medicine and aligning the school food program with scientific research. while millions struggle with obesity and hunger standards provide one structured approach. as a country as parents, as people with moral consciences we owe it to our children. the healthy hunger free kids act gives all children the chance at living a healthy life. the cost of doing snog is far greater than the inconveniences. along those lines i ask unanimous consent be entered into the record. >> i think you

as a reminder, the honorable tom vilsack is secretary of the department of agriculture and has servedince 2009 and managed a staff of over 100,000 as they implement the administration's agriculture policies including oversight and implementation of the federal child nutrition programs. prior to his appointment, secretary vilsack served two terms as a governor of iowa as well as two terms as a state senator. it's always nice to have somebody from the neighboring state here mr. secretary. i'll now ask you please to stand and raised;Ñ do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. >> i do. >> let the record reflect our witness answered in the affirmative, and they always do. before i recognize you to provide your testimony let me remind you very briefly of the lighting system. some hearing rooms have gotten a lot more sophisticated than our old one. we've got the green, yellow and red lights. you can largely ignore those. i've never gavelled down a cabinet secretary for opening remarks that were a litt

chair and thank you secretary vilsack for your testimony here today as well as your leadership on these very important issues. in the limited time that i have i was hoping that we could drill down some on the childhood obesity problem that we've got in america. now more than one third of children in the united states are considered overweight or obese, is that correct? >> yes. >> and is it fair to say that this level of obesity is a national epidemic? >> it's of obviously great concern. >> so these children are placed at greater risk of heart disease, is that correct? >> a number of diseases. diabetes hypertension. >> greater risk of liver disease? >> may very well be. >> stroke? >> greater risk of illness. i'm not a doctor. and i did raise my hand to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. so i want to make sure -- >> in fairness, he did. >> is it fair to say that childhood obesity increases the likelihood of bullying in school? >> in my personal experience, i would say that's true. >> does it increase the likelihood of social isolation? >> yes. >> is it fair it increases ltsd a seve

. - agriculture secretary vilsack testifies about federal child nutrition programs. >> next, u.s. ambassador to the united nations samantha powers testifies before the house foreign affairs committee. the committee is looking into how she and her staff plan to advance u.s. interests within the international organization. the u.n.'s role in nuclear negotiations with iran and potential security council actions involving israel. this hearing is 2 hours and 10 minutes. >> this hearing will come to order and this morning we look at the role of the united nations and we look at the role of the u.s. there with ambassador saa maptha power. she has spent two years as the u.s. permanent representative to the u.n. and the ambassador has approached her job with great energy, great determination and perhaps best shown during last year's ebola crisis in west africa and in that case the administration and congress worked together to contain bowla and to save lives. ambassador, thank you for those efforts and thank you for joining us today and the ambassador's testimony comes at an important time

chair and thank you secretary vilsack for your testimony here today as well as your leadership on these very important issues. in the limited time that i have, i was hoping that we could drill down some on the childhood obesity problem that we've got in america. now more than one third of children in the united states are considered overweight or obese, is that correct? >> yes. >> and is it fair to say that this level of obesity is a national epidemic? >> it's of obviously great concern. >> so these children are placed at greater risk of heart disease, is that correct? >> a number of diseases. diabetes, hypertension. >> greater risk of liver disease? >> may very well be. >> stroke? >> greater risk of illness. i'm not a doctor. and i did raise my hand to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. so i want to make sure -- >> in fairness, he did. >> is it fair to say that childhood obesity increases the likelihood of bullying in school? >> in my personal experience, i would say that's true. >> does it increase the likelihood of social isolation? >> yes. >> is it fair it increases the a sev