[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 126 (Thursday, August 2, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1703-E1704]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND 
               RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 31, 2007

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3161) making 
     appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and 
     Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, and for other 
     purposes:

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of 
H.R. 3161, which strengthens our rural communities, while making sure 
that the American people have adequate, safe and nutritious food to 
eat. Let me commend the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee, Ms. DeLauro, 
for her exceptional leadership in crafting such extraordinary 
legislation to combat hunger, obesity and malnutrition in our nation 
and around the world. That is why I strongly support this bill.
  Mr. Chairman, H.R. 3161 allows us to reinvest in the often forgotten 
but most vitally important rural areas of America. H.R. 3161 is 
designed to sustain the vitality of rural America, as well as 
protecting public health and food safety, improving nutrition and 
healthy eating, and promoting renewable energy and conservation in 
America.
  Mr. Chairman, more than 3 million households in the rural America 
continue to have inadequate or no water or sewer service at all. H.R. 
3161 is the solution to this disparity in that it provides $500 million 
for rural water and waste disposal grants, a 14 percent increase over 
2007, and $1 billion for water and waste direct loans for the fiscal 
year.
  Mr. Chairman, recent food scares--about peanut butter and lettuce--
have made Americans nervous about where their food originates. H.R. 
3161 tackles these concerns and addresses the importance of food 
safety. This bill fully funds the Food Safety and Inspection Service at 
USDA, shifts funds to fill vacancies in federal meat inspector 
positions, invests in research, and funds a transformation of FDA food 
safety regulations. It also prohibits imported poultry products from 
China, and sets a timeline for USDA to implement critical country of 
origin labeling for our meat supply after 6 years of Republican delays.
  In addition, H.R. 3161 provides a special supplemental nutritional 
program for women, infants, and children other known as (WIC). This 
provision is so essential because it affords many women, especially 
women of color in lower income brackets, the opportunity to care for 
themselves and their newborns after birth. Without programs such as 
WIC, many mothers would not be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle 
during pregnancies and after childbirth. Because of WIC, mothers can 
afford their nutritional foods they need to sustain their pregnancies 
and avoid miscarriages, stillbirths and defects caused by 
malnourishment during pregnancy. H.R. 3161 invests $233.4 million (4 
percent) more than the President to feed more than 8 million pregnant 
women, mothers and children next year.
  Mr. Chairman, hunger is not a problem facing not only the 
international community faces, but it is also a problem in our own 
country. Many women, children, and the elderly should not wake and go 
to bed hungry in our great Nation, but tragically this happens all too 
often in the cities and villages and small towns of our great country.
  The commodity supplemental food program provides $500,000 monthly in 
the year 2007. H.R. 3161 increases funding in this area to allow people 
in five additional states to participate in the program and expand 
those getting food in states already in the program. In addition, under 
the Food Stamp Benefit provision, H.R. 3161 protects the most 
vulnerable and helpless; families of soldiers in combat. Like the 
recently passed Farm bill, the measure ensures that the families of 
soldiers in combat are not penalized under the Food Stamp program. It 
also rejects the Administration's proposal to restrict eligibility for 
food stamps by excluding needy families who are receiving certain other 
services.

[[Page E1704]]

  Mr. Chairman, let us remember that 1 in 3 American adults is 
overweight or obese and more than 9 million children are struggling 
with obesity. H.R. 3161 aims to improve the eating habits of Americans, 
particularly our children through programs that teach children about 
healthy eating. H.R. 3161 increases funding for nutrition programs, 
including the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, which 
broadens Fresh Fruit and Vegetable and Simplified Summer Food programs 
to all states to provide nutritious foods to children in low-income 
families, and specialty crop grants to encourage more fruit and 
vegetable consumption.
  Obesity is associated with 35 major diseases including chronic and 
life-threatening conditions such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. 
It is important to keep our Nation healthy by providing access to high 
consumption of vegetables and fruits to the future of our great 
country, our children. By supporting H.R. 3161 we assure a healthy 
consumption of nutritional foods for children whose only crime is that 
their families are poor.
  Mr. Chairman, H.R. 3161 is essential because it addresses one of the 
most staggering causes of death in children: malnutrition. Malnutrition 
remains a significant problem worldwide, particularly among children. 
According to the United Nations World Food Programme, severe acute 
malnutrition affects an estimated 20 million children under the age of 
five worldwide and is responsible in whole or in part for more than 
half of all deaths of children. Malnutrition kills approximately one 
million children each year, or an average of one every thirty seconds.
  These statistics are absolutely frightening and simply intolerable. 
They are also avoidable. The World Food Programme estimates that, when 
implemented on a large scale and combined with hospital treatment for 
children who suffer complications, a community-based approach to 
combating malnutrition could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of 
children each year.
   Mr. Chairman, H.R. 3161 recognizes the importance of helping our 
neighbors in combating the hunger. H.R. 3161 provides funding for the 
Foreign Agricultural Service in the amount of $159,136,000 and 
transfers of $4,985,000, for a total salaries and expenses level of 
$164,121,000, an increase of $2,817,000 above the amount available for 
fiscal year 2007 and a decrease of $9,073,000 below the budget request.
  In addition, H.R. 3161 permits the United States Agency for 
International Development (USAID) to use up to 25 percent of the funds 
appropriated for local or regional purchase of food to assist people 
threatened by a food security crisis.
  Mr. Chairman, if it were not for grants such as the McGovern-Dole 
International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program many 
foreigners would have no other choice than to leave their native 
country in pursuit of a better life. In my very own office, I have a 
future international human rights lawyer by the name of 
Onyinyechi Abigail Nwaohuocha, who recently traveled to Cambodia and 
witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by food shortage and 
underdeveloped agricultural programs.

  Mr. Chairman, H.R. 3161 reminds us that it is important for the 
United States to foster a relationship with other parts of the world, 
so that citizens of developing countries can also have basic rights 
such as sufficient amounts of food. The McGovern-Dole International 
Food program is funded in this bill in the amount of $100,000,000, an 
increase of $1,000,000 above the amount available for fiscal year 2007, 
and the same as the budget request.
  The George McGovern-Robert Dole International Food for Education and 
Child Nutrition Program fights child hunger and poverty by supporting 
school feeding operations, which provide nutritious meals to children 
in schools. This simple formula has been proven to be a success. 
Because of such programs, students are better able to concentrate and 
learn more quickly on a full stomach. Enrollment and attendance rates 
have skyrocketed as a result of school feeding programs, particularly 
among girls who are too often denied an education.
  Mr. Chairman, there are 110 million school-aged children suffering 
from hunger every day, and they are counting on America's leadership 
and generosity to provide them with an opportunity to break the cycle 
of poverty. This bill provides that leadership and generosity and it is 
for this reason that I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for its 
passage by an overwhelming margin.

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