[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 104 (Monday, July 13, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1731-E1732]
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, 2010

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 8, 2009

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2997) making 
     appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and 
     Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other 
     purposes:

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of the Agriculture, 
Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. 
Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2010, and commend Chairwoman 
DeLauro and the subcommittee for their hard work in crafting this bill. 
I urge my colleagues to support it.
  This bill will increase funding to many important programs that 
American families rely on for their health and well-being, especially 
during these challenging economic times. For example, the bill will 
provide $61.4 billion in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition 
Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamps), an increase of 15 percent 
above the funding currently available. With family incomes falling and 
unemployment rising, these funds are needed more than ever to enable 
low-income families to purchase food.
  In addition, the bill provides $16.8 billion in funding for child 
nutrition programs, an increase of 12 percent above the funding 
currently available, and $7.5 billion for the Women, infants and 
Children (WIC) nutrition program, a 10 percent increase above the 
currently available funding. These funds will enable children all over 
America to receive nutritious school lunches and breakfasts, and 
provide food packages containing nutritional supplements to children 
and pregnant and breast-feeding women who are nutritionally at risk 
because they lack the income to provide adequate nutrition.
  The bill also includes $180 million, 11 percent more than provided in 
the prior fiscal year, for the Commodity Supplement Food Program, to 
provide nutritious food to over a half million low-income women, 
infants, children, and elderly citizens struggling to make ends meet. 
The bill will expand this assistance beyond the 32 states currently 
receiving it, to six new states: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Delaware, Utah, 
Georgia and my home state of New Jersey. The Emergency Food Assistance 
Program and the Farmers Market Nutrition Program also receive 
substantial funding: $50 million and $20 million respectively.
  And the bill contains substantial funding for international food 
assistance, including $1.7 billion for the Food for Peace Program, 13 
percent more than currently provided, and $200 million for the 
McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition 
Program, to provide food security and education and developmental 
support for the world's neediest children.
  And I am particularly pleased that this bill includes the full amount 
of funding for most of the organic programs I had requested funding 
for. For example, it includes $5 million for the Organic Transitions 
Research program, to facilitate the ability of farmers to convert to 
organic methods of production, $20 million for the Organic Agriculture 
Research and Extension Initiative, and $5 million each for the 
Community Food Projects and Hunger Free Communities programs, to 
facilitate the development of community gardens, community supported 
agriculture projects, farmers markets, and similar community food 
security projects.
  Especially, I am also pleased that my amendment to the bill to 
protect and strengthen the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) 
organic standards was included in the Manager's Amendment to the bill 
on the floor today. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that the USDA 
Inspector General has the resources it needs to complete a thorough 
investigation, already underway, into whether or not current inspectors 
are ensuring that the most rigorous standards for certification are 
honored when determining if a product may bear the ``USDA Organic'' 
label. In addition, the Inspector General needs sufficient resources to 
investigate whether or not non-organic substances inappropriately 
remain allowed in small amounts in USDA certified products after 
organic alternatives have been

[[Page E1732]]

discovered; as the Washington Post reported last week, since the list 
of allowable non-organic substances was created in 2002, the number of 
such non-organic substances has ballooned from 77 to 245, and only one 
such substance has been removed.
  As noted in the Washington Post article, the program's lax standards 
are undermining the program and the law, prompting the author of the 
law, Senator Leahy, to state pointedly that ``it will unravel 
everything we've done if the standards can no longer be trusted . . . 
if we don't protect the brand, the organic label, the program is 
finished.'' Indeed, the explosive growth of the industry itself 
requires us to increase our vigilance accordingly. Therefore, I thank 
and commend Chairwoman DeLauro for her support and leadership on this 
issue, and for including my amendment in the bill.
  This bill funds many important nutritional and agricultural programs, 
and I urge my colleagues to support it.

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