[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 117 (Thursday, July 30, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8534-S8537]
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

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now 
proceed to the consideration of H.R. 2997, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 2997) making appropriations for Agriculture, 
     Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related 
     Agency programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
     2010, and for other purposes.

                           Amendment No. 1908

  (Purpose: In the nature of a substitute.)
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I call up the substitute amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Kohl], for himself and Mr. 
     Brownback, proposes an amendment numbered 1908.

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following 
staff have unlimited floor privileges during the consideration of the 
fiscal year 2010 Agriculture appropriations bill: Galen Fountain, 
Jessica Frederick, Dianne Nellor, Fitzhugh Elder, Stacy McBride, Phil 
Karsting, and Riley Scott.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KOHL. I ask unanimous consent that Bob Ross, a detailee from the 
Department of Agriculture to the Committee on Appropriations, and Katie 
Toskey, an intern on the Committee on Appropriations, be granted 
unlimited floor privileges during consideration of the Agriculture 
appropriations bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the fiscal Year 
2010 appropriations bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 
Food and Drug Administration and related agencies. This bill was 
unanimously reported out of Committee on July 7, and I believe it is a 
well-balanced bill that deserves the support of all Senators.
  This bill includes total spending of $124 billion. Of that total, 
$101 billion is for mandatory programs, such as the Supplemental 
Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps, which is 
funded at $61 billion, and the Child Nutrition Programs, which are 
funded at $17 billion.
  Discretionary spending totals $23 billion, an increase of $2.3 
billion, and is within our 302(b) allocation. While this is a 
significant increase from last year, the President's request in just 
four areas--WIC, food and drug safety, humanitarian food assistance, 
and rural rental assistance--account for nearly 90 percent of the total 
increase. The depth and breadth of the responsibilities held by the 
USDA and FDA are far greater than I believe most Americans realize.
  The funds in this bill are used to help ensure the most basic of 
human needs are met. This bill provides the funds for the two major 
agencies charged with keeping America's food and medical supply safe, 
something we nearly

[[Page S8535]]

always take for granted. It provides funds to ensure that low-income 
families in rural America have access to affordable housing and 
opportunities for homeownership. It provides funds to ensure that over 
11 million kids receive breakfast and 31 million kids receive lunch at 
school every day. It provides funds to make sure 2 million kids from 
low-income families receive a nutritious meal during the summer when 
their parents are not home. It provides funds to developing countries 
to provide meals to children when they go to school--which is often the 
only way to get them there. USDA is also responsible for important 
agricultural research, conservation activities, community development, 
animal and plant health activities, agricultural trade, and much more. 
It is an important bill--more important than many may realize.
  There are many specific high notes to mention.
  Of the total funding provided in this bill, 69 percent is directed to 
nutrition programs. The WIC program is funded at more than $7 billion, 
which is an increase of almost $700 million over last year's 
appropriations bill. This is the amount necessary to meet the 
increasing need for this program, and will provide nutritious food to 
nearly 9.8 million low-income mothers and children each month. There is 
also language included to ensure that military families are not 
disqualified from the WIC Program because of increased combat pay--this 
is a small provision, but an important one in recognizing the 
sacrifices that our soldiers and their families make.
  This bill includes $163 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food 
Program, which provides supplemental food to nearly 450,000 very low-
income senior citizens and more than 30,000 low-income women and 
children. The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which provides free 
food to food banks, many of which have seen private donations decrease 
significantly, will receive $253 million in fiscal year 2010. An 
additional $7 million is provided to assist food banks in maintaining 
and upgrading their facilities and equipment so they can continue to 
serve those in need. In difficult economic times, these programs are 
vital to those that might otherwise go hungry.
  In the area of food and drug safety, this bill provides the full 
budget request for both the Food Safety and Inspection Service and the 
Food and Drug Administration. The FDA is provided $2.3 billion, an 
increase of nearly $300 million. This increase, one of the largest in 
FDA's history, is necessary to continue the slow turnaround of an 
ailing organization whose responsibilities have vastly outgrown its 
funding over the past several years. The FDA is in charge of ensuring 
the safety of one-quarter of consumer products, and it is imperative 
that it has the funding to carry out its responsibilities. Similarly, 
the Food Safety and Inspection Service is responsible for ensuring that 
all of the Nation's meat and poultry is safe to eat. FSIS is provided 
the full budget request of more than $1 billion to carry out its 
mission.
  This bill provides substantial funding to support international 
humanitarian food assistance. The PL 480, Food for Peace, and McGovern-
Dole programs are funded at the President's request, which together is 
an increase of more than $500 million above last year. These programs 
are vital to helping relieve hunger in some of the most distressed 
parts of the world and to encourage children in developing countries to 
receive an education. To enhance those programs, funding is provided to 
support the use of micro-nutrient fortified foods and to develop new 
food aid products that can make a real difference in saving lives and 
securing long-term health benefits, especially for children. The bill 
also provides $13 million, as requested by the President, for USDA to 
help develop agricultural systems in countries facing severe food 
shortages. We believe that the development of sustainable food systems 
is the proper alternative to emergency food assistance. Therefore, this 
bill provides guidance and support for USDA, in partnership with the 
country's land grant institutions, PVOs, and others, to work together 
toward global food security.
  America's farmers and ranchers face some of the tightest credit 
conditions they have faced in years. Agricultural producers are having 
difficulty obtaining capital necessary to maintain operations, and 
demands for Federal credit have skyrocketed. This bill provides over $4 
billion of needed credit, representing an increase of nearly $750 
million over 2009. These funds will help sustain agricultural producers 
as private credit markets stabilize.
  This bill also provides increased funding for development of rural 
America, including housing, essential community facilities, business 
assistance, and infrastructure. In response to the recent housing 
crisis, USDA rural housing programs remain among the most important, 
and the most active, for Americans to achieve home ownership. Over $13 
billion is available for housing loans and grants, including funds for 
new construction, repair and rehabilitation, and housing vouchers and 
rental assistance to ensure shelter for the lowest income rural 
residents. Almost $1.6 billion is available for loans and grants to 
small towns to support clean water and sanitary waste disposal systems 
that are essential for thriving communities.
  Agricultural research agencies receive a total of $2.5 billion in the 
bill, an increase of nearly $130 million, not counting research funding 
provided in the 2008 farm bill. The Agricultural Research Service is 
USDA's premier in-house research agency. Funding is provided in this 
bill for ARS scientists to conduct increased research on bioenergy; 
improved livestock and crop production; human nutrition, including the 
prevention of childhood obesity; and the reduction of world hunger, 
among other issues. USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, 
NIFA, formerly the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension 
Service, CSREES, funds research, education and extension projects at 
universities and other partners throughout the country. As part of 
NIFA, the bill includes an increase of more than $94 million for the 
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative that awards competitive 
research grants throughout the Nation. These programs allow USDA the 
flexibility to adapt to meet changing research needs and to work with 
leading researchers throughout the country.
  This bill makes substantial investments to protect the Nation's 
animal and plant resources from diseases and pests. Almost $40 million 
is provided to combat the emerald ash borer which has been found in 
thirteen states and threatens hardwood forests. Over $30 million is 
available to fight the Asian long horned beetle, and almost $46 million 
is provided to support the citrus health response program to combat 
citrus greening.
  In all, this bill provides a proper balance among all the agencies 
funded and sets the proper priorities. Conservation, food and drug 
safety, farm programs, rural development, renewable energy, nutrition, 
trade, and the day-to-day functions of USDA and FDA are provided 
adequate funding and proper guidance. The programs funded by this bill 
touch the lives of every American numerous times each day, and impact 
the lives of people living on the other side of the world. These are 
important programs, and I urge each Senator to support this bill.
  Mr. President, I would also like to recognize and thank my ranking 
member, Senator Brownback, for his counsel and support in putting 
together this bill, and look forward at this time to his opening 
statement.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I wish to first thank my colleague for 
the work he has done on this bill. Senator Kohl and his staff have done 
an excellent job in putting together a responsible, good, and important 
bill, and I am delighted to be a part of it and a part of the process. 
It has been a great group to work with.
  The Appropriations Committee, unlike a lot of other committees in the 
Congress, most of the time has to work in a bipartisan fashion, and 
that is a good thing. Senator Kohl and his staff have been very good 
for us to work with, and I think because of that we have what I believe 
is a solid bill and one for which we are going to be able to get strong 
and broad support.
  Mr. President, this is the first time the agriculture appropriations 
bill has been on the floor of the Senate for a number of years. I think 
that is too

[[Page S8536]]

bad, but I think it is also good we are finally getting it here. The 
2006 Ag appropriations bill was the last Ag appropriations bill to be 
on the floor of the Senate. I think it is a good development that it is 
here, that it will be pending. I think it also bodes well for us to be 
able to consider this as a separate and stand-alone bill in the final 
process so we don't have to put it together with a whole bunch of other 
appropriations bills, which, to me, is the way the process should work. 
It is a good way to work, and it is my hope we will be able to have a 
separate agriculture appropriations bill that will make it the whole 
way through the process.
  I look forward to the debate, and I wish to encourage Members now, 
this evening, to come to the floor and offer amendments so we can 
consider this expeditiously but fully. I understand from the majority 
leader that we want to consider a travel and tourism bill and then the 
Sotomayor vote and consideration next week. I hope we could get through 
this bill in an expeditious manner so we could get to the Sotomayor 
discussion; I believe most of our colleagues will want to speak about 
Judge Sotomayor being considered for the Supreme Court. Whether you are 
for or against her, people want to be heard. To have as much time as 
possible for that next week, it will be important we be expeditious on 
this Ag appropriations bill.
  Overall, the budget for food aid in the bill has increased to levels 
that will allow us to depend less on emergency supplemental 
appropriations bills that are not scored, and I think it is important 
we have a regular scoring process and not just do this on an emergency 
basis. I think that is an important improvement in this bill. By 
funding food aid at historical levels in the regular appropriations 
process, USDA and USAID will have more certainty about program 
resources so they can make better decisions about which situations they 
are able and need to commit food to.
  A number of my colleagues have been to refugee camps in different 
parts of the world, and they have seen this food in action. It is 
important and it saves people's lives, and these are important food aid 
programs.
  While I believe this is a valuable step, I am even more encouraged by 
the creation of two pilot programs that we have initiated in this bill. 
The chairman has worked on it and we have worked on it in our office. 
Specifically, in the area of food aid, we have created two pilot 
programs. The first is a nutrition fortification pilot program to 
develop and field test new and improved micronutrient fortified food 
products designed to meet the energy and nutritional needs of school-
aged children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants, and children 
under 5 who are served by the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program.
  This is a program where we supply food to a number of very difficult 
situations in countries with poor economies around the world that is 
given as a school lunch. So it draws students in to go to school, and 
then it is a lunch for them. It has been a very successful program in 
both getting nutritional requirements met for children and in getting 
the educational needs met.
  What we are talking about in this pilot program is a narrower section 
of it where a number of scientists around the world have said the most 
important thing we could fund--that any country actually could fund--to 
improve the health of the most people would be micronutrients in the 
Third World and developing countries that are having difficulty, so the 
children develop their mental capacity, better eyesight, and their 
overall health capacity.
  This is a relatively low-cost, high-yield, high-benefit program. It 
saves lives, makes lives more productive, and it makes the United 
States a lot more popular around the world when we are helping people 
and saving lives. That is one of the pilot programs.
  The second is a new food aid product development pilot program. It 
has been nearly 30 years since the last type of food aid was developed. 
Thirty years ago, we developed a corn soy blend that is used in many 
refugee camps and in difficult situations for individuals around the 
world who can't get enough food. Thirty years ago, we developed an 
innovative product called corn soy blend, but nutritional understanding 
has changed in that period of time. What we are looking at is a new 
wave of food aid products and can we do it better. That is in this 
pilot program.
  A number of people working on AIDS around the world, PEPFAR funding 
particularly in Africa, are saying the big problem with AIDS recipients 
is they are getting the antiretroviral drugs, and they are using those, 
but their body is weakened because they do not have their nutritional 
needs being met. This is to target in on what can we do to make sure 
those vulnerable populations are getting the nutritional needs they 
have.
  I am excited about this because I think these are the sorts of things 
we can do that don't cost much. Indeed, my view would be that we don't, 
in the future, add to the food aid program but we make it a higher 
nutrient program and we target it in better ways so we can get more out 
of this. That is the way we should be working.
  If young children have access to proper nutrition, the benefits will 
follow them the rest of their lives. We all know that. That is what we 
are trying to do with these pilot programs.
  Finally, the bill requires the USDA and USAID to scrutinize how the 
food aid programs function without seeking to change the basic 
structure of the Food for Peace or McGovern-Dole Food Aid. We will use 
the data the Secretary and the administrator provide to the 
subcommittee to make sure these programs are operating as effectively 
as possible.
  I would have preferred a hard upper limit on transportation costs 
myself, but I recognize there are many strongly held opinions on this 
matter. My hope is that all parties can agree we should strive to make 
these programs more efficient because greater efficiency means more 
people will be fed.
  I have cited, for several of my colleagues, an area of great concern 
to me, in that 60 percent of our food aid dollar presently goes for 
transportation or administration. Over a majority of it goes for 
transportation and administration. It seems to me we ought to be able 
to get that to a tighter position. We have worked with the chairman on 
this. Everybody is concerned that we try to stretch our food aid 
dollars and get as much food to starving people as possible.
  I greatly appreciate the courtesies Chairman Kohl and his staff have 
shown me in my first year as ranking member. Chairman Kohl has been at 
this for several years and he has done a very good job.
  Specifically, I thank Galen Fountain, Jessica Frederick, Dianne 
Nellor, and Bob Ross for their efforts on this bill and the 
consideration they have shown my staff. I look forward to working 
through the process on the floor and moving to conference.
  I would urge my colleagues, again, to start getting their amendments 
pending because I think the more expeditious we can be, the more time 
we will have to consider the amendments and then also to get to the 
nomination of Judge Sotomayor, which I anticipate most of the body will 
want to speak on, and that is going to take a long time to get through.
  It is a good bill, and I am looking forward to us working through the 
amendments to make it a better bill through the process.
  I yield the floor.


                Amendment No. 2230 to Amendment No. 1908

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of 
Senator Tester.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Kohl], for Mr. Tester, for 
     himself, Mr. Enzi, and Mrs. McCaskill, proposes an amendment 
     numbered 2230 to amendment No. 1908.

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

  (Purpose: To clarify a provision relating to funding for a National 
                     Animal Identification Program)

       On page 17, beginning on line 17, strike ``$14,607,000'' 
     and all that follows through ``program'' on line 18 and 
     insert the following: ``$7,300,000 shall be for a National 
     Animal Identification program and may only be used for 
     ongoing activities and purposes (as of the date of enactment 
     of this Act) relating to proposed rulemaking for that program 
     under subchapter II of chapter 5, and

[[Page S8537]]

     chapter 7, of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as 
     the `Administrative Procedure Act')''.
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________