[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 21, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1147-E1148]
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, 2012

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. LAURA RICHARDSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 14, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2112) making 
     appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and 
     Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, and for other 
     purposes:

  Ms. RICHARDSON. Madam Chair, I am compelled to rise in strong 
opposition to H.R. 2112, the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture, Rural 
Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act for three reasons.
  First, the bill makes drastic and dangerous cuts to food safety 
programs and nutrition assistance for women, children, and seniors.
  Second, by underfunding President Obama's request by 23 percent, this 
bill also makes draconian cuts to necessary conservation programs that 
protect our country's water supplies and manage critical natural 
resources.
  Third, this substantially reduces funding for the Commodity Futures 
Trading Corporation, the watchdog agency designated by Congress to 
protect consumers from Wall Street greed and predatory conduct.
  Madam Chair, the funding reductions in this bill will adversely 
affect every American. For example, the $285 million slashed from the 
Food and Drug Administration will be a devastating blow to the agency 
tasked with ensuring food safety standards. The FDA is our country's 
first and most important line of defense against diseases such as 
E.coli and Salmonella, and with outbreaks of these illnesses on the 
rise, this cut endangers everyone in America.
  In my home state of California, agriculture is a $36.6 billion 
industry that generates at least $100 billion in related economic 
activity. Any threat to the quality of our produce jeopardizes the 
economy of our state and the health of all who enjoy our products.
  Madam Chair, this bill recklessly cuts funding for the Commodities 
Futures Trading Commission by 44% below the President's budget request. 
The CFTC was established to implement Wall Street reforms and is 
charged with policing price speculation in commodities, futures, and 
derivatives markets. The reduction in funding obviously is intended to 
deprive the CFTC of the resources needed to detect, deter, and prevent 
the abusive practices that culminated in the economic collapse of 2008. 
Crippling the CFTC will leave Wall Street speculators free to drive up 
the price of oil and other commodities while making it more difficult 
to protect the pension plans of hard working Americans from the effects 
of another economic downturn.
  Madam Chair, this bill also hurts our environment by cutting $1 
billion from conservation programs. The Conservation Stewardship 
Program (CSP) would be cut $171 million relative to its FY 2012 farm 
bill-mandated level, and if this bill becomes law the government would 
be unable to honor contracts it has already signed with farmers across 
the country employing environmentally sustainable agricultural methods.
  The bill also cuts the Environmental Quality Incentives Program 
(EQIP) by $350 million. The bill cuts the Wetlands Reserve Program 
(WRP) by 64,200 acres and the Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP) by 
96,000 acres. In addition, the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program 
(FRPP) and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) would be cut 
$50 million and $35 million, respectively. The bill would also cut the 
Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) conservation operations 
budget by nearly $128 million.
  Another troubling aspect of this bill is the reduction made to 
domestic and international nutrition programs, which hurt the most 
vulnerable among us.
  The proposed cuts to the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition 
program (WIC), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), and the 
Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) would see hundreds of 
thousands of low-income women, infants, children and seniors losing 
their food aid.
  Last year, WIC provided nutritious food, counseling on healthy eating 
and health care referrals for over 9 million women and children under 
age five and saved more than 200,000 babies from dying at birth. Proper 
nutrition combats low birth weights and improves a baby's immune 
system, saving on healthcare costs. The Republican-proposed $650 
million cut to the WIC program would deny these services for up to 
350,000 low-income women and young children for the next year. In 
California, 31,800 to 55,700 women and children would be turned away.
  Cuts to the CSFP and TEFAP would hurt low-income senior citizens who 
have extremely limited options when it comes to proper nutrition. There 
are 52,000 seniors living in the 37th Congressional District of 
California, which I represent, and nearly 15 percent of them depend on 
these programs to stay healthy and avoid hospital visits due to poor 
dietary health. For this reason, I offered an Amendment to H.R. 2112, 
redirecting $10 million to CSFP so senior citizens will not have to 
choose between paying for medication and paying for food.
  Finally, H.R. 2112 makes drastic cuts to international food aid and 
poverty alleviation programs. These programs constitute a critical 
component of US foreign policy, expressing humanitarian goodwill to our 
allies around the world and promoting a positive image of America 
abroad. Given all the President and Secretary of State have done to 
improve our international standing, it makes no sense for Congress to 
undo this good work by lessening its commitment to combat world hunger.
  I. disturbs me than in their short-sighted rush to cut spending, my 
Republican colleagues would take food from the weakest and the poorest 
among us while preserving the Bush-era tax cuts for the super-rich. The 
American people do not accept this trade-off. My constituents in the 
37th Congressional District reject this trade-off. I urge my colleagues 
to join them and me in voting against this unfair and ill-considered 
legislation.

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