[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 13, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H2687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL AGRICULTURE DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Costa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, as a third-generation farmer from 
California's San Joaquin Valley, I wish everyone a happy National 
Agriculture Day, something that we do throughout our country.
  I am proud, obviously, to represent the heart of California's San 
Joaquin Valley. But our agricultural productiveness throughout the 
country, beginning with the very origins of the history of the United 
States, has truly been one of the tremendous assets that we have had.
  We are home to the most productive agricultural land in the world, 
not only throughout the country, but in California. Our farmers, our 
dairymen and -women, our ranchers, and our livestock folks feed the 
country. I have often said that our food security, that dinner that we 
have on our dinner table every night, is a part of America's national 
food security.
  As a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee, I am proud 
that we delivered a comprehensive farm bill last year. Now it is part 
of our job to ensure that we implement that farm bill as a safety net 
for agriculture throughout the country. But it is also a safety net for 
those who are working poor, those who are, unfortunately, recipients of 
food assistance programs and the school lunch and the school breakfast 
programs. So the farm bill does a great deal to help all Americans.
  This year, the Agriculture Committee will work to ensure that those 
promises we made in the farm bill will be implemented in the way we 
intended. The subcommittee that I chair, the Subcommittee on Livestock 
and Foreign Agriculture, will be at the vanguard of that effort.
  Today, on National Agriculture Day, let us thank those who grow 
America's food and fiber and put it on America's dinner table every 
night. I am talking about the farmers, the dairymen and -women, and the 
farmworkers, who, through their hard work and the fruits of their 
labor, make this all come together.


                     Visas for Citizens of Portugal

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, soon, the Portuguese Caucus will be 
reintroducing legislation that is important for not only the United 
States, but for our ally Portugal. We will be introducing bipartisan 
legislation that will allow citizens of Portugal to be eligible for 
what is called the E-1 treaty trader visa and the E-2 treaty investors 
visa.
  Portugal is one of the United States' oldest allies and a close 
economic partner. The United States became Portugal's largest trading 
partner outside the European Union in 2015. Bilateral trade reached 
$4.2 billion in 2015, a 30 percent increase from 5 years ago.
  However, because Portugal did not have a bilateral investor treaty 
with the United States before joining the European Union, they are one 
of only five European Union countries whose citizens are not eligible 
for the E-1 and E-2 visas.
  This is long overdue. It is good for the United States; it is good 
for Portugal; and it is good for increased economic activity between 
both countries. It is bipartisan. Hopefully, this year, we will be 
successful in implementing these E-1 and E-2 treaty investor visas.


         70th Anniversary of North Atlantic Treaty Organization

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 70th anniversary of the 
founding of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
  We helped create NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, not 
only to protect our European allies, but to protect our interests. For 
70 years, it has done just that, a remarkable success.
  Next month, in April, we have invited the Secretary General of NATO 
to come address a bipartisan joint session of Congress to take 
assessment of and to commend our NATO partners, along with the United 
States, for a job well done.
  How do you say a job well done? Well, after World War II, over the 
last 70 years, this is the longest peacetime period in Europe in 1,000 
years. Think about that. The last 70 years has been the longest 
peacetime period in Europe in more than 1,000 years.
  NATO has been one of the cornerstones that has created that peace 
dividend, being an absolute and critical barrier against the aggression 
of the Soviet Union and other totalitarian states, being there for the 
fall of the Iron Curtain. NATO's relevance today is just as important 
as it was then.

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