[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 184 (Monday, November 18, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H8912-H8913]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CELEBRATING MOVE OF USDA TO HEARTLAND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Marshall) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend, I had the pleasure of 
joining Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in Kansas City to celebrate 
the relocation of two of USDA's research agencies to the heartland.
  This move will save the country's taxpayers hundreds of millions of 
dollars in rent and upkeep over the next decade. It will place the 
agriculture resource center within a 3-hour drive of 19 land-grant 
colleges, creating synergies in efficiency and research, thus getting 
more research to our agriculture producers more quickly.
  From Columbia, Missouri, to Kansas City, to Manhattan, Kansas, to 
Lincoln, Nebraska, over 300 animal and pet health-related companies dot 
the landscape. This area is already known worldwide as the animal 
health corridor and now accounts for over 50 percent of the total 
worldwide animal health, diagnostics, and pet food sales.
  By relocating the Department of Agriculture's agriculture research 
agencies NIFA and ERS to the center of the animal health corridor, and 
with NBAF's construction in Manhattan, Kansas, near completion, the 
Kansas-Missouri partnership will truly be the world's leading corridor 
for agriculture research as well.
  This relocation places USDA research where it belongs, in the heart 
of the world's agriculture industry and close to our land-grant 
colleges, which all fuel and modernize the agriculture industry.
  I often brag that I represent the largest agriculture-producing 
congressional district in America, a brag that I am going to keep 
repeating until someone knocks me off that hill. But today, I want to 
emphasize how important agriculture is to metropolitan areas like 
Kansas City.
  In the Kansas City metro area, agriculture, food, and food processing 
support over 100,000 jobs, or 7 percent of the entire workforce in the 
area. These industries provide a total economic contribution of over 
$29 billion, roughly 22 percent of the local Kansas City metro economy.
  As an example of the importance of agriculture to the area, I can 
point to the BNSF facility, where we export 10 million pounds of 
protein every week. Also, the DeLong Company elevator exports nearly 
300,000 tons of soybeans and dried distillers grains yearly.
  Guess what? All these commodities, all these products, are grown in 
my home district, the big First District of Kansas.

  The Kansas City metro area is home to several international grain 
trading companies, including Bartlett Grain, ADM, Cargill, Grain Craft, 
Scoular Company, and many others. Seaboard Foods calls Kansas City its 
home as well.
  A big thanks to Secretary Perdue for his leadership, for all he does 
for agriculture, for being a voice of hope to all agriculture 
producers, and for fighting to keep new markets open.
  And a big thanks to President Trump for his leadership, for his faith 
in the heartland, and for making this bold move.
  Kansas and Missouri will make this the agriculture research corridor 
for the world.


                Celebrating Kansas as World Air Capital

  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, Kansas is known as the air capital of the 
world, manufacturing up to 70 percent of the world's embedded aircraft 
fleet, while creating nearly 50,000 jobs and approximately $10 billion 
in economic output.
  Growing up just outside of Wichita, I was well aware of the impact 
and importance the aviation industry had in my State.
  Today, as a U.S. Congressman, I have had the pleasure of seeing the 
evolution of the aerospace industry in Kansas and the continued impact 
this sector has on our district and the State.
  This week, our office is celebrating America's superiority in the 
aerospace sector and Kansas' role in that industry. From the 
manufacturing of 747s by Spirit AeroSystems, to aviation safety 
research at the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita 
State University, to drone technology development at the Kansas State 
Polytechnic in Salina, communities across Kansas have benefited from 
the past, present, and future needs of the aerospace industry.
  Since the industry's inception, the United States has been a world 
leader in aviation research and innovation. But other countries are 
rapidly gaining speed. It is essential that we maintain our competitive 
advantage, not only for continued economic growth in Kansas but for our 
national security and the sustained evolution of space and science 
technologies.
  I have seen the impact this sector has had on my State, and I am 
proud to support the many people, businesses, and organizations 
involved in making the aerospace industry so dynamic and innovative.

                              {time}  1215


                           Thanksgiving Week

  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, Thanksgiving is only a week away, and it 
is good to have a reminder for myself and everyone to take a moment to 
recognize the many blessings we enjoy as Americans.
  Our Founding Fathers bestowed upon us a Constitution and a Bill of 
Rights unlike anything any other country has created. Americans enjoy 
not only freedom to worship our God, but to enjoy the protections of 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
  This country has allowed a Kansas farm kid like me to live the 
American Dream, to not only go to college and to

[[Page H8913]]

medical school, but to raise a wonderful family and enjoy a successful 
career practicing medicine, serving in our Nation's military, and, now, 
serving our Nation and my hometown and my home State in our Capitol. 
America is a country of opportunity, self-determination, and the 
freedom to choose your own path.

                          ____________________