[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24566]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       AGRICULTURE APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am so pleased that last Thursday we passed 
another appropriations bill in regular order and with bipartisan 
support. I thank Chairman Kohl for his work to pass move this bill 
through the process. And I think Senator Brownback, the ranking member, 
for his work on this bill as well.
  This is a good bill--it is good for the Nation and it is good for my 
home State of Nevada. By adopting this conference report we are making 
investments in rural towns, in working families, and in the farm 
families that feed us.
  This bill includes significant investments in rural development 
programs to help our rural towns improve their hospitals, drinking 
water and sewage systems. We also help rural communities attract 
businesses and jobs with investments in broadband access and business 
loan programs. These programs are especially important as we help 
families living in rural towns get through these tough economic times 
and make their communities stronger.
  In this bill we also increase funding from last year's levels for 
nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, 
formerly known as food stamps, the Women Infants and Children program, 
the Commodity Food Supplemental Program, the Emergency Food Assistance 
Program and School Lunch and Breakfast. In addition, I am pleased that 
in this bill Nevada has been added to the list of States authorized to 
run afterschool supper programs that will provide a hot meal for kids 
who would otherwise go hungry. We have all seen the stories on the news 
and in the papers about the historic demand for Federal feeding 
programs and the strain being placed on our local food banks and food 
pantries. This bill will help families in Nevada and throughout the 
nation who are currently struggling to put food on the table.
  We also make a significant investment in the Commodity Futures 
Trading Commission, CFTC, with $169 million, which is an increase of 
$23 million from last year. We are making this investment because we 
need the CFTC to be capable of conducting rigorous oversight of futures 
markets, especially in crude oil and other commodities. The CFTC must 
be fully equipped and staffed so it can prevent the excessive 
speculation that drove oil prices to record highs last year and really 
hurt energy consumers. This funding is an important investment that 
will help us rebuild our economy on a stronger foundation.
  In addition to these good programs, this bill also includes funding 
for a number of important Nevada projects. We have funding for the 
Nevada Arid Rangelands Initiative, Mormon cricket control, and noxious 
weed control. We have assistance for the Wildfire Support Group in 
Orovada to help them do fuels management. And we have funding for the 
University of Nevada Reno for their work with the Food and Agriculture 
Policy Research Institute, which does great research to help us 
understand what is going on in American agriculture so we can create 
good programs to help our farmers.
  This bill makes a number of important investments. So I am very 
pleased that this bill has passed the Senate with broad support--76 
Senators voting to send this conference report to the President.

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