[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 402]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FINAL STATE OF THE UNION MESSAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, one recalls the state of the Union that 
President Obama inherited upon taking office: overwhelming problems 
occasioned by the near collapse of the economy, 700,000 jobs lost 
before he was even in office half a month. It would take many months 
more to arrest the slide. There were fierce battles, arguments about 
whether we should spend money to try to help people and industries.
  His work was complicated by the announcement early on by the 
Republican leader in the Senate that his number one goal was not to fix 
the economy or deal with health care or the environment or national 
security; it was to prevent President Obama from being reelected to a 
second term.
  Time has shown that the money that was spent was critical, and most 
independent experts agree that we should have invested more heavily in 
things like rebuilding and renewing America. Even so, our performance 
has been better than any of the other developed economies.
  Those results were achieved with divisions and arguments that 
continue to be played out today on the national political stage as 
there are people seeking the Presidency later this year. But my hope is 
that, as the President addresses this Chamber tonight, there might be 
an opportunity to move past some of the divisions and controversy.
  My hope is, as the President looks up in the gallery and sees the 
First Lady, that he might pause and acknowledge her important work in 
health and nutrition; that he might spend just 3 minutes on a topic 
that can bring people together; that he would admit that we as a 
government still pay too much to the wrong people to grow the wrong 
crops in the wrong places, that we would be far better off if we 
weren't subsidizing people to grow food that actually makes Americans 
sick.
  I would hope that he would propose that the Federal Government help 
more farmers and ranchers with research and market access at home and 
abroad. Let's pay those farmers and ranchers to protect water quality 
and water quantity.
  I would hope that he would propose that we subsidize more healthy 
food in our schools and for senior citizens and low-income people.
  I would hope that he would acknowledge the revolution that is taking 
place in food and agricultural thought and policy in this country, as 
documented in the recent PBS special, ``In Defense of Food,'' with 
Michael Pollan.
  There is an exciting national movement promoting value-added 
agriculture, healthy food, animal welfare, and environmental protection 
that will strengthen rural and small town America and provide more 
satisfaction for the men and women who work in agriculture.
  It would only take 3 minutes, but it would be an important milestone 
for this revolution of food and farm policy that cannot happen soon 
enough.

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