Budget Hearing - Department of Agriculture

The subcommittee will come to order. Good morning. I want to thank you all for being here today for this hearing to review the budget and programs at the US Department of Agriculture. We're pleased to be joined by the Secretary of Agriculture, Brook Rollins. Welcome Madam Secretary, and I know you have a hard stop and unfortunately they've scheduled votes uh in toward the end of the session today so we are going to go ahead but we will limit

yes sir

everyone to four minutes instead of five so that everyone has a chance to uh to uh to ask questions uh and uh anyway and we will get you out of here early

oh great to be here thank you

yeah usda's fy twenty seven budget request totals nineteen point one billion for discretionary programs a decrease of five point one billion or almost twenty eight percent below last year's enacted levels As we review the request, I appreciate your willingness to discuss USDA's efforts to reprioritize our constituents' hard-earned taxpayer dollars on initiatives that have the greatest impact. Under President Trump's leadership, the administration is refocusing USDA on its core mission of helping all farmers and ranchers by rolling back harmful regulations fighting against unfair trade practices protecting the homeland from foreign animal and plant diseases, and providing timely disaster and economic to farmers and ranchers. I appreciate your efforts, Secretary Rollins, to modernize meat and poultry processing systems. The proposed updates to line speed regulations, for instance, will increase processing efficiency to lower cost for consumers, while upholding USDA's high standards for food and worker safety. I also appreciate your work to find solutions to high input prices for farmers and ranchers such as for fertilizer. While producers continue to face challenging economic headwinds, Purdue University just released a survey showing farmers' optimism is increasing. Producers understand that while challenges persist, this administration is focused on the policies to improve the agricultural economy and keep family farms and ranches in business. Course, there's still more work to be done. I appreciate that you that uh you've delayed the Biden era Packers and Stockyards rule that would end the poultry tournament system. I'm confident that a comprehensive economic analysis will show the financial harm this rule will cause poultry growers and increasing prices, especially for producers on Maryland's eastern shore. I'd urge you to fully repeal the rule rather than to allow it to tear down an efficient, successful poultry market structure that helps both farmers and consumers. Already consumers have benefited from your leadership and that of the Trump administration. As we recall, at the end of the Biden administration, egg prices were over five dollars a dozen. Today, egg prices were half that amount. And uh, where I shop, it's a dollar sixty-six cents a dozen.

That's right.

Overall, according to USDA, food prices increased a staggering nine point nine percent in a single year under the Biden administration, the fastest increase since nineteen seventy nine. The Trump administration has successfully prioritized efforts to tame food inflation to be in line with historical norms. Yet a new baseline of higher food prices was set by the previous administration that continues to plague consumers and it will take time to overcome. I wanna commend you Madam Secretary for your commitment to policies that have made this administration the most most health conscious in history. USDA has approved twenty-two snap food restriction waivers, and there are more to come. Taxpayer dollars should not subsidize the purchase of foods and beverages with zero nutritional value, and I applaud the coordinated effort between USDA and HHS to make America healthy again. We all know that f- American farmers and ranchers produce a wide variety of the safest, most abundant and nutritious food in the world, and I want American consumers to purchase more of our healthy American products. The FY twenty-six enacted bill directed USDA to study a Buy American requirement in the SNAP program, which would put more SNAP dollars back into the pockets of American producers, not our foreign competitors. I look forward to the results of this study and to working with you on this initiative. I also want to thank you, Madam Secretary, for visiting Maryland to learn firsthand about the invasive blue catfish continue to damage the Chesapeake Bay. This subcommittee has spearheaded efforts to expand processing capacity, to provide market opportunities for watermen and seafood processors in my district. I appreciate that you have rolled out the first round of grants for catfish processing expansion and have worked to make sure wild-caught catfish are eligible for section thirty-two purchases going forward. Madam Secretary, I look forward to your testimony regarding the FY twenty-seven President's budget request I hope we learn more about the administration's

thank you mr. chairman and good morning uh secretary rollins thank you mr. chairman and good morning uh secretary rollins

good morning

uh welcome and thank you for being here to discuss uh usda and rural development's budget uh this is very timely because during the recess that we just finished i did extensive visits to farm and land grant institutions and rural communities in my middle and southwest georgia district and i talked with farmers and community leaders about what was happening on the ground there uh i recall that last year uh one of the biggest issues we discussed was the need to quickly deploy economic assistance for farmers as well as the harmful effects of chaotic illegal tariffs on those same farmers well i heard those same themes of economic distress uh uh last week uh today the situation is even worse than it was last year we're in an unauthorized war with iran gas and diesel prices are hurting rural businesses and families Farmers are waiting to get their tariff refunds, food prices are sky-high, and the American dream of owning a home is now just that, a dream out of reach for most Americans. Uh, it's planting season. Fertilizer prices are through the roof, and my producers tell me that contrary to news reports, they did not pre-purchase fertilizer. They were busy selling off land and trying to make ends meet. Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, and Nebraska lead the nation in farm bankruptcies, which are this year up over forty-six percent. The fallout is felt across the country. Families paying double or more at the gas pump are also finding it harder to afford groceries. Reckless and unaccountable ICE activity has not only killed US citizens, but it's also had a ripple effect on the agriculture workforce availability. Seventy-six percent of agricultural economists say that the crop sector is in a recession, and seventy-four percent of our producers agree. USDA's own economic research service says that net farm income is forecast to decline by four point one billion dollars from twenty twenty-five to twenty twenty-six. So why, Madam Secretary, is the White House proposing deep cuts? and usga programs and staff that help farmers that help rural communities and feed hungry people om b director volt says that land grant research essential rural community facilities nrcs technical assistance and the forest service are quote irrelevant to supporting an america first agricultural policy end of quote and not budget priorities That's not what my people back home was sell saying to me. It'll be hard for our constituents to believe that USDA serves America's farmers and rural communities when USDA is taking away their services. Where is America first when American farmers continue to find their local farm service agency offices understaffed or closed? Where is America first when the cost of an unauthorized war and Iran is sucking up funds that farmers and rural communities desperately need that could fund congressionally authorized programs. Where is America first when America's agricultural research lags behind our adversaries and our president proposes huge cuts to land-grant universities who lead agricultural innovations? American food banks are struggling to close a gap that this administration created when it put billionaire tax breaks before hungry seniors, women and children. Is this also America first? I hope that you'll be able to explain this disconnect to America's families and farmers who are watching today. I expect that most of the proposed cuts will be modified as we finalize the twenty twenty seven funding bill but it will be difficult. Madam Secretary, though we were only given your testimony at the eleventh hour yesterday, I want to take a moment to correct, or rather clarify for the record, a few of the points that were raised. Uh, many of the efforts the current administration touts are truly building on the successes and the efforts of previous administrations both Democratic and Republican. For example, uh the Biden administration did the final rule on the product of the USA label and the one farm on one file is a culmination of decades of effort by your predecessors at USDA including Secretaries Vilsack and Perdue to improve farmers' access to USDA. I'm glad that you and the President want to pick up the baton and continue these efforts but it's important for America's families and farmers to know that Congress and administrations, both yours and your predecessors, have long fought for what is best for agricultural producers and rural America. In fact, I take great pride in the fact that even though we don't always see eye to eye, this committee has often found bipartisan pathways forward. While you're welcome to explain and even tout this administration's efforts, and we will discuss where we disagree and may find common ground in your approach, we can do that without disregarding or denying that we all stand on the shoulders of our predecessors. This committee works hard to come to a consensus on funding bills and all of us, Democrats, Republicans, uh, wanna be your partners in this. We truly do. So we need your help, Secretary Rollins. We are accountable to our constituents and they ask us to open casework inquiries. At times we have to ask your staff for information in this regard. We are not fishing, we are serving our constituents who expect current, accurate and timely responses. They are on the edge of the economic cliff and they need help. We also expect that USDA will not circumvent this appropriations process by refusing to spend or obligate program funding once it is signed into law. I look forward to your testimony and the Q and A today and uh look forward to working with you through this process to make sure that uh the Department of Agriculture truly serves the needs of all Americans and particularly our producers in our rural communities so that we can continue producing the highest quality, the safest, uh, the most abundant, uh, the most affordable food and fiber anywhere in the industrialized world. Right now, uh, that capability is at risk. With that, Mr. Chairman, uh, you're back.

Uh, thank you very mu- uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I wanna remind the members that we are under tight time constraints today, and I will be, uh, you know, holding people to the four minute, uh, four minute requirement. And I'd now like to recognize the distinguished ranking member of the Appropriation Committee Ms. Deloro for her opening statement.

Thank you very much um, Mister Chairman and Ranking Member Bishop and uh welcome to you, Madam Secretary, and thank you for the time to be here this morning to testify and to answer questions. Uh, and while I'm glad for this opportunity, I was extremely disappointed to see the steep cuts to vital programs proposed in the President's budget request. There are some six point seven million people who rely on the supplemental nutrition assistance program for women children or the WIC program. This budget would reduce the WIC benefit for fruit and vegetables by as much as seventy-five percent per person. If this were to become reality, it would almost certainly cause a dramatic increase in child hunger and malnutrition. The president's budget also proposes eliminating the Food for Peace and the McGovern-Dole programs, which not only denies food, to the starving and destitute around the globe, but deprives American farmers of the revenue they need for growing this food. These are programs that benefit American farmers and help alleviate world hunger. But the Trump administration evidently does not see this as a priority. They also propose eliminating the commodity supplemental food program. That provides food for more than seven hundred thousand low income seniors. There are more than seventy programs under USDA that the president proposes to eliminate in his budget request, in addition to the ones that I've just spoken about. The programs cover a broad swath of issue areas, civil rights, rural development, agriculture research and more. A recipe, it's a recipe for abandoning the American people and degrading the public services that millions of families rely on. The price of everyday goods continues to escalate. grocery prices are up gas prices are up um utility costs housing costs healthcare costs are through the roof and the administration's only plan is to decimate the public programs that help to alleviate the strain on working families and farmers across the country that isn't going to solve anything it will only make the problem worse i want to take a moment here to talk about congressman's uh power of the purse those of you who know me know that I'm a staunch defender of the Congress's prerogative over federal spending. It's our job in the Congress to work to uh together to approve funding. It is the job of the executive branch and of uh you, Madam Secretary, to distribute in the manner that we have directed. I raise this not because I believe we are in need of a civics lesson, although perhaps some might be, but as a reminder of the ro- the role, your role in the process. Last year during the prolonged funding lapsed in the fall, USDA refused to distribute nutrition assistance through food stamps to millions of Americans for weeks. The administration was ordered to distribute this critical assistance by several federal courts. Time and again, they refused. Feeding hungry families is exactly what Congress had in mind when we approved the funding for the food stamp contingency fund. We set aside that money so that in the event of an emergency, like a government shutdown, for example, there would be funding available to continue the program. But what happened was that USDA and the administration fought tooth and nail, even violating court orders not to distribute that money. It was the American people who suffered. And I would just say this, I thought it was really pretty extraordinary that with the department's help the president went to the Supreme Court to deprive children of food I again it's astounding that's not only a failure of the administration's to exe- to execute the laws of the the Congress rights, but I believe that's a moral failure. I wanna say a thank you to Chairman Harris for giving me an opportunity to ask a quick yes or no question uh to the witness before I head. We have uh five hearings today,

Of course.

it's a crazy day and I'm trying to meet the demands of the time frame here. Secretary Rollins, in December twenty twenty four I created a two hundred and twenty million dollar farm recovery and support block grant. and the American Relief Act. It's now been sixteen months since the Block Grant was created, and to my knowledge, not a single dime has been allocated to the eligible states. Again, yes or no, is delivering aid to small family and specialty crop farmers a stated priority of this administration?

It is, and I checked this morning, I think we are at the finish line for Connecticut. Uh, after thirty meetings and uh a lot of back and forth,

Okay.

but yes ma'am, we're moving on that.

Right. Thank you, because my next question was connecticut's work plan we put that in place um uh and finalizing that work plan do you have a time frame

it should be very soon i literally rode the elevator with

that is

under secretary ford ice and he said we're at the finish line so

ok thank you i thank you cause i i've said this you and i have had this conversation our pharmacy it's over fifty million dollars

yeah that's right

that our state is owed from the block rent so thank you for giving it

and you have my cellphone but it it you so feel free to call me on that but let's let's get in touch but

ok thank you

my understanding is it is moving

ok i appreciate that and i thank you mister chairman and i yield back

thank you Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Mister Laurel. Secretary Rollins, Secretary Rollins, without objection, without objection, your entire written testimony will be included in the record. your entirely written testimony will be included in the record. After your statement we'll proceed with questions. After your statement, we'll proceed with questions, As a reminder to the members, as a reminder to the members, we'll abide by a four minute rule for questions. we'll abide by a four minute rule for questions. Secretary Rollins, you're now recognized for your statement. Secretary Rallins, you're now recognized for your statement. Thank you, Mister Laurel,

year since we last met uh i believe we've made great progress there is no doubt that this is very challenging time in farm country there is no doubt that uh we have a lot of things to continue to work on but in the last year whether it is battling hpa i i think chairman mr. chairman you mentioned uh our chickens and eggs we announced about a year ago our billion dollar plan to combat avian flu and bring egg prices down that plan has worked based on and compared to this time last year, hpai cases are down sixty one percent across the country. For those of you that are representing uh poultry in your states, that's a really, really big number. The number of birds is down forty six percent, and of course the cost of eggs, the wholesale cost of eggs is down ninety percent, retail closer to forty six percent. Since I was last before this committee, we've made substantial progress on the New World Screw Worm, again for our guys with uh uh and girls with a lot of cattle in their states. This is a significant threat to our American cattle ranching industry and certainly at a time where our cattle herds are at their lowest levels in seventy-five years. Tomorrow I will be back on the border for the fourth time talking about uh all of those efforts we have significantly expanded sterile fly dispersal capacity about a hundred million uh in addition a week, uh which is very important and we can get more into that if anyone has questions here or later. We have advanced next generation tools working with the EPA. We have strengthened surveillance and screenings along the border. We have been working very closely with the state uh the country of Mexico, the state of Tomalipas. We've secured new emergency youth authorizations for prevention and treatment, completed audits, um again deploying a lot of USDA staff into Mexico. Tomorrow we'll be breaking ground on an almost one billion dollar sterile uh fly facility so that we in America can control that versus Panama, which currently has the sterile fly facility. So, making a lot of progress there. on trade which was a big topic last year again we can get into details i'm so happy to talk about this but in just one year we have enacted eighteen new trade agreements uh this is a massive of massive importance for our farmers as what was an ag trade surplus when we left in twenty twenty um turned into a fifty billion dollar ag deficit under the last administration just in one year alone we have cut that deficit by forty two percent These numbers are really important for our farmers who are looking for these markets that had been closed to them. And this year we're expected to cut that deficit significantly more. We expect, based on the numbers this year, for example, our corn exports to be up twenty-five percent, our ethanol exports to be up twenty percent, our tree-nut exports to be up eleven percent, our dairy exports to be up seventeen percent. These are all really important moves forward for our farmers and ranchers in this country. uh and we will continue obviously more trade deals coming down the pike we're gonna continue uh while we're looking at the foreign market access the domestic market obviously extremely important as well uh e year-round e fifteen uh forty five z the largest rvos in american history all of these are massive to expand these domestic markets we talked a little bit um with uh with mr. Laro on the farmer bridge assistance programs the ecat programs etcetera Uh, even though with uh a few of those block grants we've had lots of, dozens and dozens of meetings trying to get to a good place, for the most part, all of this funding moved at record speed and in a way that um had never been seen before. The one farmer, one file that Mister Bishop brought up, we had fifty-two thousand farmers apply in a four day period for the farmer bridge assistance on online versus what was normally about five thousand online over four months. for the Ecap and the other programs. So these are significant steps forward to support our farmers. Um, again, I I wanna we talk about Maha. The dietary guidelines is so important. Um, all of the wonderful work that you all did on the one big beautiful bill, the largest investment in American history in rural America. It's remarkable, the rural health transformation, the opportunity zones, and then of course in in agriculture, the death tax on our family farms, the expensing. uh all of the great lowering and improving crop insurance was so important and i'm sure we'll talk about this today but obviously input costs continue to be top of mind with the current conflict going on overseas obviously adding to what was already skyrocketing input cost fertilizer etcetera um we can go into details on that i'm happy to do it now or if we don't have time another time um let me finish with this since we're out of time on day one uh we looked at all of the different policy lanes, solve and i think one of the most important ones we've done aside from and are very important in making america healthy again one farmer one file um putting farmers first etcetera but one is the fact that farm security is national security and i think that's something that is not blue or red or red state or blue state republican or democrat if we are not able to together come together and figure out how to support our farmers to protect american agriculture to reverse the trend that's been happening for decades, reverse the trend of the family farm being pushed out of business, of consolidation of international companies coming in and buying up our farmland, buying up our companies, then we will lose freedom in this country. And so I have been hyper focused on specifically what that looks like and in all of the above approach. Again, you all have my written testimony. No reason for me to to read it, but what a what an honor and a blessing to be here, and I really look forward to the conversation. So thank you, Mister Chairman, and thank you, committee.

thank you very much madam secretary and uh thank you and uh again we'll we'll open the questions i'll uh uh defer to the end so if everyone else has an opportunity hopefully we don't run out of time so i can ask you about buy american and snap and

yes

solar panels on prime agricultural land but i'm i'm gonna ask uh mister molinar to ask questions first cause he has to go chair a very important uh hearing on artificial intelligence in china this is important

yes yes yes

thank you mr. chairman and madam secretary thanks for being here today and also for visiting michigan last week and uh we appreciate all you and president trump are doing to support our farmers in michigan um a few questions you may have this may have come up in some of your meetings but our domestic sugar producers in michigan we have sugar beak growers and uh family farms are being undercut by foreign competitors and i wonder if you could talk about your actions that you're taking to ensure that our sugar producers are being treated fairly

i think that sugar is the top of the list but certainly i had the seafood uh guys in yesterday we opened the office of seafood the first time usda has ever had that to offer these uh so many programs to our seafood producers our farmers of the sea the office of seafood the first time usda has ever had that to offer these uh so many programs to our seafood producers our farmers ofthe sea whether it's seafood whether it's sugar whether it's seafood whether it's sugar uh a lot of our citrus growers the crushing that has happened uh a lot of our citrus growers the crushing that has happened by foreign imports is real by foreign imports is real and it has devastated so many of our industries it is it is unbelievable and it has devastated so many of our industries it is it is unbelievable sugar obviously remains a priority i know it was included in the sugar obviously remains a priority i know it was included in the the last farmer bridge assistance payment. Uh, we will continue to make it a priority and welcome the conversations any time on that. Uh, I think that this President and our US Trade Rep, Jameson Greer, whom I speak with almost daily at this point, is very focused on ensuring we are America first and we are protecting our American food growers. Obviously, USMCA is coming up for renegotiation. We've got a lot going on around the world. But anything you hear, um, Congressman, that you think would be helpful for

Thank you. Um, I appreciate also you'd mentioned your farm security action plan and,

Thank you.

you know, one of your priorities to stop China from buying up our farmland. Um, could you outline what you're doing to prevent our farmland from being controlled by China?

This is if if not everyone in this room, including all of you who I'm speaking with today, I I don't know that there is a more perilous threat in front of us than the international purchasing, foreign adversaries and otherwise, but certainly foreign adversaries of our farmland and of our agricultural companies. In nineteen eighty-three China owned about two thousand acres in America. Today they own three hundred thousand acres of what was good American farmland, a lot of it around military bases, et cetera. Uh, we have been working with all of you. I think we got it really close, didn't get quite to the finish line to the President's desk for a congressional directive on that. But in the meantime, working alongside all of the states. I'm a very big believer in the ability of the states to act as guardians at the gate on key issues like that. And some of our, a lot of our states, about twenty have really leaned in and have passed legislation. Arkansas I think has been probably the most forward leaning, Sarah Sanders there, not only past no barring the future sale of farmland but has also begun clawing some of it back and I think that is a really important piece of this puzzle as we move forward so I look forward to continuing to work with all of you to champion this here in Washington but while we wait for Washington to move forward on that, the states can actually make good good good uh good advancement and I'm working with a lot of those governors on that.

Well, thank you, and and also just the area of research security at our agricultural research service. I just wanna put that on your radar screen because we know China is also engaging in the coordinated effort to steal US technology and intellectual property.

That's exactly right. And, uh, we have, I've been, I was with Michigan State with your great land grant on Monday. We actually talked about this specifically. There have already been cases in America. Our USDA has, our OIG working with Secret Service and others have arrest. some um some of our students from other countries that have been caught red-handed uh basically trying to steal our secrets but also trying to disrupt our system. So this will continue to be a major issue.

Thank you very much, I yield back Mister President.

Thank you Congressman, good to see you.

Thank you. Thank you very much uh gentlemen, ranking member, Mister Bishop.

Thank you very much um Mister Chairman, thank you Madam Secretary. Uh I am very very very concerned uh about the drastic uh program eliminations and drastic cuts to the budget uh that we uh just recently received from omb and i'm certain that you uh were able to confer with the budget director in that regard but uh program eliminations are shocking uh total elimination in the research and education uh area of nifa ars uh eliminating the hajjq formula state land grant uh a program for agricultural research uh the sustainable agricultural research education program uh in conservation eliminating totally the conservation technical assistance that our farmers uh have uh benefitted so much from uh cutting out the watershed program so urban agriculture which is just now getting uh off the ground uh rural development uh cutting the rural community facilities grants program elimination of the rural business cooperative service entirely uh ending the funding for broad band the reconnect community connect program ending our wet water and waste water and energy assistance programs um you heard about the commodity supplemental plume program for our seniors the farm to school and related initiatives uh helping our farmers and our school children our school lunch programs our school cafeterias and uh on and on it's it's and even eliminating uh some of the usj off uh at home office programs like the office of the chief scientist the travel school lunch pilot the dairy business innovation programs uh all of these these cuts let me just ask you um omb in its document explicitly calls for savings from layoffs at usda including at the farm service agency and nrcs uh nrcas has already lost two thousand three hundred and one positions since fy twenty twenty five your budget proposes to cut an fsa staffing uh of a hundred and seventy two million dollars or fifteen percent that's in addition to what's already done Uh, part of achieving those savings is a reduction in federal staff of four hundred and eighty-six which is nineteen percent and a reduction in county staff of thirteen hundred and five FTEs, twenty percent. Those those that's shocking and I don't use that word lightly. Efficiencies uh is an often cited rationale for cuts, but I don't think you can cut that many people without doing real harm to the people who depend on them uh can you explain that to me please ma'am?

Yes, and I fully understand and that was, yes, I will, why don't we talk about FSA, because there was a lot, a lot in there, but but let me talk first top lines. The current budget of USDA is well over about two hundred billion dollars. Uh, what we are discussing today is about twenty billion, the discretionary funding of that two hundred billion, and the current cuts that you walked through are right around nine billion total, so that's about four percent of the total USDA budget. So I just wanna make sure that we put that into context. Your comments though are are heard and certainly at a time as I mentioned with the farm economy uh in you know after years this didn't just happen of being in in a in a tough position we have to make every intentional decision possible to support our farmers and ranchers. I know we talked about that last year in this hearing as well. So when we're talking about the farm service agency, for example, as we begin to transition, we will never close an office, I think statutorily we can't, but we will never close an office until Congress changes that. But as we are moving, as I mentioned in my, oh, Mister Bishop, you may have stepped out, as I mentioned in my opening comments, when we launched our One Farmer One file last January and used it for the first time with the farmer bridge assistance, we had fifty-two thousand farmers sign up over a four day period. compare that to five thousand who signed up online over a five month period with Ecap. So we are making massive inroads to make it easier for farmers to be able to take advantage of and and and use these bridge programs which they need. The current FSA staffing is about fifteen thousand people, which is similar to what it was in twenty-two and twenty. It's gone up or down five hundred a thousand, depending on COVID and other things. But, but as we are looking to make sure we are honoring the taxpayer, making sure we're doing the best we can with every tax dollar while putting the farmers first, moving in this direction, but taking key advice from you. If you hear of an FSA office that isn't fully staffed or the the farmers aren't getting what they need, and I realize they're out there, I'm not living in some Pollyanna world, I mean, these are, these are very difficult times. If you would all continue to let us know, we've worked to solve for a lot of that. But that is what the budget represents, it represents a move toward ensuring that the younger farmers who are more technologically, you know, on their phones and can can apply with one, you know, application, one file, they don't have to continue um filling out all the paperwork, that we're moving toward a system that requires less uh headcount FTEs.

My time is up and so I I have to yield, but uh we do have some more questions.

Well, feel free to call me, sir, anytime. You have my number.

Thank you very much. Uh, Mister Bishop, the gentlelady from Iowa is recognized.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and thank you Madam Secretary for being here. I appreciated your comments about E-fifteen. We love that access to that market and uh our farmers need that help. Of course you you talked about it is a tough time for the farm economy right now, and um it is under real strain and uh I'm gonna hit on those input prices. Fertilizer prices obviously continue to be top of mind for for our farmers in Iowa and many of the concerns that I'm hearing from my folks mmm um at a time when our farmers are paying through the through the roof for these input prices and i just don't think that's right so um we know this isn't a problem that happened overnight you acknowledged that in your opening statement as well and um i think we do though need to take some quick action here to make sure we're improving uh price transparency around fertilizer in those markets and so um

Yeah, and if fertilizer is the current crisis of the day, but as soon as we're past this one then it will be seed or then it will be equipment, it is an overarching economic pending disaster, what has happened with these cost of inputs and of course if you look at the the data what has happened is you have a handful of companies that have basically taken over the market in all of the inputs. And so what comes with that is the fact that we don't have competition. And that's what we've gotta really solve for. I think that it's really important to note that um as the fertilizer has gone way up, it will come back down. The administration's looking short term. Wave, we waived the Jo- Jones Act. We've opened up lines from Venezuela. Um, Lee Zeldin has waived some. requirements, the diesel, which will help. We're making some short-term steps in that, but really it's a long-term question that we have to be able to answer. Uh, our Commerce Department, just yesterday, Howard Lutnik and Jameson Greer and I, alongside Kevin Hassett of the White House, sat down in my office at USDA for an hour and a half with four of our top fertilizer companies um two of them are international or foreign, they flew in from all over the world to sit down with us and really talk this through we've got to invest in more infrastructure we've got to re-shore fertilizer back to america the good news is and secretary lutnick has mentioned this over and over we have an a a pot of funding through the tariffs and through the trade renegotiations of tens and tens and tens of billions of dollars that we're planning i can't announce anything just yet but hopefully next week we're going to start deploying some of those resources to begin to build um and and they won't come online for twelve to eighteen months but we've got to start moving back in that direction. I also wanna honor and elevate a company, an uh an American company, CF Fertilizer, that has said we are gonna put off all um any sort of maintenance so that we can keep our prices as low as possible for our American farmers. I'm on the phone daily with other fertilizer companies from around the country. USDA has identified some funding to begin investing to move some more fertilizer, uh, moving out more quickly. So we're on it, but I don't want to i wanna i don't wanna over promise these prices will not come down anytime in the

yeah

next couple of days or weeks maybe take us a couple months to get them back down but we're working on it

yeah and we have a piece of legislation that would force some transparency in this phase uh the bipartisan bill that's bicameral bipartisan uh fertility

that's right which is very important

trice transparent transparency act so we can get that those numbers out weekly it's sometimes a little sunshine is is the best medicine but we do need to be

mmm

making those uh domestic investments and really quickly in the in the time you already touched on a little bit with FSA uh offices and how important those are to our farmers on the ground and um I think we need to make sure that as we are looking at a very very tough budget year that we're not uh we're not cutting back on those services to our farmers so can you walk us through your envision to make sure that that adequate staffing is there on the ground at the FSA offices.

mmm yeah I I think of all the things we do I'm not sure that there's anything more important than making sure that we have an on the ground um team that can do everything they can to help these farmers move the funding through they need to access the programs that they've need. I myself have visited uh multiple of FSA offices, our Undersecretary Richard Fordyce, our Director Bill Beam. I do uh monthly Zooms with every one of our FSA chiefs in all fifty states. We are working so hard, understanding you know there are some questions on this particular budget, uh but we are working so hard to make sure that we are able to turn this around quickly and we are doing everything that we possibly can to support them and with with some anecdotal evidence there obviously are offices that are not fully staffed or able to get back to a farmer within an hour or two hours which is my goal, not days, but we actually have made progress on that and and the wait times are less, um the turn around is less and of course moving to this one farmer one file has been a game changer as well.

Thank you Madam Secretary, you're back.

Thank you Congresswoman.

Thank you.

Madam General, a lady from Maine is recognized.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Secretary,

Good morning.

for being with us today and for taking on the work of such an important department, um, particularly at these challenging times.

Yeah.

Uh, with our limited time, um, I appreciate the ranking member going over the extreme concern that we have about the number of budget cuts, the program eliminations. He listed them all, but so many of them matter deeply to my state, um, and I'm also very concerned about one he didn't mention, which is the twenty percent cut to rural housing in a time when housing costs are skyrocketing. Uh, the staffing cuts at our offices that have been mentioned so many times. Um, yes, I appreciate streamlining streamlining the applications. We hear about that a lot, but I can tell you in Maine we went from five engineers down to one. That's technical assistance that we have to have. That's not uh just covering the fact that there are less bodies in all of these offices.

Mm-hmm.

But I wanna focus a little bit about MAHA. I know it's a issue that you've placed a huge priority on and it's been a big focus of my work on agriculture and the agriculture committee this idea that food is medicine. that we should be using agriculture techniques that remove toxics from our growing practices. Um, and I applaud you and Secretary Kennedy for making this a focus, but I just wanna make sure that as we're doing this you are really doing the things that will make a huge difference in making a real commitment to healthier diets. So, let me go through a few places where I have concerns. I know there have been twenty-two snap waivers in our States that mostly restrict sugary beverages and candy. I understand that, but there is no waiver that also looks access to healthy food and one of the biggest issues with people getting healthy food in their diets and having food as medicine as a priority is that fresh fruits and vegetables cost more so at the same time the department is restricting the amount of money going to snap we still only have two dollars per person per day per meal per meal per day which means that there isn't enough money in there usually for fresh fruits and vegetables the states are gonna be cut um because of the changes in the big ugly bill and eligibility has wiped out a lot of people in the program. We're also talking today about the WIC program being cut. Fruits and vegetables cut other programs. This is how we feed moms and young kids zero to five. That means that in the new WIC program under your budget cuts um people will go from fifty-two dollars down to thirteen dollars per month for breastfeeding moms twenty-seven dollars down to ten dollars for young children. That's a huge cut. We already talked about the CFSP program, that's commodity packages for seniors. They're cutting four hundred and sixty million dollars there, that's less fresh fruits and healthy foods for seniors. Um, school lunch programs and food banks have been cut because you decimated the LFPA and LFPS program. That's down six hundred and sixty million on local food for schools, five hundred million um in local food purchasing agreement. So that took away money from our food banks, where we were getting more fresh fruits and healthy vegetables, and our school lunch programs, where we get healthy foods to kids. Um, that also hurt our farmers who were devastated by the contract changes because of that. Um, so we're hurting farmers, food banks, everybody there not getting the healthy food. I wanna talk about the toxicity in our foods. Um, removing chemicals from our diet has been a stated principle of yourself and RFK. I'm getting things like glyphosate and PFAS and Paraquat out. I've seen nothing happening in the department over PFAS, which is an important priority for me. The department has shown its support for glyphosate. Um, and you've also been talking about trying to change some of our farming using more regenerative agriculture. All I can see is you shifted seven hundred million dollars from other conservation programs into regenerative agriculture. That's just moving the money around but not making a huge commitment. Lastly, I'll just say investing in organics. Um, it's been ten months since Or- Congress provided um, funding for the cost share program. Farmers are still waiting for their twenty-five and twenty-six money on that. Organic farming is a huge way to talk about regenerative agriculture and getting healthier food. So, um, I'm anxious to know when you can provide those funds. Of course, I don't have enough time, it's only four minutes, but I'm just gonna ask you, could we in the future get a comprehensive overview of MAHA from you, something that focuses on the facts, on the metrics, that really gives us a sense of the overall federal investment and if we're making a true commitment what are we actually getting done to make sure we get healthier food to all Americans that remove the toxins from our food supply and we really do support farmers in changing their agricultural techniques. Mm-hmm. I apologize for being out of time, uh, but I really appreciate your being here and answering those questions when you can.

Mister Chairman, may I just say one thing, I know we're we're moving quickly, there was so much there, but but let me respond on the region, because I do think that's really, really important. We've had eight thousand applications and eight hundred farmers who have actually started to take advantage of that, so you'll begin to see more on that moving forward, but it's a it's a slow, you know, but recalibration toward the that organic farming regenerative farming etcetera we are the breadbasket breadbasket of the world we can't immediately pull some of these crop protection tools it's a national security issue for the first time we're importing more food than we're exporting so there are some major major challenges at play but i appreciate all those comments i would be very happy to follow up individually with you and i do like the idea of the overall maha plan so