Fiscal Year 2027 Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies Bill

I have a couple of questions. Um. Okay, all right, thank you. I think this one was beyond what I had. Can I can I start? Yes, you can begin with that too. Good morning. The subcommittee will come to order. I wanna welcome everyone to the subcommittee mark-up of the FY twenty seven agricultural rural development food and drug administration and related agencies appropriations bill I'm pleased to be joined by our subcommittee ranking member Mister Bishop full committee Chairman Cole ranking member, Deloro and members of the subcommittee. For fiscal year twenty-seven, the subcommittee's discretionary allocation for the USDA, the F FDA, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is twenty-six point twenty-seven billion, a three hundred and eighty million, or one point four percent decrease from fiscal year twenty-six enacted level. This bill is below enacted spending levels, even though it includes funding for the CFTC, which was funded via the financial services and uh general government bill, last fiscal year. In a setting two trillion dollar deficits, these modest spending reductions are necessary. In fact, spending is our problem, not revenue. CBO projects, once again, federal revenue to increase in FY twenty-six. This legislation reflects a clear conservative commitment to fiscal responsibility, while ensuring that America's farmers, ranchers and rural communities remain a top priority, and that all Americans have access to a safe food and drug supply. This legislation builds on the successful efforts of the Trump administration to root out fraud, waste and abuse, shrink the federal bureaucracy, and make USDA programs more farmer-friendly. It sets USDA on a responsible and sustainable spending path that will make both the department and our nation stronger. Under President Trump and Secretary Rollins' leadership, every taxpayer dollar will be spent in the pursuit of putting all American farmers and ranchers first. I'd like to highlight a few areas with it. legislation supports the administration's efforts to refocus the department on its core mission by prioritizing essential functions in a fiscally responsible manner. The bill provides one point one six billion for the animal and plant health inspection service APHIS to support the department's efforts to protect our producers from high path avian influenza, new world screw worm, and other foreign plant and animal diseases. The legislation continues to invest in the delivery of farm programs, disaster and crop insurance to farmers by prioritizing funding for farmer-facing functions. Following the budget request, the bill moves fifty million of farm service agency IT funds from FSA to the office of the Chief Information Officer to continue to invest in, and implement, USDA's One Farmer, One File initiative. After accounting for this transfer of funds, the bill increases overall funding for FSA staff, including for county office. The bill provides eight billion dollars for WIC, four percent higher than last year's mark, and allows WIC participants to p- purchase fresh, frozen, canned, and dried fruits and vegetables, making all affordable options available. The bill provides important investments in critical agricultural research that'll keep our producers on the cutting edge of technology and production practices. We maintain funding for USDA's flagship competitive grant program, the Agriculture and Food Research and protect capa- uh capacity funding for our land grant universities to insure our farmers and ag workforce remains competitive with China. Yeah, I'll just This legislation continues to fund vital rural development programs, Yeah, we'll discuss it, yeah. including critical infrastructure investments in water and waste water systems and housing programs, as well as increasing the loan authority for the business and industry and rural electric programs due to increased demand.

Yeah.

For the FDA, the bill provides three point three six billion in direct appropriations, and with increased user fees, FDA has a total budget of seven point one billion to enable the agency to keep food, drugs, and medical devices safe and effective, as well as advancing the Make America Healthy Again initiatives highlighted in the President's budget. I appreciate the productive conversations ranking member Bishop and I have had on this bill. I believe credible evaluation of this legislation will conclude that it balances the funding needs of the USDA, FDA, and CFTC, while being r- responsible stewards of our constituents' hard-earned tax dollars. As Mister Bishop has said, this is a good faith effort to meet the moment, and there are critical things that warrant support. We wanna keep working with the minority as we move towards full committee mark-up next week.

Okay.

Finally, I wanna thank the staff on the subcommittee, and would note that the subcommittee received approximately ten thousand member requests touching every agency under our,

Good morning and thank you, Doctor Harris. Uh before we begin, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the life of our colleague, my friend of long standing, my agriculture comrade in arms, former House Agriculture Committee Chairman, and faithful member of our Georgia delegation, uh Representative David Scott, who passed away on yesterday. His unwavering commitment to public service and tireless work to improve rural communities eighteen ninety land grant universities, And agriculture at large is greatly appreciated by the committee and by people all across the country. I will miss him dearly and my thoughts and prayers are with his family and his staff, and uh, Mister Chairman, if I would uh I'd like to ask if we could have a moment of silence uh in out of respect for Representative Scott. Thank you. We'll miss him and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and with his staff. The Agricultural Rural Development, FTA and related agencies' bill is of vital importance to farmers and rural communities across the nation. It also provides the resources that are necessary for America's food and drug safety. It affects every single American, every single day. Today we gather to mark up the FY twenty twenty seven bill, a bill that is not as robust or constructive as I would prefer, but nonetheless a good faith effort to meet the needs of agricultural producers and our rural neighbors. Our subcommittee staff has worked under an unusually short time frame, given the very recent budget request from the president and So I do wanna take a moment to acknowledge Martha Foley, Pam Miller, Alex Swan, Marie Gualtieri, and all of the work that has gone into last week's hearing and into this bill as well. I'd also like to thank my personal staff, uh Tanisha Boomer and Hayek Hoeksepian for their untiring efforts. I'm pleased uh, Doctor Harris, that this bill largely rejects the disastrous cuts and in some cases, program eliminations put forth by by the administration in the USGA budget request. The bill does continue twenty twenty-six funding levels for all rural housing programs and maintains funding for low income seniors in the commodity food supplemental program and it serves our strategic interest around the world by keeping food for peace and McGovern Dolem McGovern Dole programs uh intact. Uh the bill also provides sufficient funding for our school meals and flexibility for rural electric programming. Is the bill perfect? Absolutely not. The FY twenty twenty seven bill before us today drastically cuts fruit and vegetable benefits for over five million hungry women infants and children. And it reduces funding for emergency food assistance. It eliminates the healthy food financing initiative. And it fails to help school districts with the equipment needed to cook. Real food. I'm happy to work with Doctor Harris uh to make America healthy again by bringing these programs back. Uh this bill also cuts staff at the agencies that our farmers rely on most, the Farm Service Agency, Rural Development, and NRCS, during a period of economic crisis in farm country. Water and wastewater grants are cut nearly in half for the smallest and which makes no sense. We still have rural neighbors living with clay pipes and without access to sewer service. Trust me, they're in my district and yours too. Clean water and working wastewater systems are basic human need, not a privilege. This critical infrastructure is a quality of life issue. My colleagues across the aisle seem obsessed with the border in November twenty twenty four, but will not provide the basic utilities that Texas border residents, American citizens need. Colonials often lack running water, have substandard housing, and rely on failing septic tanks. Yet this bill cuts water and wastewater funding to these neighborhoods as well as Alaska and Hawaii residents. Unfortunately, rural broadband is cut by twenty percent, rural business development is cut by almost thirty percent and rural energy programs are cut by fifty percent. Rural America needs help now more than ever and I hope that we can improve this bill as the appropriations process continues. I'm also disappointed that the majority is once again offering caustic riders that have nothing to do with how our ag producers keep this country fed and clothed with the highest quality and the most abundant um the most uh affordable food and fiber in the world. In fact, these riders simply take the focus away from agriculture and distract us from the real issues. Overall, I appreciate your solid effort, Doctor Harris, to work diligently and collaboratively on this building. I look forward to our further conversations and discussion. And with that, I yield back.

Thank you very much, and uh I'll I'll just note it's uh it's great that a physician and a lawyer work together. Uh thank you, Mister Bishop, now turn to the distinguished chairman of the committee Mister Cole for any remarks he may have.

Thank you very much uh Mister Chairman, and thank you, Ranking Member Bishop, and certainly my good friend Ranking Member Delora, and to all the members here today. Our subcommittee mark-ups continue this morning with fiscal year twenty twenty seven agricultural rural development food and drug administration and related agencies bill. We all recognize a simple truth, when American agriculture is strong, America is strong. This bill delivers on that. It supports farmers, ranchers and rural communities and invests in research to keep the U S competitive. The measure also includes important action to protect U S enterprise. I'm particularly pleased with the steps taken to bolster national security by addressing foreign influence in agricultural transactions and improving oversight of overseas drug manufacturing. The health and well-being of Americans remains central to this measure. We strengthen rural development, protect access to nutrition programs, and reinforce the integrity of critical food and medical supply chains. And just as importantly, uh, this bill restores focus and accountability by cutting wasteful programs, eliminating Bida-er Biden-era regulations, taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly and with purpose. This measure puts American producers, consumers and communities first and supports a strong agricultural economy protects public health and reinforces long-term prosperity. I thank Chairman Harris for his leadership in crafting this bill and I appreciate the partnership of Ranking Member Bishop as well. And certainly uh I'm very grateful for the hard work of the majority and minority staff. I look forward to advancing this bill out of subcommittee. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

Thank you, Mr. Cole. I'll now recognize the ranking member of the full committee, Miss DeLauro, for any remarks she may have.

Okay. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you, Ranking Member Bishop, uh, and my friend uh, Chairman Cole. Uh, if I could just associate myself uh with the comments of the ranking member um on the loss of our a wonderful colleague, Congressman uh David Scott, I had the opportunity to work with uh uh David um on farm bills over the years. I served as the chair of the agriculture subcommittee and uh was a p- really a pleasure to work with someone deeply deeply committed uh to rural communities and to the farm community in in this in this nation so in fond memory of our friendship um I also say wanna say a thank you to the subcommittee staff to Martha Foley Marie Gualtieri and Alex Swan on the minority side, and their counterparts on the majority as well uh for the unbelievable hard work that um these folks uh provide to uh to all of us. Um I oppose the bill that is before the subcommittee today. It would raise costs on American farmers and working families while cutting off crucial support for rural communities across the country. This bill makes substantial cuts to food vouchers specifically for women children and infants. Nearly seven million of whom received a through this program in twenty twenty five. These are families with small children who are doing their best to make ends meet, as the cost of groceries go up with no end inside, this food voucher program offers relief to those who struggle today to put food on the table and we know that people are struggling to put food on the table. The program also supports the farmers and grocers who grow and sell the fruits and vegetables that these families can buy with their vouchers. Cutting back on this assistance will have cascading economic impact that leaves everyone worse off. The bill cuts the Food for Peace program by three hundred million dollars, a twenty-five percent cut compared to twenty-twenty-six. It denies hungry children around the globe access to the assistance they desperately need but it deprives our farmers of the additional revenue that they earn when they grow food to support the program and I would just say if you don't wanna consider the hungry children around the world, I would hope you would care about what happens uh to US farmers and um uh that you wanna make sure that they are um uh uh uh justly being able to uh uh scratch out a living. This bill cuts grant funding for waste and water development programs of rural communities. More than two point two million Americans do not have access to basic plumbing and running water in their homes, and this problem is more pronounced in rural communities. The point of these grants is to help address that issue. Instead, the bill slashes funding for these efforts by sixty-two million dollars, leaving more and more Americans without access to the basic necessities of life we should all expect in the United States. The bill also eliminates the Rural Utility Services, uh, their high energy cost grants. The bill cuts loans under the Rural Energy for American program by fifty percent, while eliminating all grant funding. This program was created to help bring down energy costs for farmers, small businesses and rural communities. More than twenty-five thousand projects have been funded through this program, helping people across all fifty states reduce their energy costs. And over two-thirds of grants have gone to Republican-led districts. Yet, the Republican bill we are considering today decimates the program, raising energy costs for their own constituents all across. The bill does nothing to further protect our infants and better ensure infant formula safety, even in the wake of the by-heart botulism outbreak that surprised regulators and scared parents over the last few months. This bill leaves behind specialty crop, specialty crops, family and small farmers, while doing nothing to tackle the big agribusinesses that terrorized our farm economy and increased costs for the American consumer. Lastly, this bill includes a variety of divisive policy writers. It eliminates protections for small meat and poultry producers, a gift to their larger corporate competitors, and it retreads partisan culture war provisions that have been stripped out of previous AG FDA bills which discriminate against same-sex couples. In its current form, this bill raises costs for American farmers, takes food away from hungry families, cuts off support for rural communities and loudly bangs the device of culture war drums once again. I encourage my colleagues to oppose this legislation and work with Democrats to fix the many serious problems it contains. As a footnote, I would just say, and I would say this to you, Mister Chairman, you made the point in your opening that we have a spending problem versus a revenue problem. If you take a look at the new ITEP report, that shows eighty eight of our biggest uh industries pay zero taxes to the United States. We're talking about some eight hundred and sixty one billion dollars. I s- I submit to you that if we track that down and we provided that kind of enforcement, we would indeed have the funding to deal with some of these uh uh programs that now have been eliminated. In fact, as you have you've heard me say before, we have a revenue problem and not a spending problem. Thank you and I yield back.

Thank you, Mr. Lord. At this time, does any member of the subcommittee wish to be recognized for opening remarks? Do any members wish to be recognized for amendments? Seeing no amendments, I'd like to recognize Mister Franklin, Vice Chairman of the subcommittee, for the purpose of making a motion. Thank you, Chairman. I move the bill uh be favorably reported before committee. Question is on the motion. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Those opposed, no.

No.

Opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.

Mister Chairman, the recorded vote.

Recorded vote has been requested. All those in favor of recorded vote, raise your hand. A sufficient number in support, a recorded vote is ordered. The clerk will call the roll. That's all. It's a good show.

Mister Adderholt.

Aye.

Mister Adderholt, aye. Mister Bishop.

To roll.

Mister Bishop, no, Mister Klein.

Aye.

Mister Klein, aye. Mister Cole. Mister Cole, aye. Miss Deloro.

No.

Miss Deloro, no. Mister Franklin.

Aye.

Mister Franklin, aye. Miss Glussenkamp-Perez.

No.

Miss Glussenkamp-Perez, no. Doctor Harris.

Aye.

Doctor Harris, aye. Miss Henson.

Aye.

Miss Henson, aye. Miss Capter.

There's not so many here.

Miss Capter, no. Miss Letlow.

Aye.

Miss Letlow, aye. Mister Molinar. Mister Molinar, aye. Mister Newhouse.

Aye.

Mister Newhouse, aye.

No.

Miss Pingree, no. Miss Underwood?

No.

Miss Underwood, no. Mister Valadao?

Aye.

Mister Valadao, aye. Miss Wasserman-Schultz? Miss Wasserman-Schultz, no.

Do any member wish to record their vote or change their vote? If they've all voted.

Oh, that microphone. Your mike on.

Ten votes being aye, seven votes being nay. The ayes have it. And the subcommittee uh mark is passed. I ask unanimous consent that the staff be permitted to make technical and conforming changes to the bill and report without objection. So ordered copies of the bill and report with the technical and conforming changes will be delivered to all full no later than three business days before the full committee mark-up, which I think means it has to be delivered tomorrow. Thank you. The committee now stands adjourned.