DeLauro Welcomes Secretary Vilsack Before Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following opening statement during a subcommittee hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2010 budget request for agriculture and rural development at which Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testified. DeLauro focused on the agency's funding needs to ensure it is able to fulfill its mission and meet the American people's needs, including strengthening food safety, improving nutrition programs, renewing attention on rural America, and investing in energy reform.

Below is the text of DeLauro's opening statement (as prepared for delivery).

The hearing is called to order. Good afternoon. I want to welcome everyone, particularly Secretary Vilsack who comes before this Subcommittee today for his second time.

I am pleased again to welcome all my colleagues and the ranking member, Mr. Kingston, as we begin these hearings on the Fiscal year 2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill.

Mr. Secretary, we are glad to have you as a partner on the critical issues facing this committee and I look forward to working with you closely in the months ahead. I know you agree, our work is ultimately about people's everyday lives – consumers who want safe food, farmers who rely on fair, functioning markets, children who need healthy food to meet their full potential, and rural communities that need new opportunities to thrive.

I have said before that the issues we confront on this subcommittee and with the Department of Agriculture speak to the core responsibilities of the Federal government. And I am encouraged by the commitment you and the Obama Administration have expressed to meeting these obligations – from improving our food safety system to expanding broadband service to rural areas from conservation to strengthening child nutrition programs.

With the Economic Recovery Package we passed this winter, we have already begun to make those investments. I am proud of the resources we secured – $28 billion for the USDA including almost $20 billion to increase Nutrition Assistance. This has meant an additional $80 a month for a family of four – real tangible relief for families in need.

Also $150 million for The Emergency Food Assistance Program, and funding for floodplain easements, direct farm operating loans and single family housing loans – in other words, real relief and real jobs on the ground for some of our most vulnerable communities. We worked hard to make these funds available and Mr. Secretary, I know you are working hard to make sure they reach those who will benefit the most.

Now, I believe we have an opportunity to build on that investment and move from recovery to long-term growth. And I applaud you Secretary Vilsack for putting us in a strong place to do just that with this year's Fiscal Year 2010 budget. Total discretionary spending proposed in the budget for USDA would be $20.4 billion – 10 percent above 2009 – a significant increase.

Of course, this is just the first step. You will recall when you came before this committee in March Secretary Vilsack, we discussed the need for serious and long-term reform at the Department. This Recovery Package and now, this budget represent a powerful down payment on that process. We cannot let up at any point along the way however -- we must remain vigilant and committed to bringing the change the department needs.

With that in mind I want to raise a few issues that I imagine you will discuss in your statement and I may ask you to elaborate on when we get to questions.

For example, I want to highlight the Department's proposed funding for FSIS, targeting funding to improve the food safety Public Health Infrastructure and to improve the agency's ability to conduct food safety assessments – much of this in response to the recommendations made in the Inspector General's report on Risk Based Inspections.

I also want to applaud the budget request for rural development programs. For years, the previous administration made grand claims in this area, but failed to put its money where its mouth was. The 2009 Bush budget had requested elimination of many direct loan and grant programs in the Rural Development mission area. I am glad that this budget request does not carry most of those budgetary cuts and shows a new commitment to rural development.

Also, I am happy about the commitment we have made to conservation through the Recovery Package, already bringing funds to our communities for the rehabilitation of watersheds and flood prevention projects, for example.

And yet, I am concerned about some apparent inconsistencies with respect to Conservation with this budget. While you highlight USDA's work through the Recovery Act to improve water quality through the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations program, you then note later in your testimony that you eliminate the very same program in your 2010 request. Even more troubling is how your budget treats the farm bill conservation programs.

Your budget proposes very heavy cuts to popular and effective programs, such as the Wetlands Reserve Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, and Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program. I hope to discuss the reasoning behind those kinds of decisions in the budget.

Also as you know, this Committee has a long history of working to expand broadband access to rural communities. It is about bringing good jobs to rural America so that its residents do not have to leave their communities to find work. I look forward to discussing the implementation of the Recovery Act funding we provided.

I want to thank you again for joining us, Secretary Vilsack. I look forward to asking you about these and other efforts within the department. Ultimately, our appropriations reflect our priorities as a nation. We have big goals and it is the details -- the budget and the basics we are discussing here today -- that get us there. We have a responsibility to get it right."