Remarks as prepared for delivery: I want to welcome our witnesses to today’s hearing and thank them for taking the time to share their impressive collaborative experience working to improve the diets and health among families across the country through nutrition education. This hearing, like those before, builds upon the committee’s top-to-bottom review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, so as the committee concludes our review, we will be positioned to make meaningful im...
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Remarks as prepared: Good morning. Thank you for joining the Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit Subcommittee for our last installment of our three-part hearing series examining the implementation of the derivatives market reforms envisioned by world leaders following the 2008 global financial crisis. Today, we will wrap up the series with a focus on clearing and trade execution requirements. Throughout this series, we’ve reiterated many times that our goal is not an indictment of the reform...
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Remarks as prepared: Since I became chairman of the House Agriculture Committee at the beginning of last year, we’ve held more than 70 hearings and have invited a broad range of experts, including people in the field, to share their knowledge on everything from the futures markets to farmers markets. The committee doesn’t agree all the time on every issue, but one of the reasons we’re able to work in a bipartisan manner is that we remember well-meaning people can have different ideas about how t...
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Remarks as prepared: Good morning. This is the final hearing in our farm economy series. Each of the other five subcommittees has examined the growing pressure in rural America from the perspective of their jurisdictions. Farmers are currently facing a steep drop in commodity prices, resulting in the largest 3-year decline in net farm income since the Great Depression. Razor tight margins are likewise making producers even more vulnerable to factors that impact cost of production, including addi...
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Remarks as prepared: Good morning. Last November, the Agriculture Committee began examining the links between agriculture and our national security. The first hearing highlighted global security challenges and underscored the connection between food security and political stability. As former President George W. Bush said, “A nation that can feed its people is a nation more secure.” We followed that hearing with an examination of our readiness in dealing with threats to plant and animal health. ...
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Remarks as prepared: Good morning. Each subcommittee has been tasked with highlighting issues within their respective jurisdictions that impact the economic well-being of rural America. Throughout this series of hearings on the farm economy, one of the consistent themes has been that government rules and regulations are overly burdensome and negatively impact the bottom line and long-term success of our farmers and ranchers. In a hearing more than two months ago with EPA Administrator McCarthy, ...
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Remarks as prepared: I want to welcome our witnesses to today’s hearing and thank them for taking the time to share their perspectives as retailers serving SNAP recipients. This hearing, like those before, builds upon the committee’s top-to-bottom review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, so as the committee approaches reauthorization, we will be positioned to make meaningful improvements to the program — improvements to benefit recipients, taxpayers, and those working as...
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Remarks as prepared: Good afternoon and welcome to today’s Nutrition Subcommittee hearing. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to be here and a special thanks to our witnesses for lending their expertise. Today’s hearing is the fourth in a series, held by each subcommittee, taking a look at the state of the farm economy. This subcommittee is focusing in particular on food prices and how every consumer is impacted by the economic conditions in farm country. The United States has the safest,...
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Remarks as prepared: Good Morning. Thank you for joining the Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit Subcommittee for today’s hearing, which is the second in a series to examine the implementation of Dodd-Frank over the past five years. In February, we held our first hearing to talk about swap data standards and transparency. During today’s hearing, we’ll talk about the unintended consequences of some of the most important regulations following the financial crisis: the new capital standards and...
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Remarks as prepared: Good morning. Two weeks ago, the Agriculture Committee commenced a series of hearings focused on the farm economy. Each subcommittee has been tasked with highlighting issues within their respective jurisdictions that impact the economic well-being of rural America. In the Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research Subcommittee, we have spent considerable time discussing programs and policies that impact specialty crop producers. We have highlighted research, education, and ex...
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