Preventing Paygo Sequestration

Floor Speech

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Mr. PANETTA. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in support of H.R. 1868 to prevent these harmful budget cuts to vital agricultural programs that are relied on by farmers, farmworkers, and food-insecure families in all of our districts.

If we don't pass this bill today, $29 billion in agricultural funding would be subject to these sequester cuts. Those types of cuts would zero out funding for such crucial agricultural programs like EQIP, the Conservation Stewardship Program, and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

In my district on the mid-central coast of California, many farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners rely on those types of helpful programs not just to survive, Mr. Speaker, but to succeed. They use those programs to harvest their products and to be part of the climate solution.

The producers in my district understand and appreciate the old adage called usufruct, which basically says the land they use now must be kept fresh and fertile, not just for them, but for future generations. It is these programs that contribute to their current product and, yes, that type of forward thinking.

Sequester cuts would also prevent the Federal Government from purchasing and donating food to food banks through section 32 purchases. After the year we had, in which food banks contributed so much to the food security of so many of my constituents, we should be doing everything we can to protect and bolster our food programs.

We should also be doing everything we can to protect the production of food, but sequestration cuts would compromise many parts of the farm bill, like the specialty crop block grants or the agricultural research extension programs at public universities.

As the co-chair of the Congressional Agriculture Research Caucus, I know that these types of ag research programs help our farmers meet the challenges of 2021 and will allow them to prepare for challenges of the 21st century.

Mr. Speaker, as the Representative from the salad bowl of the world, it is my job to ensure that my farmers, farmworkers, and food-insecure families have all the tools that they need to live and lead healthy and productive lives.

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Mr. PANETTA. Mr. Speaker, as Representatives in Congress for this Nation, it is all of our jobs to ensure that the programs for those tools and that food are here not just for today but tomorrow. We can live up to that responsibility by supporting H.R. 1868.

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