Liz Saville Roberts: “Mr. Chairman, I am one of the strongest supporters of agriculture research in the Congress. Since early last year, I…”

“Mr. Chairman, I am one of the strongest supporters of agriculture research in the Congress. Since early last year, I, along with the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Allard, the distinguished chairman emeritus of the Committee on Agriculture, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. de la Garza, and Mr. Johnson have been conducting a comprehensive review of research programs which aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the more than $1.7 billion that we now spend on research. During a time when we are trying to balance the Federal budget and ensure what money we do have is spent wisely, basically what the gentleman from California is proposing is that we spend an additional $2 billion on a new entitlement program without the benefit of a single hearing to discuss how well we are using the $1.7 billion we were already spending. We are going to continue this review of ag research with our very strong support. After all, our farmers and ranchers must be provided the competitive advantage through research to compete in the global marketplace.”