Mark Pryor

And there again you are committed to trying to get that right, as well?

You need the combination of both to be successful.

I will put an opening statement in the record but I just want to say thank you for doing this and thank all of you for your leadership on this.

So it sounds like you are committed to getting this right?

I would like to continue to work with you to make sure we get the right workload there and keep that capability.

Okay, so, given the, I guess I'd say volatile nature of this program, I guess you can say that, are you concerned that food prices or participation will increase over the next several months?

And what impact has sequestration had on WIC, if any?

Yes, I think the way it's worked up to this point is pretty much that person has to come out on the farm...

And I guess my next two questions are, why is it not already final, because you've been working on this for a long time, and it seems like the evidence is steering you in that direction? So why is it not already final? And then, when do…

We are going to fully support it in 2014, just like we do today.

If we want to remain the world leader, we need to keep up our game.

Thank you and we're not going to ask Mr. Young to say anything, but you're welcome to if you like to.

I don't intend to close Booneville ARS lab in this bill.

At a time when China and Brazil are ramping up their investment in agricultural research, we cannot afford to let ours be gutted, or worse still, be ignored.

Okay. And I've noticed also that the budget includes an increase of $50 million for the WIC contingency reserve. Do you anticipate using any of that reserve in this fiscal year?

I think what we'd like to do is, I'd like to get a better understanding of how that works.

Right. That's great news.

Can you look in to this matter and make sure that our fish farmers will be able to protect their products?

Scientific endeavors are not the kind of activity that we can put a bookmark in and come back when funding is flush.

We may have some follow-up on that in a few minutes, but, first, I wanted to ask Dr. Hagen about the FSIS.

Do you have a sense of if, once the rule becomes final--you might not be able to answer this yet. But do you have a sense of how many fewer poultry inspectors you'll need in the system?

I was pleased to see the funding increase request for NIFA.

Sometimes you need to be careful of what you ask for, but hopefully, maybe we can find ways to improve it.

I believe, of course, and I think you all mentioned that there are several Senators on the Committee and subcommittee that have large areas of rural constituents in their states.

Thank you. And I want to thank the panel. You guys have been outstanding and very informative.