On the recordMarch 13, 2019
As a third-generation farmer from California's San Joaquin Valley, I wish everyone a happy National Agriculture Day, something that we do throughout our country. I am proud, obviously, to represent the heart of California's San Joaquin Valley. But our agricultural productiveness throughout the country, beginning with the very origins of the history of the United States, has truly been one of the tremendous assets that we have had. We are home to the most productive agricultural land in the world, not only throughout the country, but in California. Our farmers, our dairymen and -women, our ranchers, and our livestock folks feed the country. I have often said that our food security, that dinner that we have on our dinner table every night, is a part of America's national food security. As a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee, I am proud that we delivered a comprehensive farm bill last year. Now it is part of our job to ensure that we implement that farm bill as a safety net for agriculture throughout the country. But it is also a safety net for those who are working poor, those who are, unfortunately, recipients of food assistance programs and the school lunch and the school breakfast programs. So the farm bill does a great deal to help all Americans. This year, the Agriculture Committee will work to ensure that those promises we made in the farm bill will be implemented in the way we intended.…
