Sam Farr

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could in a decade commit that the persistently--every 10 years, when we measure this in our census, it is the same counties that are there.

What I am surprised at is that you are spending so little.

if we are really going to bring down costs of healthcare in America, we have got to start with growing healthier people.

I appreciate that, particularly with your background as a State administrator.

I am just a little sick and tired of hearing rhetoric around here that if we give aid to farmers and we give aid to veterans and we give aid to senior citizens, those are benefits. But if we give aid to single moms trying to pay for rent…

I think this idea of a Rural Corps is really interesting, but maybe I would like to hear how we can partnership with AmeriCorps and other kinds of corps that are out there that might get a better bang for the buck for every one of them.

I think that is going to be a real crisis for our country because everybody here in Congress talks about wanting to help the vets and leave none behind.

It seems to me, for our veterans that we are trying to help in any way but because the Welfare Reform Act does not allow them eligibility longer than 3 months without training for the SNAP program, you ought to come back here and tell us…

I hope when you get that number it will also be by school districts because that is a much more accurate than just States.

I really do think that this sort of credit card system is a lot better than the old food stamp system.

So do you recruit government employees to be on this Rural Corps, or are these volunteers with professional experience?

If we are going to have a foreign food aid program, then the intent of it is to work people out of poverty.

I don't know how we are going to run this government if we are just going to cut, squeeze, and trim and do it kind of without reason, just because it is a new idea.

I think this hearing is very important because the U.S. Department of Agriculture is--and this hearing is the only hearing that will be held in Congress on rural poverty by any Committee.

I am really pleased that you are a Chair of this Committee that understands that, because so many people don't understand rural poverty.

So if we are really serious about government being a partner in this, then let's listen to these ideas.

I would be very appreciative if you could also recommend to the Committee if these rural caps that we put on programs are problematic in trying to address the problems in these rural counties.

There is no way you can--I mean, my personal story is that, when I got out of college, I went in the Peace Corps.

Put it in the context of the military families that are defaulting because of payday lending and all of these scammers that are trying to--that DOD is very upset about.

I went to Lalibela market in Ethiopia. And what they were selling there was all this food that we had shipped from the United States.

If we do not make them at the Federal level, they will make them at the State and local level.

We need more than words on this critical issue; we need results. In fact, we are demanding results.

I personally think that non-V.A. care is a great and underutilized alternative, particularly in the aftermath of what happened in Phoenix and elsewhere around the country.

I really want you to go back and find out what initiated the ruling on this issue.

I want to second your statement, particularly the issue of the interoperability between the V.A. and the DOD health record.