Richard B. Nugent: “Every night millions of families sit down to meals where ingredients are produced here in the United States. The…”

“Every night millions of families sit down to meals where ingredients are produced here in the United States. The Agricultural Research Service is a vital part of our Federal Government's continued efforts to help farmers, producers and, ultimately, consumers. I firmly believe that the Federal Government has a terrible spending problem and that tough decisions must be made. {time} 2250 I have the utmost respect for Chairman Kingston and all of the members of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. They have done a great job of crafting this piece of legislation. My amendment would reduce $2.5 million from the Foreign Agricultural Service and transfer $2 million of that money to the Agricultural Research Service. By adding these funds back to ARS's budget, we will be helping guarantee that our farmers remain competitive with farmers from other nations. We should be supporting increased food production here in America and maintain our domestic independence in this area of our economy and not increasing our usage and demand for foreign agricultural imports. There is still important work to be done by ARS, and that must be continued. There have been significant cuts made to the budget of ARS that jeopardize research already in progress. During my 5 months in Congress, I have had the great pleasure to meet and interact with many farmers and ranchers in my district. These men and women are some of the hardest workers that I know.…”