the embargo statute basically prohibits the Department of Agriculture from using any of its market assistance programming money, so we cannot directly help promote, as we do in other countries.

Hopefully, this is the year that Congress get serious about fire suppression.

I think we have to have, frankly, reasonable expectations on the part of patients.

This is one area that has frustrated me more than any since I have been Secretary, because everybody--everybody--knows this is a problem.

That is one of the reasons why we need to get rid of the embargo.

StrikeForce was designed to focus on the areas of persistent poverty in this country.

I am confident, because I think we have addressed both short-term and long-term, traditional and nontraditional, challenges that agriculture is going to face.

This is a budget, Mr. Chairman, that also will allow for an expansion of local and regional food systems in the bio-based economy.

Budgets are oftentimes a lot about numbers. But behind each of these numbers, there are individuals and people that we care deeply about.

We will be more than happy to work with you and have our rural development people work with those two counties in those two areas.

I would say that I suspect that some of these rules may very well be finalized and some of these rules may be proposed, given the nature of the concerns that were expressed in the past.

Actually, Wisconsin has a number of communities like Green Bay that are working with the Fox River that are trying to create ecosystem markets.