Tom Vilsack

I appreciate the comment, Senator, and I will take that back to the team.

Candidly, I am at the point now where folks have raised concerns about trails and a variety of other facets of the Forest Service that we are not going to do what we have done in the past, which is transfer money for fire suppression.

It is directly related to the ability to have USDA personnel in Cuba, developing relationships with potential customers.

This is also a budget, I might add, that is $1.8 billion less than the budget that was submitted in the first full year of this Administration.

I would hope that we would be able to get work plans completed and we would get something over to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) relatively soon.

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.

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

We want to make sure it is a fair and equitable relationship, and that is the purpose of our review of those rules.

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

I am here to say unequivocally they are safe to consumers.

The reason I feel so strongly about this is last year during our award ceremony, I had to give out seven American flags to family members who lost loved ones in forest fires.

I think it is $1.5 million for five or six people.

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.

the decision to enter into a settlement agreement with the Humane Society of the United States and other Plaintiffs/Petitioners was made in concert with the pork industry

You shouldn't state that we are not championing this when we, in fact, are.

Well, we will----be happy to help them if you give us the permission and the capacity.

There is a program, community eligibility, where if an overwhelming portion of the students are eligible...

There has been no prohibition and there never will be a prohibition about mom or dad providing a youngster the opportunity to take something to school to snack on.

I think if adding that option would encourage kids to drink more milk we should do that.

I can't see the reason to reduce the standards.

So there is no question, with an expanding market, reduced and eliminated tariffs, and a process for enforcing science- and rules-based sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, that we are going to increase agricultural exports.

The COOL legislation passed by Congress directs us to provide labels to distinguish between U.S.-produced, processed, slaughtered, and raised beef and poultry products.

The single biggest thing is, their products become more affordable.

That's the direction that you have given us, and that's the direction that I intend to follow.

I will be the first to admit that we didn't do as good a job on this as we should have.