Jerry Moran

I applaud those efforts. We have seen a number of just individuals--Gary LaGrange, who is retired military in my hometown, has created opportunities for veterans returning with traumatic injuries to enter farming, in this case, beekeeping…

Thank you for your passion and for your compassion.

I have been a longtime advocate for lifting the embargo, particularly as it relates to food, medicine, and agriculture commodities to Cuba.

We look forward to working with you on that and other issues.

We want to work with you to make certain that the training and recruitment, retention opportunities exist at USDA.

This issue of Cuba will be one of broad interest in Congress.

We cannot compete with the Administration's budget when they use mandatory spending as the solution to funding this and many other programs.

But my view is that the government program is the subsidy, not creating additional service in places that are already served.

I am an advocate, obviously, for expansion of those opportunities in places that are unserved.

You mentioned avian flu. This is a topic of conversation that you and I have had one-on-one, but certainly in the hearing that we had a year ago on your budget, this was a significant issue and concern.

I appreciate what I took as a positive comment, that you will take a look at potentially extending the comment period.

I'm disappointed that once again the president's budget proposes massive cuts to the crop insurance program.

I would express my disappointment that, once again, the President's budget proposes significant cuts to crop insurance.

We have seen significant improvements in the opportunity to sell.

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

Mr. Secretary, what do you expect the timeframe to be? What schedule are you on?

Mr. Secretary, we appreciate your presence here, and I appreciate the number of times you have reached out to me...

Will the administration's proposal to transform Tricare Prime and Standard into Tricare Select and Tricare Choice have any effect on the timeline for implementing T2017?

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.

The law is clear and California is violating the law.

I have been a longtime advocate for lifting the embargo, particularly as it relates to food, medicine, and agriculture commodities to Cuba.

I would highlight for you that our Subcommittee intends to have a hearing in the next several weeks on this topic of how to bring veterans into agriculture.

But my view is that the government program is the subsidy, not creating additional service in places that are already served.

I have expressed an ongoing concern about the ability for particularly rural telephone companies to be able to repay loans.

I cannot compete with the Administration's budget when they use mandatory spending as the solution to funding this.