DOL's aggressive move puts rural America at a huge disadvantage.

I am happy [Representative Pingree] is here with us today and will shortly offer some introductory comments of her own.

I will now recognize our Ranking Member, Rep. Peterson, for his opening remarks.

The permanent tax deduction for food donations was identified in recent legislation and was enacted as part of the last omnibus.

I wish to place into the record a Memorandum Opinion drafted by the Department of Justice for the USDA General Counsel that not only spells out the direct protection of the Emerson Act, but also describes the preemptive effect on state…

Tackling food waste in this country is, and should be a nonpartisan issue that will be most successful by engaging everyone in the food chain.

Forty percent of the food grown in the country is wasted. That amounts to 133 billion pounds of food wasted.

I commend my colleague from Maine, Chellie Pingree, for putting this on the Congressional radar.

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, enacted in 1996, fully addresses this concern.

earlier this year, Mr. Rodney Davis, my colleague from Illinois, and I did, in fact, request that the Appropriations Committee provide an additional $100 million for the cost of storing, transporting, and distributing food.

The Corps needs to take a serious look. If you are going to be the experts, the issue area experts, on where to locate Federal agencies like the NGA, get it right.

I was very disappointed, General Jackson, to see that the President did not put a request for funding for NESP.