I must stress that the farmers, ranchers, and landowners in my district cannot supply the world's food and fiber without 24/7 access to reliable and affordable energy.

Without the producers in rural America, our cities would wake up in the cold, dark, and hungry.

I am committed to balancing the needs of the Commonwealth's families, communities, and producers who rely on natural gas-fired, coal-fired, and nuclear power generation with the needs of the innovators in the renewable economy.

Last week, on November 11, we celebrated Veterans Day. I rise today to thank our great men and women who answered the call to serve our country. Our Nation recognizes the generations of brave men and women who have defended our freedoms…

We need to sound the alarm, because I think we are actually in a crisis.

That is a crisis, when you have school districts that have their supplies cut in half.

That's why my colleague, Representative Bonamici and I introduced H.R. 5129, the Community Services Block Grant Modernization Act.

Unfortunately, this program has not been reauthorized in nearly 25 years.

We're talking about the original anti-poverty programs. One of the best forms of a public-private partnership that I know of, and it addresses poverty no matter what the root cause of poverty is.

I would encourage that we do a series of these hearings.

This hearing today is a very important and long overdue hearing to review the current strains within the supply chain.

I think, Mr. Chairman, we have some really good folks who are pending for confirmation at USTR, specifically in the agriculture area.