I want to really tell you how much I appreciate the fact that when we had signup for the Livestock Indemnity Program on April 15, my producers came back telling me that within 6 to 7 days, they had checks in their hands.

A couple of facts to follow up on the gentlelady's comments. What we are trying to do is to get clean drinking water to individuals, to people, where the Federal Government has failed to follow through on commitments that it has made…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will report the amendment. The Clerk read as follows: Page 12, line 25, after the dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $10,000,000)''. Page 19, line 12, after the dollar amount…

I do have some concerns about the Livestock Forage Program, because I understand that there is some backlog that is going on.

I thank the chairman and the ranking member and all of the committee staff for their hard work on this bill. Mr. Chairman, one of the most important things during the appropriations process is making tough decisions and identifying…

That is a heavy penalty for producers, considering the amount of subsidy on crop insurance policies to not be reinstated until 2017.

Rep. Noem specifically inquired whether a producer found to be out of compliance in 2015 would then be ineligible for crop insurance premium support during the 2016 reinsurance year.

So that gave them a little hope that they would be able to stay on their ranches and maybe someday see cattle back in their pastures.

I appreciate that. Also, I have heard some instances where extreme heat losses are not covered.

That was real help that was desperately needed, especially since we have been hit with the drought of 2012 as well.

we want to make it easy for them to participate and we want to make it so that they want to be involved.

I firmly believe that this activity should be rethought by your agency, your department and get into consultation with the agriculture industry.

if this rule provides that kind of certainty for the agriculture industry, I am baffled because none of the agriculture industry wants this.

In South Dakota we have had ongoing problems with NRCS with inconsistent policy from county to county, a backlog of problems, some producers waiting months, if not years, for determinations, so it hasn't always been a good experience.

I thank the chairman and our leadership and colleagues for helping to move these bills forward. Sex trafficking is an issue that I have always known has existed, but it wasn't until I learned more about it and realized how often it is…

As you may know, the Department of Veterans Affairs manages thousands of historically significant parties, and according to a recently released study and report by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the VA has a track record for…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will report the amendment. The Clerk read as follows: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following: Sec. __. None of the funds made available by this Act…

I thank the chairman for yielding, and I want to thank him for the honor of being a part of this group today that is talking about TPP and the importance of trade in the region. I did have a chance to get back this morning from a weeklong…

If I may, I would just like to expand on that a little bit because a lot of our discussions that we had with the Prime Minister of Japan and also with the leadership in China was the fact that, not only as we negotiate these trade…

I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill to change the definition of ``full time'' in the IRS code to 40 hours per week on average. The 30-hour workweek instituted in ObamaCare is limiting…

I want to thank you for making livestock disaster programs a priority, and getting those implemented.

I have another problem. And, as far as when it comes to FSA closures in the past, what we have seen in South Dakota is that an FSA office will be listed for closure, where the NRCS office that is right in the same building, located next to…

I believe that law says driving miles, and I hope that that is followed when you look at this list, in trying to become more efficient, and better serving the producers.

This is an important provision.

If we can focus on northeastern South Dakota, and make sure that that district within NRCS is complying with the direction that you have given to them, that would be great.