Filemon Vela: “Last year, President Obama signed a bill I authored, the Border Jobs for Veterans Act.”

I would urge the Committee to once again include the San Francisco Bay Restoration Act in the upcoming infrastructure package with the same authorization level included in HR 2--$50 million annually over 5 years.

It is clear that USDA wants to find efficiencies, but is USDA prepared to make the changes needed to successfully deliver these important services, even if that means increasing, not decreasing, staff and resources?

Most of us on this Subcommittee represent pretty large swaths of land, and I can't go to any farmer in the 270 mile stretch of south Texas that I represent without hearing about how difficult it is for farmers to get loans and financing…

I must say now I get it. Your--your testimony has been so compelling and shed so much light on the battle that you consistently wage to protect the very people for which the Voting Rights Act was passed.