Skip to Content

Opening Statements

Opening Statement: Chairman K. Michael Conaway: Past, Present, and Future of SNAP: The Retailer Perspective

| Posted in Opening Statements
Tags: SNAP

Remarks as prepared: I want to welcome our witnesses to today’s hearing and thank them for taking the time to share their perspectives as retailers serving SNAP recipients. This hearing, like those before, builds upon the committee’s top-to-bottom review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, so as the committee approaches reauthorization, we will be positioned to make meaningf...

Opening Statement: Subcommittee Chairwoman Jackie Walorski: Focus on the Farm Economy: Food Prices and the Consumer

| Posted in Opening Statements

Remarks as prepared: Good afternoon and welcome to today’s Nutrition Subcommittee hearing. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to be here and a special thanks to our witnesses for lending their expertise. Today’s hearing is the fourth in a series, held by each subcommittee, taking a look at the state of the farm economy. This subcommittee is focusing in particular on food prices and how ever...

Opening Statement: Subcommittee Chairman Austin Scott: To Review the Impact of Capital and Margin Requirements on End-Users

| Posted in Opening Statements

Remarks as prepared: Good Morning. Thank you for joining the Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit Subcommittee for today’s hearing, which is the second in a series to examine the implementation of Dodd-Frank over the past five years. In February, we held our first hearing to talk about swap data standards and transparency. During today’s hearing, we’ll talk about the unintended consequences of ...

Opening Statement: Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Davis: Focus on the Farm Economy: Factors Impacting Cost of Production

| Posted in Opening Statements

Remarks as prepared: Good morning. Two weeks ago, the Agriculture Committee commenced a series of hearings focused on the farm economy. Each subcommittee has been tasked with highlighting issues within their respective jurisdictions that impact the economic well-being of rural America. In the Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research Subcommittee, we have spent considerable time discussing program...

Opening Statement: Subcommittee Chairman Austin Scott: Focus on the Farm Economy: Tightening Credit Conditions

| Posted in Opening Statements

Remarks as prepared: Good morning, and welcome to today’s hearing. This is the second in a series of hearings that each subcommittee is holding on the state of the farm economy. As we know, the agricultural economy is highly cyclical. Given the recent 56 percent drop in net farm income and the hard times that inevitably come along with that, I believe it is important to hold hearings like the one ...

Opening Statement: Subcommittee Chairman Crawford: Focus on the Farm Economy: Growing Farm Financial Pressure

| Posted in Opening Statements

Remarks as prepared: As many of you know, this is the first hearing in a series focused on the farm economy. Every subcommittee will play a role in highlighting current conditions on our farms and ranches and in rural America today. Today, the economic conditions in farm and ranch country are fundamentally different than the conditions we faced when we crafted the 2014 Farm Bill. In just three yea...

Opening Statement: Chairman K. Michael Conaway: Energy and the Rural Economy: The Impacts of Oil and Gas Production

| Posted in Opening Statements

Remarks as prepared for delivery: Good morning, and welcome to today’s hearing. This committee is charged with the responsibility of representing rural America and the economies that drive those communities. As such, we will continue to diligently review the farm economy, especially given the recent 56 percent drop in net farm income and the hard times that inevitably come along with that. I, alon...

Opening Statement: Subcommittee Chairman Davis: National 4-H Conference Delegates Presentation

| Posted in Opening Statements

Good afternoon and thank you all for joining us. For the past several years, youth participants in the National 4-H Conference have met with members of Congress and made presentations to federal agencies and House Agriculture Committee members and staff. Last year I had the privilege to chair a hearing where we heard from 17 distinguished 4-H delegates whose presentation highlighted the importance...

Opening Statement: Chairman Conaway: USDA Organization and Program Administration

| Posted in Opening Statements

Remarks as prepared: Today and tomorrow, we have before us most of the undersecretaries of the Department of Agriculture. Each of these witnesses is responsible for an important mission area within USDA. Accompanying our witnesses are administrators who manage agencies and programs within these larger mission areas. These folks lead the network of nearly 100,000 USDA employees who carry out the la...

Opening Statement: Subcommittee Chairman Rouzer: Defending American Agriculture Against Foreign Pests and Diseases

| Posted in Opening Statements

Remarks as prepared: Thank you Chairman Davis. As my colleague has mentioned, this hearing is the third in a series of hearings highlighting the crucial intersection of agriculture and our national security. In our first hearing last November, the full agriculture committee heard from Ambassador John Negroponte and Dr. Tammy Beckam, Dean of the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicin...