Opening Statements

I am honored to serve as the 50th Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and to build upon the work of Frank Lucas. Chairman Lucas, you have set a high standard for the committee, and your knowledge and experience will continue to serve the Committee well as we move forward in our work together. I also want to thank Ranking Member Peterson for his contributions to agriculture in general and to the Committee specifically. I look forward to working with you.

I have served on this committee since I was first elected to Congress in 2004 – both as a member and three terms as a subcommittee chairman or ranking member, and I am proud to continue representing Texas’ 11th District in this leadership role. I represent, and love, rural America. The values and concepts that make our nation great are stored there, and I want to protect that. To maintain a vibrant rural America, we must maintain a strong production agriculture system. This is the driving force behind the work we do at the Agriculture Committee. I, along with many of you on this Committee, represent rural America, and we are their voice. I consider this a privilege and a great responsibility.

While feeding and clothing our nation—and much of the rest of the world for that matter—agriculture contributes over ¾ of a trillion dollars to GDP annually while providing more than 16 million jobs.  Beyond the significant economic contributions of agriculture, the values and concepts that make America great are stored in rural America and each of us on the committee is responsible for protecting that.

During the 114th Congress, the Committee will ensure that the Agricultural Act of 2014—which we labored over for most of the last 4 years—is implemented appropriately. We will also reauthorize the CFTC while ensuring that other key end-user protections are signed into law. We will focus on aggressive oversight of all policies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction, including a full-scale review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here today:  I am not pre-judging the outcome of the work our committee will undertake. We owe it to American taxpayers to do a thoughtful and thorough review of the programs under our jurisdiction.

With all of that said, before our work can begin, we must formally organize. To that end, today we will adopt the Committee’s Oversight Plan, Committee Rules, and the Committee Staff List for the 114th Congress.

I want to welcome back to the Committee our returning Members from the 113th Congress, as well as 8 new Republican and 6 new Democratic members. Ranking Member Peterson and I are pleased to formally introduce each of our new Members here today.

Jackie Walorski is new to the Committee, but in her second term in Congress. She is a proud Hoosier and brings a thoughtful perspective having lived in Romania for four years to run her foundation that provides medical supplies and attention to impoverished children.

Ralph Abraham is a physician, veteran, and a former large animal veterinarian from Northeast Louisiana.

Rick Allen is an entrepreneur and smart businessman from Georgia whose construction company in Augusta has created thousands of jobs.

He is joined by another successful business owner, Mike Bost of Illinois. Mike has served his country as a Marine and his community as a firefighter, and I know he will serve our farmers and ranchers well.

Tom Emmer comes to us from Minnesota, where he served in the state legislature and ran his own law firm.

Before coming to Congress, John Moolenaar was a chemist and served in both the Michigan State House and Senate.

Dan Newhouse is a farmer, businessman and state legislator from Washington who served as Director of Washington State’s Department of Agriculture.

And finally, David Rouzer – a businessman and seasoned legislator having served in the North Carolina Senate.