Agriculture Appropriation FY24

Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies Appropriation, April 10, 2023 

Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony on the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriation for FY2024. I will focus on the FDA regulatory activities, the Foreign Agricultural Service, adding and removing certain agencies to the portfolio of the subcommittee, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,, providing analysis of the distribution of funds as part of Committee reports and the possibilities of regional government.

Let me repeat that the FDA should both self-support with fees and fund research with licenses for using innovations funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. There is no justification for big Pharma to grow wealthy based on government funded science. The United States should retain the rights to license the production of orphan drugs, letting contracts rather than encouraging entrepreneurship. The prices for recouping private investment is simply too high, which drives up both insurance and drug costs for the public. If there was ever justification for public action, this is it.

The Foreign Agricultural Service is another matter. It is hardly slanderous to note that some of its activities are counter-productive when food is delivered just prior to harvest, thus reducing the price paid to local farmers. The extent to which this occurs is economic warfare. American farmers receive plenty of subsidies without activities that hurt the ability of developing nations to feed themselves. It would be better to send nothing than to continue such sabotage, even if it is unintentional. 

Any food distribution should go to overseas farmers, not to governments or food processors. Additionally, processed foods should not be delivered at all, especially not those foods which have made this nation obese. If anything, subsidies which are paid to American agriculture that contribute to our ill-health should be scaled down and eventually eliminated.

The administration should be transferred to the Agency for International Development and this line item shifted to the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee. The funding of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should also be moved to the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee so that it may be considered for increased appropriations, along with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The jurisdiction of this subcommittee should be expanded to consumer protection and include funding for the following agencies:

1. Consumer Product Safety Commission
2. Federal Communications Commission
3. Federal Trade Commission

If the CFTC appropriation is left within this subcommittee, then it should be granted additional funding to consider the mechanics of collecting capital gains taxes through an asset value added tax with each trade rather than having taxpayers pay these taxes on their personal incomes - which subsidizes loss and which forces asset holding to take advantage of preferred rates. There should be one rate for all liquid transactions. Planning for the collection of goods and sales taxes or tracking commodity transactions as part of the enactment of a Fair Tax must also be funded.

This brings us to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding. For some people, it is a lifeline, not subsistence.  Individuals without children, though not the intended beneficiaries, are greatly helped. With the advent of higher refundable child tax credits, families will need less assistance. Higher minimum wages should also be enacted (which is the job of other committees). Until then, benefits must go up and stay up for a longer period of time. 

Diets for the disabled and senior citizens, as well as current program participants, are heavier on carbohydrate than is healthy. COVID-19 related inflation (with the economy deliberately idled while cash benefits are provided, as is necessary) is making people hungry, especially those of us who cannot work. The lack of cash benefits within SNAP make buying such essentials as bathroom tissue difficult, leading some to sell their cards at 50 cents on the dollar.

I understand that SNAP was cut so that people who left TANF could not simply shift benefits to SNAP. However, everyone is not eligible, nor do they need TANF. I already possess a Master of Public Administration degree, yet am unable to work. While SSDI provides some assistance, neither SSDI nor OASI are adequate. The removal of additional benefits from the pandemic left many of us worse off, as benefit levels did not raise as much for inflation as the amount cut in high cost jurisdictions, such as the State of Maryland where I reside.

There is a toxic ideology in some circles that hunger is an incentive for self-improvement or work. This is decidedly not true. Give me more money and I might consider seeking an online doctorate. I certainly cannot do anything of the kind on current benefits, nor am I in any position to obtain student loans for this purpose. I would never be able to pay them back in any possible career resulting from further education. This does not mean that I should spend the last week (or two) of every month emptying my refrigerator and cupboards. They should not be bare at any time. While increasing SSDI benefits is the job of the Ways and Means and Finance Committees, having access to Food Stamps, especially those which provide an adequate supplement, are necessary for the vast majority of retirees at current benefit levels. Double the appropriation and that will not be so.

Next we move to committee report information, ...

The vast majority of USDA activities can be attributed to the state and region in which they are performed, including SNAP, packers and stockyards, food safety, animal and plant health, soil conservation, school nutrition and extension services. Headquarters services, the Agricultural Research Service and FDA activities would not be assigned to a region because they serve all regions.

Attachment: Committee Reports and the Budget Process Video