Ranking Member DeLauro Remarks: Fiscal Year 2027 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Floor Debate
-- Remarks as Prepared for Delivery --
I thank the Ranking Member for yielding.
I want to begin by commending Ranking Member Bishop for his leadership on the Agriculture Subcommittee, and thank him for his efforts on this legislation.
I also want to thank the subcommittee staff, Martha Foley, Alex Swann, and Marie Gualtieri on the minority, and their counterparts on the majority, Pam Miller, Elizabeth Dent, Judd Gardner, Nick Seelinger and Sykes Connell as well for their work.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the bill before us today. It will raise costs for farmers; cut aid for families; and reduce crucial support for rural communities.
In 2025, nearly 7 million women, children, and infants received support through the WIC program. These are families who are struggling to put food on the table, who are doing all they can to stay afloat while costs for everything from groceries to gasoline go up and up.
The bill before us today underfunds this assistance. Specifically, vouchers for fruits and vegetables. Denying women, infants and children full access to nutritious fruits and vegetables is hardly a way to make America healthy again.
WIC works. Multiple studies have found that WIC participation reduces the risk of adverse birth outcomes like premature birth or low birthweight, that it lowers infant mortality, and that it leads to healthier overall diets for young children.
But this bill does not allow participants to recertify or enroll in the program remotely, by failing to extend this option beyond the September 30, 2026, deadline. This is just another cut in disguise.
This option has been invaluable in helping more eligible Americans access their benefits. It has allowed working people to certify without having to travel long distances or take time off.
Virtual recertification is a proven process that eliminates barriers to access for many people, allowing more efficient use of taxpayer dollars and making sure that people can feed their families, while maintaining program integrity. The American people deserve programs that work to support them, and do not impose unnecessary burdens.
This bill also cuts the Food for Peace program by $300 million – 25 percent. This will take money out of the pockets of the American farmers who grow the food that sustains the program, while taking food out of the mouths of the hungry children around the world who rely on it for their next meal. That is a lose-lose proposition. It is both immoral and irresponsible.
More than 2.2 million Americans do not have access to basic plumbing and running water in their homes, and this problem is even worse in rural areas. Yet this bill cuts funding for waste and water development programs in rural communities by $62 million. Instead of solving the problem, this bill makes it worse, leaving more Americans without access to the basic necessities that we should all expect in the United States.
This bill cuts funding for ReConnect Broadband by 20 percent – a program designed to expand internet access in rural communities. Broadband access is not a luxury; it is necessary to participate in the 21st century economy.
It drives growth, connecting people to job prospects and career training. It improves access to medical care, which is crucial at a time when more and more rural hospitals are closing down thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill. And it expands educational opportunities, helping to ensure every child is equipped to succeed in the economy of the future.
This bill also eliminates protections for small meat and poultry producers – a gift to their larger corporate competitors, which the American Farm Bureau is opposed to.
And it brings back partisan culture war provisions that have been stripped out of previous Ag-FDA bills, which discriminate against same sex couples, during the first week of Pride month no less.
In its current form, this bill raises costs for American farmers, takes food away from hungry families, cuts off support for rural communities, and loudly bangs the divisive culture-war drums once again. I encourage my colleagues to oppose this legislation and work with Democrats to fix the many serious problems it contains.
Thank you and I yield back.