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Good morning, I’d like to welcome to the subcommittee the 19th Chief of the USDA Forest Service, Vicki Christiansen. This is your first time testifying before this subcommittee as the Chief, and we are very happy to have you here. Joining the Chief today is John Rapp, Director of Strategic Planning, Budget, and Accountability.

Today we will hear from two panels as we discuss the Department’s proposal to relocate the Economic Research Service [ERS] and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture [NIFA].

Secretary Pompeo, while it has taken some time for you to come before the subcommittee, I thank you for joining us. It is important that this subcommittee, with direct jurisdiction over your Department’s funding, hears from you on the Fiscal Year 2020 budget.

We are here today to discuss the fiscal year 2020 budget request for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. These agencies play a vital role in the management and development of one of our most precious resources: water. Your agencies have been under pressure over significant flooding—especially high rainfalls—and other extreme weather events. I know you make difficult choices regularly, and we appreciate your leadership.

As Acting Administrator, Dr. Jacobs oversees the agency’s $5.4 billion budget, which includes NOAA’s sea, air, land, and space observing platforms, and the critical environmental data they provide. He also covers the wet-side of NOAA and all of its work in fisheries and coastal management.

The Fiscal Year 2020 Department of Veterans Affairs budget requests a record high amount of $220.2 billion – of which $97 billion is discretionary funding, which is a 7.5 percent increase over last year.