Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2007

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

I rise in support of the Weiner-Schwarz amendment. I want to thank my colleague from New York (Mr. Weiner) for all his hard work on this important issue on attacking invasive species.

Many people wonder why members of the New York City delegation would be up here on the Agricultural bill, but the issue of invasive species is a serious one for Members from rural, suburban and urban areas as well.

For New York City, the pest in question is the Asian longhorned beetle, and quite frankly, if the Asian longhorned beetle were this big, we would not be having this debate right now. We would all be putting more than $48 million per year towards eradicating it. But it is much smaller. It is about one-and-a-half inches to 2 inches in length.

It has been in Queens County since 1999, where I represent. The Asian longhorned beetle has had devastating effects on trees in my home County of Queens but also of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, as well as parts of Chicago and New Jersey.

I know this pest has been depriving the residents of my constituency in my district of precious shade, green space, and natural beauty provided by a variety of trees. This issue is particularly serious in an area where trees and shades are at a premium, in the County of Queens. We have lost almost half of the trees that have been lost in New York City.

But besides attacking urban area trees, scientists have stated that the Asian longhorned beetle is a real threat to the hardwood trees of America; and if left unchecked, this pest could be more threatening to our Nation's trees and forests than the Dutch elm disease, the gypsy moth caterpillar, the chestnut blight combined. This beetle would be devastating to our timber industry, but let me go to our homes and to the breakfast table. This invasive species can have a direct impact on the maple syrup industry here in America. Imagine, pancakes without real maple syrup. That is what this bug represents to America right now.

On this point, I want to thank again the Chair and the ranking member for including report language in this bill recognizing the real threat of the Asian longhorned beetle. The report states: ``The Asian longhorned beetle threatens all hardwood trees, and is of great concern to the northeast, particularly in New York and New Jersey.''

When this pest was first discovered, I called for the assistance of my colleagues in this Chamber and you all responded. I want to acknowledge the great work of then-Chairman Skeen and now Chairman Bonilla, and then-Ranking Member KAPTUR and now Ranking Member DeLauro in working with me and the City of New York to try to address this issue.

I remember visiting the Heinz family of Ridgewood, Queens, who lost some of their precious trees to this pest in 1999. Due to our hard work here in Washington, we were able to fund investigators who searched the trees to look for the beetle and worked towards eliminating the problem in this particular neighborhood. We were able to replace those trees.

Green space and trees are a vital component to the quality of life of my constituents both in Queens and the Bronx and all the outer boroughs, including Manhattan. We can fight this invasive species and other pests that plague our country, like the emerald ash borer, sudden oak death, cactus moth and boll weevil, by passing this Weiner-Schwarz amendment today.

In addition to their past support for battling the beetle, I also want to thank Chairman Bonilla and Ranking Member DeLauro for including a provision in their bill granting the Secretary of the USDA discretion to use Commodity Credit Corporation funds to combat the beetle. While this provision is important, it cannot replace the need for this amendment, as over the past several years OMB has not approved CCC funding to combat this beetle and work towards its total eradication.

That is why I am supporting this amendment today to provide a $23 million increase to APHIS this year to more effectively combat invasive species in our country. Please support this amendment. It will benefit our constituents in almost every State in the country. In fact, I would argue every State, if you eat pancakes in the morning.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

http://thomas.loc.gov