Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--Continued -- (House of Representatives - July 31, 2007)

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Mr. BOUSTANY. Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word.

The Acting CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Louisiana is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Madam Chairman, I also rise in support of the McHenry amendment. Clearly, we have to get some control over spending, and this Agriculture bill is no exception to this.

As we look at this spending bill, as we've looked at the rest of them, we're continuing to spend more money, and it's a recipe for further tax increases. Furthermore, it's going to be at the expense of seniors. Here we are, we're looking at an SCHIP bill which, in my opinion, after looking at this to the extent I've been able to look at it, appears to be very irresponsibly crafted. In fact, I believe it to be a cruel hoax.

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Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the Chair.

As I was saying, this bill continues to spend far too much money, as did all the previous appropriations bills we've voted upon, and it is going to put further pressure on the work that we desperately need to do.

Looking at what we're going to go forward with as we look at health care, how are we going to pay for health care if we're putting all this money into overspending in these other bills? We have to get our priorities straight.

If we're going to raise cigarette taxes, a diminishing source of revenue, to pay for a program that's expanding, and then we're also going to take one-time money from Medicare Advantage to pay for an expanded program, how is it that we're going to deal with our entire Federal budget? Again, this bill before us today is a big part of the problem.

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Mr. BOUSTANY. Madam Chair, reclaiming my time, I just want to say that we're talking about an Agriculture bill, a spending bill, and we're talking about money that is going to be spent. We're talking about money that is going to be spent in this that will not be available to spend on health care issues, particularly on a number of issues affecting rural seniors.

Now, I have a rural district, it depends on agriculture, and as we go forward, we're going to hurt these seniors in these rural communities. If we cut over $200 billion in Medicare spending, I have 3,246 seniors in the Seventh Congressional District who are currently enrolled in the Medicare Advantage who are going to suffer. So I think we have to get our priorities straight as we go forward.

Furthermore, as we look at payments for hospitals are being cut $2.7 billion; in-patient rehabilitative services, $6.6 billion in cuts; payments for skilled nursing facilities, $6.5 billion in cuts; payments for certain drugs, $1.9 billion; in-State renal disease, $3.6 billion. These are seniors who are poor in my Seventh Congressional District, and because of the spending in this Agriculture bill, they can't take care of these problems.

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Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the Chairwoman.

Again, I state that I am supporting the McHenry amendment because I think it's an important step forward as we get some control over spending so we can set our priorities straight so we don't hurt rural seniors.

I pointed out the numerous cuts that are going to be made to the 3,246 seniors in the Seventh Congressional District alone.

Madam Chair, when is the spending spree going to stop? When are we going to get control over this spending so that we can set our priorities straight?

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Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the Chair.

Again, Agriculture spending is what we're talking about. But if we're spending excessive money in this Ag appropriations bill, it's going to hurt what we can do to take care of our seniors.

Again, 3,246 seniors in the Louisiana Seventh Congressional District are going to be hurt by this situation. If we look at the SCHIP situation that we're faced with, we're going to have problems with cuts because we don't have money available because of the Agriculture bill.

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Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the Chair.

Furthermore, as we go forward with a bill that is increasing spending in Agriculture, I have seniors in my district who need motorized wheelchairs, and they may be forced to wait a month or more.

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Again, because of the spending in this bill----

Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Parliamentary inquiry, Madam Chairman.

The Acting CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman yield for a parliamentary inquiry?

Mr. BOUSTANY. No.

The Acting CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Louisiana may continue.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Furthermore, with the spending in this bill, it is going to reduce the amount of time that the government will rent oxygen equipment for seniors to up to 36 months. This is going to be a problem for my seniors. We have got to get control over this spending. The first step here is with the McHenry amendment.

Furthermore, I think if we look at what has happened with agriculture spending, typically, much of the money that has been spent on agriculture doesn't even go to agriculture. It has gone to all kinds of other pet programs.

Madam Chairman, we have to set our priorities straight here.

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