May 14, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 80 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H3742]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CELEBRATING OUR INCREDIBLE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCERS

  (Mr. HAGEDORN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HAGEDORN. Mr. Speaker, last week, the Communist Government of 
Cuba announced that it is launching widespread rationing of food due to 
the grave economic crisis in their country.
  Unlike citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and countless other 
nations, Americans know their grocery store shelves will be filled 
every day with an abundant supply of quality products at affordable 
prices, and that is thanks to the ingenuity and hard work of America's 
farmers and agribusinesses.
  For Americans who lack the means to put food on the table, our 
taxpayers generously provide hundreds of billions of dollars for food 
stamps and other welfare benefits. Private entities such as churches 
and nonprofit food banks rely on the voluntary generosity of their 
members.
  Yet it all starts with the supply of food. We could have fistfuls of 
$100 bills and EBT cards, but that wouldn't matter if the grocery store 
shelves were bare.
  As Americans, we must always celebrate our system of free enterprise 
and our incredible agricultural producers. We are, indeed, the envy of 
the world.

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