The committee will come to order. Id like to welcome everyone to this morning steering and today were going to consider the nomination of seema verma to serve as administrator of the centers for medicare and medicaid services. Welcome, ms. Verma, to the we are so happy to have you here and your family as well. I appreciate your willingness to lead this key agency at this critical time. I see that your family has joined you here today to lend support. I extend a warm welcome to all of them and to you as well. Cms is the Worlds Largest health insurer, covering over onethird of the u. S. Population through medicare and medicaid alone. It has a budget of over one trillion dollars and it processes over 1. 2 billion claims a year for Services Provided to some of our nations most vulnerable citizens. Ms. Verma, having dealt with cms extensively in your capacity as a consultant to numerous state Medicaid Programs, you know full well the challenges the agency deals with on daily basis. I suspec
On cspan2 if it becomes available. Yesterday, former georgia governor sonny perdue was on capitol hill for his confirmation hearing to be the next agricultural secretary. This is about two and half hours. Good morning members of the committee. I call this meeting of the Senate Committee on Agriculture Administration and for street to order. This morning we welcome governor sonny perdue. The president s nominee for u. S. Secretary of agriculture. Members of this committee have great appreciation for the Farmers Ranchers and consumers and other stakeholders that are directly affected by the decisions made by the secretary. The department of agriculture is made up of 29 agencies and offices. It employs nearly 100,000 men and women that work in all 50 states around the globe. The department provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, World Development, nutrition, Scientific Research and related issues that impact americans every day. Throughout our nations history, our far
Nuclear ought to be in the mix. Cspan. Org. On our home page and by searching the video library. President trumps nominee for agriculture secretary, former georgia governor, sonny purdue, testified at his confirmati confirmation hearing. He was questioned about proposed white house budget cuts to farm programs, Crop Insurance, Forest Management, immigrant labor and farm bill reauthorization. Good morning, members of the committee. I call this meeting of the Senate Committee on agriculture, nutrition and forestry to order. This morning we welcome governor sonny perdue, the president s nominee for u. S. Secretary of agriculture. Members of this committee have great appreciation for the farmers, ranchers and consumers and other stakeholders that are directly affected by decisions made by the secretary. The department of agriculture is made up of 29 agencies and offices. It employs nearly 100,000 men and women that work in all 50 states and all around the globe. The department provides lea
Leap on Scientific Research and related issues that impact americans virtually every day. Throughout our nations history, our farmers, ranchers and folks in Rural America have survived drought, disease, floods, and tornadoes and fires and whatever else Mother Nature throws at them. Year after year, they produced the safest most abundant food and fiber supply in the world, however today, growers from cross the country are facing high prices. These strong producers need a strong market for their goods. The importance of trade for agriculture, our agriculture industry cannot be overstated. And if that was not enough, over the last previous years, farmers and ranchers and Rural Businesses have been burdened by regulations all across the federal government. I have heard time and time again as well as many members of this committee about the costly and hard to understand regulations that endanger the ability of our producers to stay in business. This committee will continue its efforts to ma
I also do want to thank both of you, though, in all seriousness for the superb stewardship of this conference. I understand its been basically been a year in the making and thats extraordinary and even more extraordinary the work that its produced, some of it which i have had a chance to see in a world with uncertainty, there are a few more important tasks right now than giving a platform to the next generation of scholars and policymakers, after all, who is going to help us get it right. We are looking to all of you and the work that youre doing could not be more valuable, could not be more timely. So i want to say a special welcome and a special thanks to all the conference participators and all of you, all of you stand at the scholarship of asia. It may be hard to imagine right now. Theres going to be a time when all you want to do is go back to school. After 21 years in public service, im very fortunate to be back in school and particular here at the john hopkins, very fortunate to