mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. chairman , i am pleased to bring before the house today the fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill for agriculture , rural development , the fda and related agencies . 
as many people know , this bill does not just fund agriculture issues that are so important for the nation and the world but also funds the food and drug administration , the women , infants and children program , and the food stamp program . 
there are a wide variety of issues that are very significant to this nation and the world . 
this is a bipartisan bill , mr. chairman . 
i am very proud this year to have worked for the first time with the gentlewoman from connecticut ( ms. delauro ) xz4001030 , who was a great partner in putting this bill together , as are all the members of the subcommittee . 
this is a great subcommittee that comes to the table every day with sometimes differences of opinion , but at the end of the day want to get a bill done . 
as chairman of this subcommittee , it has been a very fulfilling experience to have gone through this process with this great group . 
we have difficult challenges every year when we put this subcommittee mark together and when we put the bill together . 
we had over 2 , 100 individual requests from members ; so with the good staff that we have that i will get into a little more later , we have had to go through with a fine-tooth comb every request to make sure that it does not overlap with another request and then to prioritize all of these very important issues that come from members all over the country . 
i would also like to thank the staff for working on this . 
i want to take a moment to mention some very important names who have worked on this bill , sometimes day and night and on weekends as well : martha foley of the minority staff ; and maureen holohan , leslie barrack , and jamie swafford of the majority staff . 
in addition , i want to thank our detailee tom o'brien and walt smith from my personal staff ; and , of course , my distinguished clerk , martin delgado , who does a fabulous job on this bill . 
i also want to take a brief moment to recognize joanne perdue who worked on the committee for several years and retired from the committee just this past month . 
mr. chairman , i would also like to point out just in very broad terms that this bill takes care of a lot of issues that are critical not just to agriculture producers but to consumers in terms of food safety , research projects that are going on in every state in this nation . 
a lot of people go to the grocery store , mr. chairman , and they see that big truck pulling up in the back of the store and unloading goods that are put on shelves and in the freezers at the local grocery store and their products that are sold at a high quality for a good price . 
quite frankly , most americans do not know all of the policy and all of the research and all of the hard work that goes into putting that product on the shelf so that americans can go into the store , use those coupons and enjoy themselves and the quality of life that it brings to americans all across the country . 
again , there is a lot of detail that goes into putting this bill together . 
i am also very proud to work hand in hand with the gentleman from virginia ( mr. goodlatte ) xz4001540 , our authorizing chairman , who has been a partner in this process not just this year but every year . 
so all of these policies and all of these programs that i am talking about here have been a team effort . 
mr. chairman , i include at this point in the record the following tabular material related to the bill : mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
