mr. chairman , i rise in support of the schwarz amendment emphasizing the intent of congress that full funding for the control of emerald ash borer must be provided . 
i had intended to offer an amendment emphasizing the need for emergency funding and thank chairman bonilla for his work with us on this issue , and with respect and appreciation knowing we still have much to work on will not extend floor debate today . 
it is vital that we take action as quickly as possible to deal with control and containment this year . 
usda , at the order of the office of management and budget , has not been able to fully respond to the requests for funds from ohio and michigan . 
ohio recently requested an additional $ 10.1 million that is needed immediately . 
the emerald ash borer was identified in michigan in july , 2002 . 
it has been in michigan for perhaps five years , having come in packing material from asia . 
since then , several counties in southeastern michigan and now counties in northwestern ohio have been infected with this creature . 
literally billions of ash trees are at risk unless this creature is stopped . 
regrettably , there is no known way to eradicate the insect without starving it from new wood sources . 
so as trees by the thousands are being cut down in our region . 
as i said , the state of ohio has recently asked the department of agriculture for an additional $ 10.1 million in emergency funding to control the spread of this insect . 
this is in addition to the $ 11.6 million that was requested earlier this year , although usda provided only $ 10.2 million . 
this is in addition to more than $ 50 million that has already been provided to michigan to control the spread of the insect from its primary infestation site . 
mr. chairman , ohio needs more funding now to control this insect for which it bears no responsibility . 
neighborhoods are being devastated in ohio , as they already have been in michigan . 
businesses are adversely affected . 
property values are being adversely affected . 
the longer we take the provide effective controls , the more damage will be caused , the broader the area of infestation will become , and the more it will ultimately cost to end this infestation . 
i had planned to offer my own amendment calling for emergency use of funds to deal with this problem , even though i know that the bill already provides some funding for emerald ash control in the coming year -- $ 14 million even though expert opinion suggests that we will need $ 55 million . 
hopefully this money will come via the emergency route . 
chairman bonilla and ranking member delauro , i thank you for your support . 
i want to work with you to secure the right level of funding to deal with this disease , as well as the many other invasive species pests that plague several states . 
they may be different in their makeup , but they are equally devastating to the communities they infest . 
