48 



receive repayment from those new nations. We will be talking 

 about that. 



Sure, President Clinton will have an economic short-term strate- 

 gy and economic stimulus package. I am not privy to all the de- 

 tails, but we have already discussed with OMB the inclusion of the 

 one that you mentioned in that program. We have to get the appro- 

 priate dollar figure and attach that to it, but I am in favor of that 

 as well. 



Mr. Penny. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



I do look forward to pinning down a date when we can get you to 

 the upper Midwest and get you introduced to our farmers up there. 



The Chairman. Mr. Secretary, we have covered a lot. The mem- 

 bers have been able to express some of their concerns and some of 

 their ideas. Your contribution has been tremendous. I thank you 

 very much. We look forward to working with you. 



I might add as a final word, aside from thanking you for coming 

 here and being so patient and listening to all our members, is that 

 as far as budget is concerned, we have always contributed our fair 

 share. Our commitment is to continue that. We do hope that 

 within the administration you see that we are not overburdened 

 because it is very popular in 30-second bites to aim at agriculture. 



We have done our part. We will continue to do our part. We hope 

 that you assist us in that respect. 



We do hope that we will have joint meetings periodically to en- 

 lighten the members between you and Ambassador Kantor, you 

 and Secretary Ron Brown, all of the Secretaries that impact on ag- 

 riculture, so that we might have some communal endeavor with 

 the other Departments. 



And there's the issue of health. My chart shows that 52 percent 

 of USDA is nutrition-related including WIC, school lunch, feeding 

 the elderly, and food stamps. I have a different idea that is not 

 being presented on this issue. All I hear about health care is cost 

 containment. I haven't heard much yet about preventive health 

 measures. There has recently come from the new administration 

 an idea about the vaccines. I think this is good. 



But the prevention of health problems begins with nutrition, 

 with diet, and I hope they recognize that. I put in a call to Mrs. 

 Clinton's office, as she will head the group looking at that issue. 

 They very graciously returned my call. Unfortunately, I wasn't 

 here. I look forward to visiting with her or pertinent staff. 



I do hope that you are a part of that endeavor. If you're not, we 

 hope that they listen because the best way to save money on health 

 care is to have people be healthy and not get sick. We are now 

 living longer, thanks to nutrition, diet, and alternative medicine, 

 the cost of reforming health care is going to be tremendous. I don't 

 think we can handle it solely under cost containment without caus- 

 ing injury to someone or some place. 



So the best way to contain costs is to see that we begin prevent- 

 ing. Preventive nutrition begins with agriculture and farmers. 

 They now have the ability to genetically engineer fruit or vegeta- 

 bles that may well be an antidote for some illness. I do hope that 

 as we're moving into the next century that the focal point will be 

 how we keep people healthy and prevent disease. That is the best 

 way to save the cost out there. 



