The publication is reproduced in full below:
SHORTAGES IN FOOD CHAIN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman) for 30 minutes.
Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, prior to talking about the reconciliation bill that passed last time we were here, I want to spend just a second to talk about possible shortages in the food chain that have been brought to my attention. I am not sure the administration is doing enough to deal with the problem.
As with so many other things in today's world economy, critical ingredients, including glucosaminide, are produced abroad in China and Europe. These chemicals, including other things such as potash fertilizer, are sitting in ships and not available for the United States.
{time} 2045
Our farmers only have one time a year to plant their crops. It is not like a factory when something is not available, you can just start up the factory again in 3 months. And we have real problems out there that I think have some farmers very concerned and some feed co-ops very concerned. I have not heard about this a lot. Though, whenever I tour my manufacturers, I hear the same thing.
It is not unusual that some of these chemicals, which are very important to today's agriculture, have gone up five times over what they were this time last year. Well, you can see what that is going to do to the cost of food, even if we get stuff. But I strongly encourage the Biden administration to educate themselves on shortages, which are hurting agriculture right now, to do something at the docks, to see if he could bring Congress in to maybe change the laws or do something about the draconian new laws they passed in California, making it more difficult to get these chemicals on trucks.
But I do this just to warn people, in case anybody is listening from the Biden administration, and we will send them letters as well, if you want to avoid possible food shortages, dramatic increases in the cost of food, you have got to act now because farmers who are producing the corn and producing the soybeans are getting worried. And as far as I can see, rightfully so.
Vitamin D
Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, the next issue that I am going to bring up is concerning vitamin D.
I haven't talked about vitamin D from this platform for quite a while. I know some people are worried that if you talk about it, it might discourage people from getting a vaccine, but I know somebody else who passed away in the last few weeks and I don't believe they were taking the amount of vitamin D that is recommended.
Vitamin D is very important for a variety of things: Bone health, preventing a variety of diseases. But the evidence suggests it could be very important in reducing both the severity and the amount of COVID. The number of Americans who are vitamin D deficient is very high. I don't normally like to talk about racial things, but I want to read some statistics that some people back home can take.
Right now, there is disagreement as to the appropriate amount of vitamin D a person should have in their system, the number of nanograms per milliliter. Some people feel it is 20. Some people feel it is 30. But let's assume, for the sake of an argument, that it should be 30. Right now, 65 percent of the White population of this country would be considered vitamin D deficient; 80 percent of the Hispanic population would be considered vitamin D deficient; and 96 percent of the Black population would be considered vitamin D deficient.
It is my opinion, and the opinion of the experts, that one reason certain groups have more people dying of this horrible disease is because of the much-elevated vitamin D deficiency. The way to handle it is simple: You should be taking vitamin D on a daily basis. We are told that Anthony Fauci takes 6,000 units a day. I don't know if that is true or not. I wish he would talk about it a lot more, if he does.
But you have to remember, when you begin to take vitamin D, it doesn't get in your system right away. If you begin to take vitamin D today, it may get in your system 4 weeks from now. It may not get in your system until 30 weeks from now.
There is a more expensive form of vitamin D called calcifediol, which works in hours, not weeks or months. Unfortunately, that formula, which is readily available, I am told, in Australia, is quite expensive. I would encourage people who are interested in it to familiarize themselves with how to get ahold of it and educate their own doctors as to how to get ahold of it, because if you do get COVID, a lot of times doctors now are prescribing vitamin D for people. But despite prescribing it for people, if they give them like 5,000 units a day, you are not going to have that kick in for a month. So you should familiarize yourself with how to get this fast-acting vitamin D, which will help people quite a bit quicker.
There are a couple things I will point out to the public health establishment that the experts in vitamin D can't understand. First of all, if you come in for an annual checkup, particularly an older person, you ought to be tested for vitamin D to find out whether you are deficient or not. It is not that expensive. It is something that should be done automatically. And if you are diagnosed with COVID, again, you should right away be tested for vitamin D deficiency, because if you are deficient, things can be done. People suggest taking as many as 50,000 units in a week if it is determined you are vitamin D deficient.
But in any event, I would strongly encourage the CDC and NIH to do more research regarding vitamin D. Again, I would strongly encourage them to make a vitamin D test both in the annual checkup and it is something all hospitals should be doing if people come in and they find out they are COVID positive.
I will also point out, we do not know yet whether this omicron variant, there are indications that it is going to be a little bit more difficult to be taken care of with a vaccine. And it is another reason why people ought to be paying more attention to vitamin D.
It is my personal opinion--nobody knows the amount of lives that can be saved, but depending upon who the experts are that you are talking to, to guess maybe on the low side, maybe 25 percent; on the high side, over 50 percent. And the fact that this relatively cheap vitamin has been out there for 2 years and has been left relatively untouched by the public health establishment is, I think, a scandal. But I would strongly encourage anybody that is listening today to familiarize yourself with vitamin D, talk it over with your doctor, and get a vitamin D test.
Reconciliation Bill
Mr. GROTHMAN. Now, the reason I originally asked to speak today was with regard to the reconciliation bill. I think it is something that Americans should be paying attention to, not because of the cost, though the cost is horrific, and it is going to result in still more inflation and still more destruction of the value of the dollar. I think there are three areas that would permanently change America. I hope it is something that the public can bring up prior to the Senate taking up the bill.
The number one issue is immigration. We are at a time where, depending on the month, over 100,000 people can come cross our southern border. The bill responds by changing the law and making up to 7 million people who are currently in this country illegally, setting them on a path to citizenship. It is changing things so it will be more difficult to deport felons, even felons who have committed felonies.
My goodness, if you are not going to deport a felon who has committed a felony, who are you going to deport? You are taking away the flexibility as to whether you can deport them or not.
In this bill, we are giving free Pell grants, which are the grants we give to people to go to college. We are giving these away to illegal immigrants. I think this is such a bizarre decision because it is not difficult to find Americans who are $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 in debt because they are regular, middle-class, hardworking families, but we are giving the people who come here illegally free college.
I just think that it is such a bizarre decision, but it goes to the apparent attempt of the Biden administration and the majority party to do all they can to get as many people here as possible. I will point out, in this bill there was no money for new Border Patrol agents, which is another green light to have more people come here.
Right now, the drug gangs will use this information, perhaps on ads on Central American television, to tell people now is the time to give the drug gangs $3,000, $5,000, $8,000 to come to the United States.
A couple other comments on what is going on at the border: Last time I was down there, I saw on the path leading to this country, thrown-
away identifications--like driver's licenses being thrown away.
You have to ask yourselves, if people are coming to this country and throwing away their identification from Honduras, from Venezuela, from Brazil, wherever, why are they doing that? Why do you not want people to know what name you operated under in your prior country is? I can only think because you are running away from something in the past. This is common among the people that are coming here now.
There are two other things I am going to point out for America, one is: They should weigh in with Congress on this significant bill. We are having the government take care of all the three- and four-year-olds.
As I said before, insofar as we have flaws in our education system, it is more in the middle-school area, not the preschool area. Traditionally, in this country we are supposed to be a country of strong families in which parents raise their children. It is a fundamental change, I think, in the role of government for Congress to pass a law saying from here on out it is up to the government to take care of the three- and four-year-olds.
The other thing I want America to look out for is 85,000 IRS agents. That is such a massive amount. I used to do taxes. I am somewhat familiar with audits. It is not going to be pleasant for Americans, and at a time when every business I can think of--manufacturing, tourism, agriculture, medical field--everybody is short of people to work.
And how are we responding? Let's take 85,000 people and have them work for the IRS. Manufacturing needs those people. Hospitals need those people. Why in the world, 85,000 IRS agents? And, of course, the amount of jobs that will be necessary is multiplied because if you have more IRS agents poking around the businesses, you have to hire more accountants to deal with the IRS agents.
So that is a very strange decision. But to me, it shows that this administration wants to be the surveillance administration. And that is another fundamental change in the way I think our forefathers imagined this country or the way this country should be.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the remainder of my time.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 206
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
House Representatives' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
Alerts Sign-up