Posted on 03/07/2009 8:20:15 AM PST by Liberty Valance
U.S. Senate at deadlock over earmarks for Weslaco agricultural center, others
No one knows yet what causes the bees to disappear.
One day the beehive is humming along; the next day the bees are just gone.
Pesticides, bee diet and environmental stresses are factors believed to contribute to what's known as "colony collapse disorder," said Sandy Miller Hays, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief research agency.
Bees are used to pollinate much of the nation's crops, she said, and yet questions persist about the phenomenon.
Scientists are investigating bee disappearance and related topics at Weslaco's Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center,
Last week, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., thrust their work into the middle of a debate over pork-barrel politics when he released a list of the top 10 "porkiest" projects in a $410 billion omnibus spending measure, deriding a $1.7 million earmark for honeybee research at the center.
McCain blasted the bill - needed to keep numerous government agencies operating - for 9,000 earmarks he called wasteful spending at a time when the country is reeling from a deep recession.
But the USDA's Hays and U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa - a sponsor of the earmark that was included in the House's version of the bill - take issue with McCain's criticism.
"This is how Americans get fed," Hays said. "In every one of these instances, this research is important to agriculture. These are essential parts (of the bill)."
‘BEE FACTORY'
On Thursday, the Senate's Democratic majority looked to be one vote short of the 60 needed to pass the measure, which includes spending increases for federal agencies and numerous earmarks.
With the vote thus postponed until at least Tuesday, Congress was forced to pass a five-day spending measure to ensure domestic agencies funded by the bill could continue operating in the interim.
McCain was one of several senators who denounced the bill as too costly and helped to block it. In particular, he targeted the measure's earmarks, including the $1.7 million for Weslaco's bee research.
In a statement made on the Senate floor and through Twitter - an online social messaging tool used to update vast groups of people - McCain criticized the spending on what he termed a "honey bee factory."
The center is similar to one the USDA operates in his home state of Arizona.
But Mark Buse, McCain's chief of staff, said the senator has killed Arizona earmarks before and is opposed to all of them, regardless of where they are from or what they serve.
"The problem with earmarks is that there may be greater need," Buse said. "Projects should be funded based off need and merit, not based on some lawmaker's pet project."
NEEDED RESEARCH
But Hinojosa, one of several members of Congress who supported earmarks for the USDA's research centers, said the funding is critical for research into what's ailing the bees.
Honeybees are vital to the nation's agriculture and food industry, pollinating more than 90 crops, particularly fruits and nuts, said the Mercedes Democrat. A dramatic decline of as much as 70 percent in the honeybee population in the United States is imperiling crop production.
Weslaco's center is part of an effort to counter that trend, Hinojosa said.
"The objective of this facility is to find the cause of the decline and increase bee colony survival so that our food supplies are not negatively impacted," said Hinojosa, who touted a total of $60 million in earmarks for the Rio Grande Valley when the bill cleared the House.
Hays, the USDA spokeswoman, said defining the funding as an earmark is factually incorrect since the $1.7 million would not create new research but rather would only prolong the work done at the center since it was formed to research Africanized bees.
Without funding included in the appropriations bill - the measure includes another $8.6 million for other research at the center - the USDA may close the Weslaco center, a fixture in the Valley for eight decades.
Hinojosa reported last year that the center is one of 11 others across the country the USDA is targeting for closure if $84 million in funding cuts is not restored.
The Weslaco center operates with an annual budget of about $10 million.
BUSINESS AS USUAL
Bob Mangan, the research leader for the center's crop quality and fruit insects research unit, finds the debate over the facility's funding amusing.
For one, the center is "not a factory," he said. "We don't produce bees."
Furthermore, he said, the center conducts other research unrelated to honeybees.
The facility made a name for itself in the 1980s with research into cotton boll weevil control and has since expanded into other areas, he said. His unit developed an organic pesticide for fruit flies, and another unit expanded on quarantine methods to kill larvae by submerging fruit in heated water.
The center has operated on a tenuous basis since former President George W. Bush's 2009 budget proposed huge cuts to domestic agencies, effectively stalling the budget process in a mire of disagreement.
While the standstill persisted Friday, Mangan said the center continued to operate as usual.
"We've heard those discussions" about closing the center, he said. "Until we hear something more concrete, we're still putting out experiments."
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Bees are a critical component of the food supply.
But you are correct that earmarks are a poor way to finance research on this problem.
These ‘disappearing bees’ stories have been around since the 70’s.
I remember a local beekeeper talking this way back then.
Hear the problem maybe insecticides not sure.
I know because AlGore and Michael Moore told me so.
Avsolutely no objection here to the money being spent on these projects that seek to enhance and protect agricultural aspects of our lives and economy. But these things need to go through the regular appropriations process. Hiding them in other legislation only serves to make people suspicious of the whole project.
I agree.
My point it that they’ve been crying wolf for nearly 40 years.
Pork & Bees? Wasn’t that a musical by George Gershwin?
No, that was Porgy and Bess.
As a hobbyist beekeeper, let me fill you in on the facts.......
As with many other aspects of our environment, the introduction of non-native species into areas of the world where they act "unnatural" because for instance they lack a predictor in that area to keep their population under control, or they have extremely dangerous effects on local animals who have no defense against them, causes many problems. So it is with honeybees.
Back in the 80's the Varroa mite was brought here accidentally from Africa via South America. This mite attaches itself to the bee much like a giant tick and will quickly kill the colony. North America's honeybee population was almost wiped out before researchers found ways to combat it. Today feral honeybees cannot exist in the wild due to this pest. Beekeepers have learned to keep the pest down to acceptable numbers in their apiaries.
So we were rocking along fairly nicely, keeping the mites and the hive beetles, etc. at bay..... then along came this recent phenomena we call CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) or the disappearing bees. Colonies effected do not appear to have succumbed to the Varroa mite. We don't know what is causing CCD because no evidence is left in the hive of an "intruder" and since the bees die while out foraging and don't make it back to the hive... there are no little dead bees to "autopsy" so to speak.
This latest problem is not the same one as you remember from the 80's. Related, yes, in that there most likely is an unnatural invader responsible. We just have to find what it is. The entomologists we talk to frequently suspect that it may even be chemicals invading the bees this time.... thru the new systemic-type pest controls used on crops where the bees are taken to pollinate.
But the fact remains that we MUST find the answer, and find it fast! To not do so will mean loosing the entire population of honeybees and that will be devastating to crop production and to the feeding of America.
Not that I am for pork spending, mind you.... but I just wanted to set the record straight on the importance of bee research.
Thank you for the informative post and good luck with your bees.
Oh, never mind.
Your family's citrus is famous in many quarters. I don't think I would know what a real grapefruit or orange is supposed to taste like if I hadn't tried some Liberty Valance Farms citrus.
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