[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 116 (Tuesday, July 18, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H7080]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            TOBACCO FARMERS

  (Mr. FUNDERBURK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FUNDERBURK. Mr. Speaker, today and tomorrow thousands of farmers 
are making their way across my State for the opening of the annual 
North Carolina tobacco markets; 85,000 North Carolinians grow or 
manufacture tobacco. Another 154,000 depend on tobacco related 
spending. It pumps more than $1 billion per year into our economy.
  Mr. Speaker, if you have been on a tobacco farm you know it is the 
most grueling and back-breaking work in agriculture. Most tobacco 
farmers struggle to survive. Unfortunately, this year they have been 
hit by twin disasters; bad weather and President Clinton. Too much rain 
weakened the crop. Too much Clinton and Kessler threaten the industry's 
survival. Mr. Speaker, the President has let the FDA wage war on 
thousands of North Carolinians. He talks about jobs, but his 
politically correct posturing has put over 200,000 jobs on the line in 
my State. The FDA's charge that the tobacco family is out to addict 
children is ludicrous on its face.
  Mr. Speaker, as tobacco farmers go to market, I want to assure them 
that the radical left wing of the other party will not get away with 
its selective persecution of their historic and legal American 
industry. To the farmers in eastern North Carolina keep up the good 
work, help is on the way.

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