[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 14 (Thursday, February 1, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              AGRICULTURE

  Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I have listened to my distinguished 
colleague from the neighboring State of Iowa. I want to share with the 
Senate the fact that my frustrations run very deep, as deep as so 
eloquently expressed by my colleague from the State of Iowa, Senator 
Harkin.
  Here we are, Mr. President, 10 minutes after 7:00 on the 1st day of 
February, and there is rapid talk in this body about adjourning this 
evening until sometime around February 28. Now, obviously, adjourning 
here without taking any action whatever on a farm bill is not only 
wrong, it is not only bad policy, but it is ridiculous.
  How do we work ourselves out of the dilemma we find ourselves in 
right now? Mr. President, it would seem to me that it would be a time 
for cooler heads to prevail. I think we have two basic options: Either 
we stay here and work and not adjourn, as has been contemplated, and I 
suspect that would be the best possible course of action of all the 
options that we have; or the second option, it seems to me, would be if 
we are going to adjourn tonight, and if we adjourn I suspect we will 
have a rollcall vote on adjournment so that we will all know in this 
body and elsewhere as to who wanted to adjourn when we have important 
work that we should remain here doing. The other option of not staying 
here, if we are bound and determined to adjourn, which I will oppose, 
but if that happens, we are going to leave here without any resolution 
whatever on the farm bill, would be the worse of all possible worlds. 
If we are not going to continue to stay here and work and hammer out a 
compromise of some kind, then I think the next best option would be for 
a simple 1-year extension of the present farm bill.
  The only significant changes that I suggest that we should make in 
that regard is to accept and provide a simplification of the rules, 
regulations, and red tape, and truly allow the farmers of America, for 
the most part, to farm for the 1996 year without all of the complicated 
restraints that they have. I simply say the simplification of the rules 
and allowing the farmers more freedom is one part of the Freedom to 
Farm Act that I generally have supported.
  I hope that all would realize and recognize that we either have the 
option of trying to work out something tonight, which I think is going 
to be extremely difficult. If we cannot do that, I think we should 
schedule to be here tomorrow and Saturday, if necessary, and again next 
week, in an effort to try and come to some kind of a workable 
compromise that can get the required number of votes, and/or tonight 
stand to face reality and say it is going to be very difficult to come 
to some kind of an agreement. Probably the best thing for all sides to 
do would simply be to recognize and realize that the best thing to do 
under the circumstances in consideration to the farmers of America, who 
are anxiously awaiting what we are going to do here with regard to a 
farm bill, is to have a 1-year extension of the present farm bill with 
the caveats I have just expressed.

  Mr. President, it seems to me, therefore, we once again are up 
against time constraints--some of them real, some of them imaginary. By 
and large, I see no reason why we should be adjourning when we should 
be here working. If adjournment is the way we are going to go, I appeal 
for all sides to realize and recognize, in the interests of 
agriculture, while extending the present farm bill for 1 year is not 
the way I would like to go, it may be the only way for us to go and 
provide a measure of assurance to the food producers of America that we 
do, indeed, care and appreciate what they are going through.
  Here we are in February talking about a farm bill that should have 
been passed no later than the beginning of the new fiscal year last 
October 1. Here we are, Mr. President, as the ranking Democrat on the 
Budget Committee, starting to make plans for the budget discussions in 
1996, and we have not even finished the budget from last year. We are 
sadly behind what we should be doing--doing it right or wrong.
  I think that, by and large, most of the minority, and I hope a large 
portion of the majority, in the Senate would realize it is time to fish 
or cut bait. If we cannot come to an agreement, I suggest it would make 
sense and be reasonable for all sides to agree to an extension of 1 
year, with the caveats I have outlined.

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