[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 6, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S885-S886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SUPPORT FOR THE CLOTURE VOTE

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise to ask my colleagues to support 
the cloture vote so we can enact a farm bill not only this year, but in 
time for farmers to make the decision about what they are going to 
plant. Right now, our farmers are in a most precarious position. In my 
State of Texas, it is planting season, and yet they do not know if the 
freedom-to-farm provisions are going to be available to them, or 
whether they are going to have a 1949 law to comply with.
  Mr. President, that is not reasonable, and it is not responsible for 
Members of Congress not to take up this bill and offer their 
amendments, but to refuse to take up the bill is irresponsible. I urge 
my colleagues not to do that to the farmers of America. Their lives are 
tough enough. The last thing they need is to make the wrong guess and 
have a disastrous year.
  That is what is going to happen. The bill is very clear. It is a 
freedom-to-farm bill, so that you will have the ability to make your 
own decisions based on your soil and what you think is your best 
ability to farm the commodity that you like the best. That is new and 
it is very important.
  It also eliminates the costly, timely paperwork required to comply 
with current regulations. It eliminates the need for most of the 
regulations now necessary to govern current programs. The freedom-to-
farm portions contribute to the deficit reduction by reducing 
agriculture spending by more than $12 billion over 7 years.
  What happens, Mr. President, if we do not invoke cloture and pass 
this bill today? Reversion to the permanent law, which is what will 
happen if we do not enact this bill, would be disastrous. First, it 
would give farmers a parity price based on 1914 economic conditions. 
That would result in domestic prices double or triple the world price, 
which would, of course, erode our carefully cultivated export markets. 
We have just passed GATT, which is supposed to break down the barriers 
in our agriculture exports, and yet this bill would be a reversion. 
That is, if we do not pass this bill, it will be a reversion to the old 
ways of doing things which are not best for today.
  It would mean that the USDA would have to buy all the excess wheat 
that was not taken up on the world market. It would obliterate our 
ability to have a balanced budget. Reversion to permanent law, by 
USDA's account, would cost taxpayers an additional $2.3 billion in the 
first year alone.
  I share the concerns that my colleague from Minnesota has just stated 
about the dairy portions of this bill. I do not like it. That Northeast 
compact is going to hurt other dairy markets around the country. I do 
not think that is right. We will have a chance to vote on that because 
amendments will be in order if we invoke cloture.
  There is no reason that I can see that a Member of this body can 
responsibly vote against cloture to allow us to debate this bill and 
pass something that will give our farmers the ability to plant 
according to their own needs in 

[[Page S886]]
time for them to do it. It would be just like Washington, DC, which is 
out of touch with everything else, to finally pass this bill in March 
or April when the planting season has passed for many of the farmers in 
our country. Mr. President, we cannot do that. It is not responsible. I 
am speaking for the farmers, the hard-working small business people of 
my State and all the States for which agriculture is so important for 
their economies and for their families.
  I urge my colleagues, vote for cloture. There is no reason to fear 
debate on this bill. There is every reason for us to do the responsible 
thing so that our farmers and ranchers have the ability to make the 
decisions that they need to make in a responsible way. It is the least 
they can expect from the U.S. Congress. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coats). The Senator from New Mexico.

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