[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FIGHT THE ATTACK ON AGRICULTURE

  (Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, the House Agriculture 
Appropriations Subcommittee's bill is a slap in the face to rural 
America. Last week the subcommittee approved a bill that would provide 
$581 million less in budget authority for agriculture programs for 
fiscal year 1997.
  The subcommittee's bill demonstrates the blatant lack of 
understanding many in Congress have for the 1996 farm bill and for 
America's farmers.
  The Agriculture Committee worked for more than a year on a farm bill 
that would meet the needs of farmers, and our obligations in balancing 
the budget. We created a program of fixed, but declining payments to 
transition farmers from dependence on the government, to market-based 
production. The subcommittee's bill invalidates the farm bill and these 
contracts.
  Today, I'm speaking especially to all of my colleagues from rural 
districts. Let's drop this partisanship. As aggies we must work 
together to fight, once again, this attack on agriculture.

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