[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 7 (Thursday, February 5, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H377-H378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PROPOSED TOBACCO SETTLEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, let me state at the outset that I do not 
smoke, nor do I encourage others to smoke. Children should not smoke, 
nor should they be enticed to smoke. I applaud the President Clinton's 
efforts to curb and ultimately reduce the incidence of youth smoking in 
the United States in the near future.
  Tobacco, the mere word, engenders many strong feelings and opinions 
in most Americans and especially in those of us who serve in Congress. 
With regard to the pending tobacco settlement, no matter how you feel 
about tobacco, one must view it for what it is, a legal commodity grown 
by many American farmers.
  North Carolina grows quite a lot of tobacco, both burley and flue-
cured. Over 65 percent of the total U.S. production is grown in North 
Carolina of flue-cured. In fact, my constituency, the First 
Congressional District, produces more flue-cured tobacco than any other 
in the Nation. These eastern North Carolina farmers produced over 225 
million pounds in 1995.
  These North Carolina farmers, our tobacco farmers, want the same 
things as other Americans, a good quality of life overall for them and 
their families, for their children to have a good education, for them 
to have sufficient resources with which to provide their families with 
food, shelter and other amenities of life, savings for their 
retirement, a secure environment in which to live and work, and most 
importantly, hope for the future.
  These farmers, our tobacco farmers, care about their children as well 
as other children in their community, instilling in them the values of 
honesty and hard work. Many of them are third and fourth generation 
tobacco farmers, even though some of them must seek additional 
employment off the farms as teachers, business persons, factory workers 
and other occupations. Many of them serve as leaders in their 
communities, in their schools, in their churches, in their synagogues 
and in other local and civic organizations.
  Like other American farmers, like those in many of your home States, 
these North Carolinians prepared their land, tilled it carefully, 
planted their crops, tended their fields, harvested their yields and 
marketed their product, much like any other commodity such as corn and 
wheat. These farmers are often small family farms. The average size in 
North Carolina is 172 acres, as compared to 491 acres nationally.
  Tobacco is one of the main reasons that small farmers are able to 
stay in business because no other crop yields as much income per acre. 
Most of these farmers are unable to find an alternate crop that 
provides a comparable income. It would take almost 8 times as much 
cotton, 15 times as much acreage of corn, 20 times more acreage of 
soybeans and 30 times more acreage of wheat to equal the income of a 
single acre of tobacco. Farmers would have to acquire the land, secure 
the needed equipment, purchase the required seed, fertilizer and 
pesticides and hire the labor, undue and perhaps impossible financial 
burdens of acquiring extra loans and debt, all too often not available 
to those socially disadvantaged farmers or to minority farmers.
  The total income impact for North Carolina was more than $7.7 billion 
last year, income that came from a combination of the production, the 
manufacture and the marketing. North Carolina entrepreneurs and 
employees, all of those benefit from those resources. The money earned 
by farmers and those employed in tobacco-related business flow into 
their communities, spreading those profits around. It has been 
estimated that the agriculture dollar turns over about 10 times, so 7.7 
billion multiplied means there is a possibility of $77 billion 
available to rural

[[Page H378]]

communities providing many necessities and public purposes. Much of 
that goes to supply the value of the taxes that support schools and 
hospitals. So all of these programs are interrelated in terms of a 
quality of life that is possible in eastern North Carolina.
  The present tobacco program operates on a no net cost to the Federal 
Government and, through the deficit reduction marketing assessment, 
actually contributes an average of $30 million a year to the U.S. 
Treasury. The continued existence of the program is vital to the 
continued ability of tobacco farmers to survive in this modern world of 
agriculture.
  I believe as Congress contemplates the broad policy implications of 
the proposed tobacco settlement, there are several things we should 
consider. First, quota equity must be protected because land value 
reflects that cost. Two, farm income stability must be preserved in 
order to protect against market volatility caused by the settlement. 
Three, global export market excess must be preserved. Four, economic 
assistance for impacted communities must be provided along with 
assistance for those farmers. All of these must be considered if indeed 
we are going to have a fair and equitable.
  Finally, fifth, we cannot ignore the value it would have of removing 
these resources from the classroom for young children. Therefore, we 
must find funds to speak to the needs of our youth development. I ask 
that any discussion on a proposed settlement as we are having will 
continue to include the consideration of all these factors. And please 
understand, as we pursue this worthy policy, we must also find the 
implication it would mean for thousands of tobacco farmers living in my 
district.

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