[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 37 (Friday, March 27, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1688-H1689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to 
remind our colleagues that today, March 27, marks the 65th anniversary 
of the creation of the Farm Credit Administration by the executive 
order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
  The FCA is the independent arm's length reporting of the $78 billion 
Farm Credit System. It provides credit and financial services to this 
country's farmers, ranchers, and agricultural cooperatives.
  The FCA is charged with a highly challenging mission: to promote a 
safe and sound, competitive Farm Credit System by creating an 
environment that enables System institutions to serve rural America as 
a dependable source of credit and financial services within the 
authorities established by Congress.
  The FCA is ably led by a distinguished three-person board chaired by 
the Honorable Marsha Pyle Martin, who hails from the great State of 
Texas. In addition to her significant roots, Ms. Martin is the first 
woman chair of the FCA board and, together with fellow board members 
Doyle Cook and Ann Jorgensen, directs the regulatory activities of a 
small cadre of highly qualified professionals.
  While the FCA is a small agency with only 300 personnel nationwide, 
it is an impressive group of dedicated professionals, possessing 
insightful knowledge about how to ensure that sound financial 
institutions thrive to better serve agriculture. It is an agency with a 
rich history of profound service to agriculture, and is one of the 
surviving entities of FDR's New Deal.
  I would like to share a brief bit of FCA history with the Members 
today, because I believe it demonstrates how well government can work, 
and points clearly to the importance of those institutions which will 
maintain our Nation's position as the world leader in agriculture as we 
move forward into the next millenium.
  Shortly after President Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933, he issued 
an executive order that established the FCA as an independent credit 
agency and consolidated under it all the fragmented programs previously 
created to improve the availability and deliverability of agricultural 
credit.
  The 1930s were not a good time for agriculture. Farm prices had hit 
an all-time low and hundreds of thousands of farmers were finding it 
impossible to produce enough income to pay their debts. One of the 
FCA's first major responsibilities was to implement the Emergency Farm 
Mortgage Act of 1933, designed to halt the wave of farm foreclosures by 
refinancing farmers' debt.
  Through radio broadcasts, President Roosevelt told farmers to write 
or wire Washington if their farms were threatened by foreclosure. The 
response was an avalanche of wires, letters, and phone calls, totaling 
43,000 in less than 4 months. The newly formed Farm Credit 
Administration moved vigorously to intercede with creditors, asking 
them to wait long enough to see if farms could be refinanced. Most of 
the farms were refinanced, and the FCA's history of dedicated service 
to agriculture had begun.

[[Page H1689]]

  More recently, the FCA was instrumental in helping the Farm Credit 
System and its borrowers survive the severe disruption of agriculture 
that occurred during the 1980s. Like the 1930s, the 1980s were not a 
good time for agriculture. I think we all remember when land values 
spiralled downward and the devastating impact on the many farmers and 
financial institutions that financed the legitimate credit needs of 
those farmers.
  The FCA was there again, but in a different role, this time as the 
independent regulator of the Farm Credit System. In this new role the 
FCA ensured that farmers who had been devastated by economic 
circumstances were afforded the opportunity to restructure their loans, 
thereby enabling them to remain in farming.
  The FCA also ensured that cooperative financial institutions took 
proper management action to financially strengthen their operations so 
they could remain as a viable source of credit to their farmer 
borrowers. Though the FCA role had changed over time, the outcome of 
fulfilling their role remained the same, and the needs of individual 
farmers were met.
  Moving to the present, the FCA has become one of the more stellar 
performers to emerge from implementing the Administration's program to 
reinvent government. The FCA has reduced its expenses by nearly 15 
percent since 1995, and has slashed its work force by nearly 30 percent 
since 1993. The agency is almost 25 percent below Office of Management 
and Budget's established personnel target for the FCA under the 
Administration's program to reinvent government.
  The agency is at the forefront of developing increasingly efficient 
and innovative programs that not only ensure that the safety and 
soundness requirements are adhered to by the Farm Credit System, but 
also result in minimal disruption to the vital business activities of 
the institution it regulates.
  The Farm Credit System today is financially sound, and stands on the 
threshold of making innovative progress at better meeting the credit 
and financial needs of farmers and ranchers and their cooperatives. The 
FCA has played a key role in the system's success, and is there to 
ensure that these institutions exercise safe and sound banking 
practices that comply with the law and regulations, as new endeavors 
take form. Over time, farmers, ranchers, cooperatives, and the public 
have all benefited from the professional activities of the FCA.
  Mr. Speaker, the FCA record reflects a deep commitment to 
agriculture. It is a record of exceptional performance from 1993 to the 
present. I am proud to recognize it here today.

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