[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 61 (Thursday, May 14, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H3298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1500
                       TOBACCO FARMING IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McKeon). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, there has been much discussion about 
tobacco settlements. If Congress is serious about passing tobacco 
settlement legislation this session, we need to act in a measured and 
collaborative way.
  Let me say, though, that I do not smoke and I do not encourage others 
to smoke, and indeed, I support the efforts to discourage our teenagers 
from smoking. However, the decision to smoke is one best left to mature 
adults, and even then, after careful consideration. Children should not 
smoke, nor should they be enticed to smoke, and therefore, a public 
policy discouraging them from smoking and having enforcement to make 
sure that tobacco companies do not entice them is indeed appropriate.
  With regard to the pending tobacco settlement, no matter how you feel 
about tobacco, one must view it for what it is; it is a legal 
commodity, grown by many American farmers.
  These North Carolina farmers, our tobacco farmers, want the same 
thing 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, saving for their retirement, 
a secure environment in which to live and to work, and most 
importantly, hope for the future.
  These farmers, our tobacco farmers, care about their children as well 
as about other children in their community, instilling in them the 
values of honesty, hard work and a sense of community.
  Mr. Speaker, like other American farmers, like those in your home 
State, these North Carolina farmers prepare their land, till it 
carefully, plant their crops, tend their fields, harvest their yields 
and market their products, much like commodities such as corn and 
wheat.
  Tobacco is one of the main reasons that many small farmers are still 
able to stay in business, because no other crop yields as much income 
per acre. Most of these farmers are unable to find an alternative crop, 
although several of them are seeking them. To find an alternative crop 
with a comparative income indeed has eluded many. It would take almost 
eight times more acres of cotton, 15 times more acres of corn, 20 times 
more acres of soybeans, and 30 times more acres of wheat to equal the 
income from a single acre of tobacco.
  The money earned by farmers and those employed in tobacco-related 
businesses flows into their communities, spreading these profits 
around. It has been estimated that the agricultural dollar turns over 
an average of 10 times in the farming local community. Do the math: 
$7.7 billion, which is estimated as the income to our State, equals $77 
billion. $77 billion flows from those citizens who sell the seeds, 
fertilizers, pesticides, farm machines, groceries, clothing, as well as 
other important goods and services.
  These monies make life possible, bearable, and sometimes even 
determine the quality of life in rural communities. That revenue also 
streams into the county, State and Federal tax coffers, supporting 
education and health care.
  The total income impact is also felt in terms of jobs. Over 108,650 
North Carolinians are tobacco farmers or are employed in tobacco-
related jobs. Therefore, it is absolutely critical, as we continue the 
process from which a settlement will emerge, and it should go forward, 
that those who are in the House as well as those in the Senate should 
permit these hard-working farmers to continue to earn an honest living 
doing what they do best, farming, and sometimes, growing tobacco.
  The public policy to restrain young people from smoking is an 
appropriate one. Equally as important, as we seek this public policy, 
we should not have a public policy that brings great devastation on 
large numbers of unintended victims; and I submit to you, the rural 
communities and farmers are unintended victims.
  Mr. Speaker, these small farmers are essential to the continuation of 
agriculture in North Carolina and the vitality of our rural areas.

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