[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 112 (Monday, August 31, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S9677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURE CRISIS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, in July, less than a month and a half 
ago, the Senate voted unanimously on a resolution to declare there is a 
national crisis in agriculture, that we needed to take immediate action 
to address it.
  Following the unanimous passage of that resolution, we passed several 
amendments to the agricultural appropriations bill designed to address 
the problem. We passed an amendment to require mandatory price 
reporting for livestock. We passed a second amendment offered by the 
distinguished Senator from South Dakota, Senator Johnson, requiring the 
labeling of imported meat. And we passed an amendment offered by the 
two hard-working Senators from North Dakota to require at least a $500 
million indemnity program for victims of multiple-year disasters.
  Unfortunately, we failed to pass my amendment to lift the cap on 
marketing loans and extend their term by 6 months--which is probably 
the single most effective way to address the problem of low prices and 
lost income among grain farmers.
  Since we considered those amendments, the farm crisis has deepened 
very seriously. Over the past 3 weeks, as I visited with farmers and 
ranchers and rural businesspeople from all over South Dakota, they told 
me the same story. Many of them simply will not survive the coming 
months unless circumstances change. Unless we can bring about a better 
farm economy, a more stable price in most of the commodities now being 
grown, we will see an attrition in agriculture the likes of which we 
have not seen in over a decade.
  Nick Nemec, a young farmer from Holabird, SD, who testified at a 
hearing on July 29 on the agricultural crisis, said that when prices go 
down, his family's everyday expenses go up proportionately. He said, 
``If the Consumer Price Index was up 40% in one year, there would be 
riots in the streets of cities all across America. Out in farm country, 
we just have farm auctions.''
  I heard that same sentiment over and over again when I was home these 
past few weeks. We have already seen too many auctions. Our farmers and 
ranchers are very concerned, frankly, about their survival.
  So the circumstances, Madam President, as I report to the Senate this 
afternoon, are, unfortunately, in worse shape and more precarious than 
they were just a month and a half ago when these amendments were 
offered. We must find ways to address the current crisis in American 
agriculture.
  So I put the Senate on notice this afternoon that we will again be 
offering our amendment to increase the loan rate, to establish some 
kind of a floor in agricultural grain prices, just as we have on 
minimum wage across this country now for generations. We need a minimum 
price, because if we do not have that, all of those stories and all of 
those concerns can only worsen. The farm auctions will become more 
frequent.
  So I hope we can find, in as bipartisan a fashion as is humanly 
possible this close to an election, legislation we can all agree upon 
that will allow us to address the price more effectively, that will 
allow us to deal with the issues we began to confront in July.
  We must pass and sign into law the mandatory price reporting 
legislation that passed in the Senate. We must pass and sign into law 
the labeling legislation that was passed in the Senate. We certainly 
must pass this indemnity legislation and sign that into law as quickly 
as we can.
  What is missing is what will help the grain farmers. And unless we 
pass that minimum floor, that increase in the loan rate, there is 
nothing out there that can help the grain farmers to survive what is 
the worst disaster they have experienced in now more than 15 years.
  So, Madam President, as we begin to consider what the agenda ought to 
be as we come back from a month in our States, I hope everyone 
understands and appreciates and empathizes with the circumstances 
confronting America's farmers. I hope that empathy will lead to a 
consensus about increasing the loan rate and providing the kinds of 
opportunities to farmers that they failed to achieve when we debated 
this matter just over a month ago.

                          ____________________