[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 119 (Thursday, September 10, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H7556]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              FARM CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, in the next several weeks, we in 
this body will consider the fate of our Nation's President. This 
undertaking will be balanced with our continued efforts to do the 
people's business on this floor. It is imperative that we do not lose 
site of this as we enter the waning days of the 105th Congress.
  I have come to the floor this evening, not to discuss the White House 
crisis, but to discuss the agricultural crisis plaguing rural America. 
Today will be the first of a series of floor appearances that I plan on 
making to try and educate my colleagues on the severity of the crisis 
now facing our Nation's producers.
  As a cow/calf operator from western Oklahoma, I can tell you 
firsthand that the crisis in the country is real. Our producers are 
plagued by weak grain prices, drought, bugs, wildfire, and dwindling 
forage and hay supplies. Good farmers, good farmers are losing equity 
and millions of dollars are being lost to our economy.
  The 1996 Farm Bill was a bold step. In farmer's terms, it can be 
likened to the purchase of a new farm truck. We expect it to be 
reliable and dependable. It should have all of the tools to get us 
through the harvest, and it must be flexible enough to allow us to use 
our ingenuity to conquer unexpected tasks.
  In these trying times, I believe it is time to assess whether the 
farm bill is running right. There are those who would advocate trading 
the whole thing in for an older model that did not run all that well in 
the years gone by. I do not think this is the proper route to take. We 
must diagnose the problem and fine tune the farm bill to make it 
better.
  In mid July, the presidents of Oklahoma's major farm groups came to 
Washington to ask our delegation to come up with short-term and long-
term steps to help producers.
  I asked this group what the number one need was for Oklahoma 
producers. The number one answer was a quick infusion of cash in 
producers' hands to help them put in a crop this fall.
  In response, we passed legislation to speed up the disbursement of 
$5.5 billion in 1999 market transition payments. This is a good but 
limited step that must be built upon.
  Mr. Speaker, the farmers of this country have been hit by what could 
be likened to the 7 plagues of Egypt: drought, bugs, fire disease, the 
Asian financial crisis, and low prices. Any one of these is bad, and 
right now we are being hit by all seven.
  Over the next several weeks, it is imperative that we in Congress 
work with the USDA to develop a package of relief for our Nation's 
producers.
  This is a must pass issue. We cannot close this session of Congress 
without responding in some fashion.

                          ____________________