[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 119 (Thursday, September 10, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10194-S10196]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY REFORM ACT OF 1998

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
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                            THE MINIMUM WAGE

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, let me, first of all, say that as we go 
into this debate--and I am pleased to be joined with Senator Kennedy; I 
have spoken about the importance of raising the minimum wage--I look 
forward to having the opportunity to debate this with colleagues.
  I guess I have reached the conclusion--I think this is sort of the 
common ground with the Chair--that the best single thing we can do in 
the Congress, in the House and the Senate, is to do everything we can 
to enable parents to do the best by their kids, or a single parent to 
do her or his best by children. I really do believe that this means 
many different kinds of things. But one of them certainly is to try to 
make sure that people have a living wage. I think it is terribly 
important.
  I think it is a value question. I look forward to the debate. I will 
be out on the floor with my colleague, Senator Kennedy, and others as 
well.


                         CRISIS IN AGRICULTURE

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I want to talk for a moment, or for a 
little while here, about what is happening in the Midwest. I had 
thought that perhaps this afternoon I would have an opportunity as a 
Senator from Minnesota to join my colleagues from other Midwestern 
States with an amendment that would speak to the crisis in agriculture. 
That didn't happen this afternoon.
  For those who are watching this debate, now that there is an attempt 
to work out an agreement on this bankruptcy bill with a potential 
cloture vote tomorrow, it doesn't look like we will be able to 
introduce this amendment, at least today. But I do want to just say to 
colleagues--I know that a number of us will be on the floor tomorrow--
that my top priority as a Senator from Minnesota is to bring to the 
floor of the Senate, with other colleagues, an amendment that would 
really make a difference in the lives of family farmers in my State.
  Mr. President, we have an economic convulsion in agriculture. There 
is tremendous economic pain in our rural communities.
  Many farmers and their families are just leaving their farms now. 
They are doing it quietly. It is not so much like the mid-1980s where 
you really saw a lot of farm rallies and marches and whatnot. That may 
happen. That may not happen. I don't know.
  I know that when I go to farm gatherings--whether it be in Fulda, MN, 
or in Granite Falls, MN, or Crookston, MN, it is quite unbelievable 
with the number of people that come.
  The fact of the matter is that with farmers now receiving somewhere 
like $1.42 for a bushel of corn, there is just simply no way--or $2.15 
for a bushel of wheat--they can't cash-flow.
  My friend, the Presiding Officer, is from the State of Indiana. And 
he knows something about this issue.
  You can be the best manager in the world. You can't make it. If you 
are not a huge conglomerate, then you have more of a family farm 
operation, which really ranges in terms of numbers of acres of land. 
But the important part of it is that it is entrepreneurship. The people 
that work the land live there. These are the people that are in the 
most trouble.
  For those of us who are from the Midwest--in a way, I approach this 
debate with a sense of history, because I think in many ways this is 
sort of one of the last regions of the country where you have a family 
farm structure in agriculture.
  Mr. President, what I want to say to colleagues, understanding full 
well that we will not be able to do this on the bankruptcy bill, though 
I must say to my colleague from Iowa, a very good friend, that there is 
unfortunately a very direct correlation between what is happening, as 
he well knows, to family farms in our State and bankruptcy.
  If we can't do this amendment that will speak to the farm crisis on 
the bankruptcy bill, then the very next vehicle that comes to the 
floor--the very next bill--we absolutely have to have an amendment out 
here.
  We may have some different views about what needs to happen. But I 
will tell you that the amendment that I see which must be brought to 
the floor first and foremost is we are going to have to remove the caps 
on the market assistance loans. We can do other things as well and 
allow a 6-month loan extension. Corn right now is capped at $1.89 a 
bushel. This would get it up to $2.00, $2.20, $2.25. Wheat is capped at 
$2.58. This would get it up to $3.20. This would be the single most 
important thing we can do, along with providing indemnity payments that 
we have all been talking about.
  We passed this before we went on recess. It is going to have to be 
more by way of financial assistance, given what is happening to a lot 
of farmers in the South as well, because of weather conditions. And in 
our State, in northwest

[[Page S10195]]

Minnesota, it is also scab disease. But we have to do those two things.
  Mr. President, I want to say to colleagues that I don't feel like 
time is neutral. In many ways, I feel like as a Senator from Minnesota 
that I am confronted with the urgency of now. I am trying to say to 
myself, ``You are here as a Senator. What is the best thing you can 
do?''
  We have a bankruptcy bill. We can't put this amendment on the 
bankruptcy bill. But the next bill that comes to the floor next week, 
or the end of this week, we are going to be out here with an amendment 
that speaks directly to this farm crisis. We have to. It would be like 
not being a Senator from your State not to do this. I think every 
Senator on this floor, Democrat and Republican, understands this. I 
hope that we will have this amendment in the Chamber no later than the 
beginning of next week, if not tomorrow, although I am not quite sure 
how we are going to proceed on this bankruptcy bill. And if not that, 
there will come a point in time where probably the best thing I can do, 
if we are completely shut out--and I hope this won't happen--will be to 
come to the floor and filibuster, just basically stop everything.

  I don't think that will happen, but there is no way, there is no 
possible way, that I can go back home to the State of Minnesota and 
look in the eyes of a lot of people I really love and believe in 
without having made an all-out fight. We have only, what, 3 weeks left.
  So my appeal to colleagues is, look, it is getting hard to find the 
time to do some of what we think are our priorities. I wanted to see us 
out on the floor with this amendment today. That is not going to be 
possible as we try to work out something on the bankruptcy bill.
  It is a bitter irony for me to see ``bankruptcy bill.'' My gosh, that 
is what is happening in my State. That is what is happening all across 
greater Minnesota right now. People cannot make it. We cannot do the 
amendment on the bankruptcy bill. But whatever the next bill is, I 
guess at the beginning of next week we will have this amendment out 
here. I know how strongly Senator Daschle from South Dakota feels about 
this. This is his State, agriculture. There are other Senators from the 
Midwest who believe just as strongly, Democrats and Republicans.
  But I just want to say to Minnesota and to my colleagues, there is no 
way in the world that I can see us adjourning without taking action. 
There is just no way. It would be just impossible to go back into 
greater Minnesota to meet with people in communities and say, ``Well, 
we had too busy a schedule. It was too difficult to find a `vehicle'.'' 
No one knows what you are talking about--vehicles. I said it 5 minutes 
ago: ``We are looking for a vehicle.'' No one knows what that means. 
But just to try to say to people in Minnesota, ``We only had a few 
weeks, and there was too busy a schedule; there were many important 
appropriation bills that we had to pass; there was no way to find the 
time,'' people would say, ``Aren't we a priority?'' They would say, 
``Paul, aren't we a priority?--$1.40 for a bushel of corn, $2.50, $2.60 
for a bushel of wheat. What about us? What about our children? What 
about our families? What about our communities?''
  So, again, move the caps on the market assisted loans and allow a 6-
month extension. You have to get the price up. It is price, price, 
price. There is no substitute for getting the price up. If we can 
debate this, I don't even want to have an acrimonious debate. Those who 
thought that the Freedom to Farm --which I always called the ``Freedom 
to Fail''--bill was an important piece of legislation, call it a 
modification, just a modification. We still have a loan rate. We just 
cap it at a very low level. Call it part of what we do by way of 
disaster relief, by way of emergency assistance, because this is an 
emergency. This is a disaster. The record low prices are a disaster. It 
is an emergency because people are not going to be able to continue to 
stay on their farms.
  What people are asking for in Minnesota, in my State, is not anything 
more than a fair shake. They are just saying give us an opportunity to 
have a decent price in the marketplace.
  Let me tell you, the grain companies will do just fine, but these 
family farmers will not. This ``Freedom to Fail'' bill has been a 
disaster in and of itself. We have to at least come back and have some 
kind of modification, some kind of safety net, some kind of way that 
farmers can get a better price. We also have to make sure that we get 
these indemnity payments out to people. People need the cash assistance 
so they can keep going.
  Mr. President, those are the two major provisions. There will be 
other provisions as well in an amendment we will bring to the floor, 
but I cannot see any way to postpone action on an agriculture farm 
crisis relief amendment any longer.
  We have been talking about this. Everybody is trying to figure out 
what are going to be the electoral connections, how is this going to 
fit into the elections, and so on and so forth. I will tell you, I 
think those of us from these States don't feel that way; we have to get 
something done. I do not think any proposal is credible unless you can 
get the price up. It all starts with getting the price up for family 
farmers.
  There is a whole lot going on in Washington right now, I guess. None 
of it should make anybody here, regardless of party, all that happy or 
all that pleased. But I can say without any exaggeration whatsoever, 
believe it or not, that in Fulda, MN, or Granite Falls, MN, or 
Crookston, MN, or in all sorts of communities in Minnesota where a lot 
of wonderful people who work so hard live, for them the focus is on 
being able to stay on their farm.
  The focus is whether or not the Senate and the House of 
Representatives are going to respond to their pain, whether or not we 
are going to provide them with some relief, whether or not we are going 
to do anything about this crisis. It cannot be done in Indiana or 
Minnesota at the State level. You cannot affect price at the State 
level. You could put together at the State level some different credit 
relief packages and all the rest, but you cannot affect the price. You 
have to remove the cap on the loan rate. You have to get the price up. 
You have to give these people a chance to get a decent price in the 
marketplace. You have to do that. First and foremost, you have to do 
that. We cannot wait any longer.
  So I don't know whether my words tonight are so much sort of talking 
about substantively what any number of us are going to bring out as an 
amendment--there are a lot of my colleagues in the Midwest I know who 
are going to be out here with this amendment led by Senator Daschle--or 
whether what I am trying to say is, look, I don't want to have people 
angry at me next week or the week afterwards, but I tell you, if we 
don't get an opportunity to put this amendment on a piece of 
legislation, then I am just going to come out here and talk for hours 
and hours and hours. I will just start talking about families, and I 
will start translating this into terms. I have done it before on the 
floor of the Senate.
  There is no issue I feel more strongly about. I don't really care how 
much is swirling around Washington, DC, and all the other stuff that 
people are going to be talking about, all of which I know has to be 
discussed and talked about, I guess, up to a point, although I think it 
ought to be proved. I think ultimately we are all going to have to make 
some decision about this, so we ought to wait and see what the facts 
are.
  But I tell you, right now, for me, this is the issue. This is the 
issue for a lot of people all across Minnesota. And I am not just 
saying it to give a speech. It is just true. They do not have any 
future for themselves and their families unless we take some action. We 
are going to have to do that. I feel stymied that we cannot do it on 
the bankruptcy bill. It seems that there is a very logical connection 
to record low farm prices and bankruptcy. But if not this bill, if not 
tonight, if not Friday, then next week we will bring this amendment to 
the floor and we will have a debate and we are going to pass a farm 
crisis relief amendment. And then we are going to get it through the 
House. And the House and the Senate are going to agree, and there is 
going to be credible, substantive farm crisis relief legislation that 
will make a difference.
  If we keep getting shut out and there is just no way to do it by way 
of bills, then I am just going to come out and filibuster.

[[Page S10196]]

  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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