[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 122 (Tuesday, September 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H7694-H7695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ASSISTING AMERICA'S FARMERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about a very 
important issue, not only for people in my district, but I think for 
people all over the United States.
  Yesterday morning I met with farmers in Kasson, Minnesota, and we 
talked about low commodity prices. For the benefit of Members who 
probably do not follow commodity prices and how they affect our farm 
economy and ultimately affect the entire economy, I would like to bring 
our colleagues up to speed.
  Yesterday I think the posted price in Kasson, Minnesota, for corn was 
$1.44 a bushel. To inform my colleagues, the cost of production on that 
corn is somewhere north of $2 per bushel.
  I know that some of our colleagues on the left are saying the problem 
is Freedom to Farm, that that was a huge mistake in the farm bill we 
passed several years ago, and that is the reason for that. It is 
curious, however, they were not complaining when the price of corn was 
in excess of $3 a bushel.
  The truth of the matter is, allowing farmers the decision about where 
and how they want to plant their crops and which crops to plant on 
which acres, the whole notion of allowing freedom to farmers I think is 
a good idea and an idea whose time had come.
  The problem is that we have lost over $5 billion worth of exports 
over the last year or year-and-a-half. That is $5 billion that has come 
right out of the pockets of farmers throughout the United States.
  But it has particularly affected the farmers in the upper Midwest 
where we are very dependent on export markets. Why has that happened? 
For a variety of reasons. One is the decline in the economy in Asia. 
That was a very large export source for us, particularly in the upper 
Midwest. But $5 billion has come right out of the pockets of farmers. 
Coincidentally, this administration has failed to use nearly $5 billion 
in export enhancements. At the very time we need to export more, the 
administration has done less in terms of encouraging more exports.
  What are we going to do about this? I think it is incumbent upon the 
Congress to respond, and to respond this fall. Obviously, because we 
have had relatively good farm incomes for the last couple of years, we 
are not in a crisis state yet, but we certainly will be, unless 
Congress takes some immediate and important actions and takes them yet 
this fall.

[[Page H7695]]

  First of all, I think we need to make certain that the United States 
has a seat at the bargaining table as it relates to trade talks.
  One of the most important things this Congress can do, and I hope we 
will do it next week, is to vote on Fast Track. As I talk to farmers 
around my district, and literally I have talked to thousands over the 
last month, one of the most important things they all tell me is that 
we need to pass Fast Track. Whether you are talking to the Corn Growers 
Association, the Soybean Growers Association, the Farm Bureau, 
virtually any farm group that you talk to put as one of their top 
priorities passing Fast Track so we can negotiate with our trading 
partners and get a bigger share of the world market out there.
  The next thing we have got to do is make certain we enforce the trade 
agreements that we currently have with our trading partners. It is no 
secret that many of our trading partners are not living up to the 
agreements they have signed with the United States, whether it is the 
heavy subsidies in Europe or our friends to the north in Canada.
  There is clear evidence, and now we finally have the administration 
filing a 301 petition in the World Trade Organization against Canada 
for some of the things they have been doing. They have not lived up to 
their agreements under the North American Free Trade Agreement as far 
as we are concerned, particularly on the issue of dairy. We see where 
they are continuing to try to keep American exports out of Canada. They 
are applying penalties to the United States and using some of that 
penalty so they can further subsidize their exports into other markets, 
further putting American producers behind the 8-ball. So we have to do 
more to enforce the trading agreements that we have.
  Another point that has come up in many of my discussions with farmers 
is we understand that we have got to do all we can as a Nation to help 
rebuild those economies, particularly in Asia. The issue of the IMF, 
the International Monetary Fund, has come up at many of the meetings I 
have been at. I think there is generally support for doing something to 
try to strengthen those economies, but there is a growing concern, and 
I share that concern, that much of the money we have given to the IMF 
has been wasted.

  In fact, I think Indonesia and Russia are good examples. When you 
look at the evidence of the billions and billions of American tax 
dollars that have been spent in those regions, we see very little 
evidence that it has made much difference. So I and some of my 
colleagues are talking to people here in Washington about rather than 
giving in to the administration's request for another $18 billion of 
American tax dollars going into the IMF, why do we not take at least 
half of that money and provide low interest loans to some of our 
trading partners so they can buy some of this surplus grain that we 
have here in the United States at low prices?
  We are like that car dealer or that carpet dealer that is 
overstocked, and we are having a sale of the century. We ought to move 
that grain and use that money so that our trading partners can buy that 
at low-interest loans.
  There are a number of things that we can do here in Washington in the 
next several weeks to improve the lot of farmers in Minnesota and 
around the country, and hopefully we can get that done.

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