[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 137 (Monday, October 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1902]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4101, AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND DRUG 
     ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999

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                               speech of

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 2, 1998

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member rises to express his concerns 
about the inadequacy of the emergency farm relief package in the 
conference report for H.R. 4101. This Member would like to begin by 
expressing his appreciation to the distinguished gentleman from New 
Mexico (Mr. Skeen) and the distinguished gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. 
Kaptur) for their diligent work in crafting this legislation.
  Although this legislation includes important emergency aid provisions 
for farmers, this Member believes that it is inadequate to address the 
enormous needs of agricultural producers who are reeling from depressed 
commodity prices across the board. Most of the assistance available 
under this agriculture relief package is targeted toward farmers who 
have suffered natural disaster and multi-year losses. As a result, it 
will offer little help to farmers in most agricultural states, such as 
Nebraska, who are harvesting good crops but encountering drastically 
lower prices.
  Unfortunately, this Member does not believe that the $1.65 billion in 
the package for market loss assistance is adequate to compensate 
producers. Since it represents a 29 percent increase over the AMTA 
payment received by producers in FY98, it is a good first step. 
However, the 1996 Farm Act was based on the premise of expanding 
international markets for the commodities produced by our nation's 
farmers. This clearly has not happened. Certainly, one of the root 
causes of the current low commodity prices is the recent economic down-
turn. Nobody could predict the Asian financial crisis or the contagion 
effect which is still being felt. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's 
foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is now forecasting that FY98 exports 
will be $2.3 billion lower than FY97 sales and $4.8 billion below the 
FY96 record of $59.8 billion.
  Also, because of the strength of our national economy relative to 
most other countries, the value of our currency relative to others now 
makes our exports less price-competitive in Asian markets than our 
competitor exporters like Canada, Australia, Brazil, or the nations of 
the European Union. Thus, there is not only a dramatically reduced 
agricultural export market in Asia, we are also getting a reduced 
portion of the remaining Asian import business.
  This Member continues to support the flexibility offered by the 1996 
Agriculture Market Transition Act and does not want to see a return to 
the policies of the past. Farmers certainly appreciate the freedom to 
plant what they want and for the most part do not want to encounter 
unnecessary restrictions and bureaucracy. However, proposed changes, 
such as removing the loan rate caps would likely cause intermediate and 
long-term problems. A recent study prepared by the Food and 
Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri 
and Iowa State University concluded that such a change would lead to 
larger supplies and lower prices in the future.
  This Member supports the Pomeroy motion to recommit with instructions 
which proposed that the conferees should ``increase the assistance 
available to family farmers suffering economic loss as a result of 
record low prices, deteriorating market conditions and/or natural 
disasters.''
  In addition, this Member is supportive of recent actions which are 
designed to assist farmers during these difficult times. For example, 
this Member was supportive of the legislation which makes $5.5 billion 
in current FY99 Farm Act payments to farmers available at an earlier 
date on October 1, 1998. This action will significantly expedite these 
much needed payments.
  More must be done for our nation's farmers and this Member believes 
it almost certainly now will be necessary to approve an emergency 
supplemental appropriation to assist farmers early next year, because 
the emergency assistance to farmers is not sufficient given the wholly 
unexpected export conditions in Asia and world markets and very low 
commodity prices they face.

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