[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 137 (Monday, October 5, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S11411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AG CRISIS IN AMERICA

  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I stand before you today with a heavy 
heart.
  Why? Because I am extremely disappointed and terribly frustrated that 
despite our best efforts, the Agriculture appropriations conference 
report has completely missed the mark in responding to the crisis in 
farm and ranch country.
  As I see it, we had four issues that were worthy of bipartisan 
support in this conference.
  Proposals that would have delivered immediate support to our 
producers suffering from unusually low prices and natural disasters.
  Disaster assistance is necessary; uncapping those market assistance 
loans is necessary; mandatory price reporting; and, improved meat 
labeling--all would have helped just a little but would still have 
helped tremendously in view of the depths of the situation.
  Perhaps we've come to a meeting of the minds on natural disaster 
assistance. And, we should. No one can argue that drought, disease, 
flooding, and now hurricanes have devastated crops across the board and 
across the country. But what brought us to this point in the first 
place; that is, the crisis facing rural America? Extraordinarily low 
prices, prices rivaling the disaster of the 1980s, with no end in 
sight. And what did our Republican ag conferees deliver? Thirteen cents 
a bushel for wheat.

  To be honest, it is an outrage, it is an insult, it is a slap in the 
face to every hard-working, struggling, desperate grain farmer. And the 
so-called ``relief'' is equally inadequate for every commodity.
  The agriculture conference committee looked at the options, including 
a package offered by Senators Daschle and Harkin that would have lifted 
loan caps and extended the term of the marketing loan. But they shot it 
through the heart.
  We should have laid aside our partisan politics and done what was 
right for folks back home--giving them relief enough to make it through 
the crisis so they don't lose their family farm this year. The Daschle-
Harkin plan to lift loan caps would give our producers roughly 60 cents 
a bushel--not 13 cents but 60 cents--a far cry from the pittance 
included in the conference report.
  I think we can do better. We must do better. In the 1980s we spent 
nearly $16 billion in just 1 year to get through that agriculture 
crisis. Now we are asking for half of that on a one-time, 1-year bases. 
Is that too much to ask? Too much to ask to help provide some relief?
  In Montana, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the 
Daschle-Harkin plan would provide Montana producers with $100 million 
more than the plan of 13 cents proposed by the other side. Every 
precious dollar counts to those in Montana's largest industry.
  What happened to the other parts of the package that passed the 
Senate--price reporting and mandatory imported meat labeling? We lost 
the fight to the House--an easy fight, a bipartisan fight. The result 
now is that we have a 6-month study on both price reporting and meat 
labeling--just a study.
  You tell me how I can tell folks back home that they have to wait for 
a report when they already know things aren't right in the market. They 
see it every day. I hear it every day in telephone calls I make to 
home. When I go home and talk to producers worried about holding onto 
the farm, or the ranch, or passing it on to their children, these 
people aren't complainers, they are hard workers who believe in the 
land and doing what is best for their community.
  If we do not help them, no one will. We don't need to study the 
problem more. Rather, we need to fix it. What will this conference 
report send home? It will send home rhetoric, not help them as they 
need help.
  Madam President, we still have time. The clock is ticking. But I say 
let's get to work. We have to work together on both sides of the aisle 
to help people in our country, people who are not Democrats, people who 
are not Republicans, people who are not Independents--people who are 
America's farmers.
  A decent cash influx for bad prices should be part of a bipartisan 
package; adequate disaster assistance and real price reporting and meat 
labeling. That is not asking much at all. That is what we should 
together agree to. Then together we can send a message from both sides 
of the aisle that we won't go home emptyhanded; that we are here to 
help our people; that this Congress did something right. It is simple. 
We should have sent this bill back to conference and crafted a package 
that would have really done something to halt this crisis. That is no 
longer an option.
  I encourage my colleagues to vote against the conference report which 
will be before us. If the report is not adopted, that is, the vote is 
not successful, then I say let's go back to work and do the right 
thing. On the other hand, if the vote on the conference report is 
successful, as it may well be, then I expect the President will veto 
it, as he should. Maybe then we can sit down and roll up our sleeves 
and figure out a way to adequately help our people.
  I thank the Chair. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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