[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 145 (Tuesday, October 13, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10811-H10812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 UNFINISHED BUSINESS REGARDING AGRICULTURE AND EDUCATION MUST BE DEALT 
                                  WITH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, before the 105th Congress adjourns, we 
must be certain we conclude all of the unfinished business before this 
Congress, especially in the area of agriculture and in education.
  Looking at agriculture, it is a travesty that the appropriations 
process has zeroed out the $60 million for funds for rural America 
which provides important capital for rural economic development. This 
funding should be reinstated. It is important to recognize that the 
long-term economic health of rural America depends on a broad and 
diverse economic base which requires investment in agriculture, rural 
businesses, infrastructure, housing stock and community facilities.
  The availability of credit is a crucial factor in the success or 
failure of all small farmers, especially family farmers; both and large 
and small, I must say, also suffer from the failure of having 
availability of credit.
  In the 1996 farm bill, those persons who, for whatever reason, had to 
renegotiate their credit, whether one time or two times, were denied 
the opportunity to get another direct loan or another guaranteed loan. 
That was regardless of whether it was from disaster or whether it was 
from having to refinance a loan because they had an overpriced or poor 
crop, and also if it was because they had civil rights actions, they 
are being denied, even after the government discriminated against them 
and found they did. The 1996 farm bill says that regardless of whatever 
the cause, that farmer cannot get a farm loan.
  Now, the USDA farm program was to be the lender of last resort, and 
producers who have depended on that commitment from the United States 
Department of Agriculture now find they can neither have a guaranteed 
loan nor a direct loan.
  There is still an opportunity, I understand, before we adjourn to 
adopt the Senate language which will allow that debt forgiveness and to 
exclude the opportunity for consolidation or rescheduling or 
reamortization or referrals of the loan as being bars or barriers from 
them getting a second loan. We hope the negotiators will take that 
opportunity.
  In addition in the 105th Congress also the appropriators have 
language in there that will allow for the statute of limitations not to 
be a barrier to the black farmers who have had complaints against the 
United States Department of Agriculture, even after the department has 
acknowledged that they indeed did discriminate.
  Now, turning to education, I am from a rural area, and I would want 
to tell the last speaker that I find that the President's bill calling 
for 100,000 teachers and reducing the size of classrooms would be 
beneficial to North Carolina and to my district where I come from. We 
come from a district that is looking for the opportunity of expanding 
and recruiting more teachers, and it would certainly be beneficial to 
reduce the class size, because even in North Carolina, we have found 
when you reduce the class size, students do better. They achieve 
better. There indeed is equal opportunity of showing that teachers 
teach better when they have smaller classes.
  As far as the construction loans, my state recently passed bond 
construction for new schools so the monies that would come from the 
Federal Government would be a supplement. It would certainly go a long 
ways toward enhancing the opportunity to make sure we remove the 
dilapidated buildings and schools.

[[Page H10812]]

  Again, studies have shown that students, I would say rural students, 
minority students and disadvantaged students, certainly learn better 
when they have more teachers, more time, and they certainly learn 
better as other students learn well when they have a good environment.
  Mr. Speaker, the education bill being proposed by the President is 
not only good for urban areas and suburban areas, but also very good 
for rural areas. Rural North Carolina and the children in North 
Carolina would benefit from that.

                          ____________________