[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 60 (Thursday, April 29, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S4422]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                AGRICULTURE SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS

  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I rise today to bring attention to a 
situation that grows more dim with each passing day. My colleagues and 
I came to the floor before the Easter recess and addressed this very 
issue.
  The Farm Service Agency has depleted many of its accounts, and quick 
passage of the supplemental appropriations bill is absolutely vital to 
replenish these funds and to get our farmers back into the fields.
  I was very pleased with USDA's emergency action on March 26 to keep 
loan money available and to keep temporary employees on staff. However, 
that funding has run out in many areas, and Congress has yet to 
complete action on the bill.
  The billions of dollars in agricultural credit authority contained in 
the bill is literally the only hope of staying on the farm for hundreds 
of Arkansas producers and many farm families.
  In Arkansas, we need an additional $41 million for FSA's loan 
programs. We are experiencing the largest USDA credit demand since the 
mid-1980s. As of April 23, our State FSA offices had delivered more 
than $179 million in credit assistance.

  Due to bad weather, low prices and poor outlooks, the need for 
Government-guaranteed credit has increased substantially this year. Our 
agricultural industry is on a deadline with Mother Nature, and it 
cannot wait any longer.
  The timeliness of this legislation cannot be overemphasized. For 
those of us in Southern States, our planting time has already come and 
is just about gone. We are in dire straits. All farmers across this 
Nation are in dire straits. It is so very important for us to act in 
this body in a timely fashion in recognizing this problem.
  In addition, I take this opportunity to express to my colleagues that 
agriculture is vitally important to all of us across this Nation and to 
the rest of this world. It seems that every time I turn on the 
television, there is another story applauding the unbelievable success 
of our Nation's economy.
  Unfortunately, not every segment of our society is sharing in this 
period of economic bliss. The agricultural community nationwide is 
suffering.
  USDA economic projections for 1999 do not offer much hope for relief 
in the immediate future, and it will fall upon our shoulders to explore 
the short-term, as well as the long-term, policy resolutions to farm 
revenue problems.
  It may not be the most popular issue of the day, but every one of us 
enjoys the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the 
world today produced by American agricultural growers.
  This safe and abundant food supply will not be there for this Nation 
or for the world if we do not support our family farmers at this 
critical time. Once those family farms are gone, they will no longer be 
back in production.
  I certainly thank the President for allowing me to talk about this 
and to reiterate to my colleagues how absolutely important it is.

                          ____________________