[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 91 (Thursday, June 24, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S7573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       AGRICULTURE APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, there is no community in America that 
is suffering more difficulty today than rural America in agribusiness. 
My State is a very large agriculture-based State, and ever since I have 
been in the Senate, we have been struggling with drought, flood, low 
commodity prices--you name it. It has been very unsettling to families 
that have been in agribusiness for over a hundred years, that are 
facing very difficult personal decisions about their ability to stay in 
business.
  Now, to be candid, by now we should have passed S. 1233, a $60.7 
billion budget authority for agriculture, rural development, and 
nutrition programs. The bill contains provisions for food stamps, child 
nutrition, payments to the Federal Crop Insurance Program, Commodity 
Credit Corporation, and discretionary spending for agricultural 
purposes. It is the people's business because agriculture is the 
cornerstone of our national security, our quality of life, and our 
economy. In our State, agriculture is one-third of the economy, and 
across the Nation it approaches 30 percent.
  We are stalled for political purposes. We ought to be doing the 
Nation's business. We ought to be proceeding with this agriculture 
bill. This is not the time to have a debate between two very different 
views about how to deal with the Patients' Bill of Rights. I am stunned 
that those on the other side of the aisle would choose agriculture--
which, as I said, is so terribly stressed--and use that as a vehicle to 
try to create a political debate in the Senate. I have letters from our 
school of agriculture, I have documentation of the massive losses that 
have occurred in agriculture in our State, and we look to this 
legislation to be a part of the relief, a part of stabilizing 
agriculture in our State.
  Last year alone, we lost $700 million in agriculture interests in the 
State of Georgia. I will tell you what this reminds me of. It is an 
uncaring kind of way of dealing with this legislation. It reminds me of 
the way the administration handled disaster relief. In the omnibus bill 
of 1998, we gave the Department of Agriculture $3 billion for disaster 
payments, and October went by, and November went by, December, January, 
February, March, April, May, and June; and finally, 9 months later, we 
got disaster payments into the hands of people who have long since 
passed financing requirements and planning decisions and the like. And 
here we are once again trying to deal with this critical bill, and we 
have basically a political filibuster underway that can do nothing but 
add to more anxiety and worry in this very important economic sector of 
our country dealing with thousands upon thousands of families every 
day.
  We ought to be on with the business of getting this agricultural 
appropriations bill handled. We will find the right time to handle 
these other issues. But right now, it is time for the people's 
business, and it happens to be a group of people who are in deep 
trouble in America.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, 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.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. 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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