[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 75 (Thursday, June 15, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5267-S5268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. JOHNSON (for himself, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Dorgan, 
        Mr. Roberts, Mr. Levin, Mr. Kerrey, Mr. Grassley, and Mr. 
        Craig):
  S. 2741. A bill to amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 to 
extend the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to provide grants 
for State mediation programs dealing with agricultural issues, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry.


               mediation program legislation introduction

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr President, I rise on the floor of the Senate today to 
introduce bipartisan legislation to extend a popular program which 
provides mediation services between agricultural producers and the 
various credit and United States Department of Agriculture agencies who 
family farmers and ranchers work with to maintain their operations.
  During the 1980's farm crisis, Congress authorized federal 
participation in a state farm mediation program. Originally authorized 
in the Agriculture Credit Act of 1987, mediation programs help 
agricultural producers and their creditors to resolve credit disputes 
(and other types of disputes) in a confidential and non-adversarial 
setting which is outside the traditional process of litigation, 
appeals, bankruptcy, and foreclosure.
  The mediators are neutral facilitators and they do not make decisions 
for the disputing parties.
  Federal legislation has encouraged state involvement by providing 
matching grant funds to the states that participate in the mediation 
program. Currently, 24 states participate, including Alabama, Arkansas, 
Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, 
Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, 
Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and 
Wyoming.
  Beyond the scope of agricultural credit-related mediation, the 
program aims to resolve disputes such as wetland determinations, 
grazing issues, and USDA program compliance, and other issues the 
Secretary of Agriculture deems appropriate.
  Each year, Congress seeks to provide funding for the mediation 
program through the Agriculture Appropriations process. This year $3 
million has been appropriated for this program in both the House and 
Senate Agriculture Appropriation bills. This legislation will not 
change the fact that Congress must go through the Appropriations 
process each year to secure funding for this program.
  The legislation my colleagues and I are introducing today 
reauthorizes the mediation program by eliminating the sunset clause 
(set to expire in FY 2000), clarifies that funds appropriated by 
Congress to the mediation program must be used for farm credit cases 
(including USDA direct and guaranteed loans and loans from commercial 
entities) and may be used for other USDA program disputes, and 
clarifies that mediation services can include counseling services to 
prepare parties to a dispute prior to mediation.
  In a time when family farmers and ranchers continue to deal with low 
prices and suffer under more and more vertical integration, I believe 
we must begin to reflect on what we can do to maintain the independent 
family farms and ranches that our country depends on for our food 
supply. We live in a day and age where nearly every farm and ranch 
operation must secure credit in order to pay production expenditures 
necessary to stay in business. This mediation program is supported by 
both

[[Page S5268]]

sides of the aisle and allows farmers and ranchers to settle their 
credit and farm program disputes in a fair way without digging 
themselves into legal debt.
  I have worked with the lone Congressman from my home state of South 
Dakota in drafting this legislation and the same bill will be 
introduced in the House of Representatives today as well.
  I urge my colleagues of the Senate to join me in supporting this bi-
partisan legislation with the goal of moving it through the legislative 
process quickly in order to continue to provide these services to our 
American farmers and ranchers.
                                 ______