[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 34 (Thursday, March 21, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S2262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROBERTS (for himself, Mr. Craig, and Mr. Burns):
  S. 2040. A bill to provide emergency agricultural assistance to 
producers of the 2002 crop; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 
and Forestry.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce an agricultural 
supplemental assistance package for the 2002 crops. I had hoped we 
would not be in this position today. Unfortunately, due to delays in 
completing the farm bill conference report prior to the Easter recess, 
I believe it is necessary to introduce this legislation.
  I want to make it very clear that in introducing this legislation, it 
does not mean the farm bill is dead. It may need CPR, but it certainly 
is not dead. Quite the contrary. The staff of conferees have been 
instructed by the distinguished leadership of both parties of the House 
and Senate to continue to work over the recess period in the hope that 
a bill can be completed shortly after the Easter recess. Having been 
involved in numerous farm bills, I know these conferences can often 
become quite contentious and bogged down.
  Furthermore, it is not going to be easy to implement this bill, not 
to mention the wisdom of simply trying to push through a bill so we can 
just say it applies to 2002 crops. That may be easy to do this year, 
but it may be difficult to live under the problems we could create for 
the next 5 or 6 years.
  Has anyone really stopped to consider this?
  In addition, we already have many farmers in the South who have begun 
their spring planting, and producers all throughout the Nation will 
begin to pull their drills through the fields in the coming weeks. Many 
of these producers and their bankers are desperately trying to run 
cashflow charts and figure out exactly what they will be dealing with 
for this current crop as they work to determine their operating loans. 
They are scratching their heads.
  The biggest uncertainty they face is the level and form of 
agricultural assistance for this crop-year. Will it be through a new 
farm bill, if we can get through a new farm bill--and I certainly hope 
we can and people are working in good faith to get that accomplished--
but will it be through a new farm bill in place for the 2002 crops, or 
will it be through a supplemental assistance package for 2002 while the 
new bill would go into effect for the 2003 crops?
  My point in introducing this legislation is to send a clear message 
to producers and their bankers, and that message is this: We are going 
to do everything in our power in Congress to get a farm bill completed 
and out the door, but we should also make sure it is a good bill, and 
doing a good bill does take time. If additional time is needed to 
complete the bill past the time when it can apply to this year's crops, 
we are then ready to come in with a supplemental assistance package.
  This is an important line in the sand that our producers and our 
lenders can use to gauge cashflow projections as they work on operating 
loans for this crop-year. It is an important and necessary signal as we 
move toward a planting season that will soon be in full swing in many 
parts of the country.
  Unlike the 1,400-page farm bill we passed in the Senate, there are no 
surprises in this supplemental legislation. The bill is very similar to 
the assistance packages we have provided to our producers in recent 
years, and it adheres to the budget allocations that were provided for 
agriculture in last year's budget resolution.
  I have a list of levels of assistance that will be provided to 
farmers and ranchers. The levels of assistance are as follows:
  $5.047 billion for a Market Loss Assistance, MLA, payment equal to 
the 2000 AMTA payment received by our producers. On a crop-by-crop 
basis, this is: wheat, 58.8 cents a bushel; corn, 33.4 cents a bushel; 
sorghum, 40 cents a bushel; barley, 25.1 cents a bushel; cotton, 7.33 
cents a pound; rice, $2.60 per cwt; oats, 2.8 cents a bushel.
  All of these figures are above the level of MLAs we provided last 
year.
  The bill also includes: $466 million for oilseed payments; $55.21 
million for payments to peanut producers; $93 million for recourse 
loans to honey producers; $186 million for specialty crop commodity 
purchases, with at least $55 million used for school lunch program 
purchases; $16.94 million for payments to wool and mohair producers; 
$93 million for cottonseed assistance; LDP eligibility for crops 
produced on non-AMTA acreage; LDP graze-out for wheat, barley, and oats 
for the 2002 crop; extension of the dairy price support program through 
December 31, 2002; $20 million for payment to producers of pulse crops; 
$100 million for tobacco assistance; $44 million for Conservation 
Reserve Program Technical Assistance; $200 million for the Wetlands 
Reserve Program; $300 million in additional funds for the Environmental 
Quality Incentives Program, EQIP; $161 million for the Farmland 
Protection Program; and $500 million for the livestock feed assistance 
program, LAP, to provide assistance to producers for losses suffered in 
2001 and 2002.
  I will be happy to talk this proposal over with my colleagues, and I 
seek bipartisan cosponsors in this effort. These market loss assistance 
levels are above the levels provided to program crops last year and 
they are similar to the AMTA payment levels we provided in 2000.
  In closing, while this package does not represent a new farm bill, it 
does send a strong signal to producers and their bankers that even if a 
farm bill cannot be completed in time to apply to the 2002 year crop, 
we do intend to hold them whole or have a hold harmless bill at a level 
of Market Loss Assistance that is somewhat higher than occurred last 
year.
  Many of us are hearing from producers and lenders for guidance on 
what to plan for in terms of assistance this year. This bill makes 
clear we stand ready to again support our producers if we cannot 
complete the new bill in time for 2002 crops, which I hope we can do. I 
urge support for this legislation.
                                 ______