[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 130 (Thursday, November 16, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10980-S10981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       AGRICULTURE APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, at some point today following the debate 
with respect to the India security agreement, we will by unanimous 
consent have an opportunity to have the agriculture appropriations bill 
on the floor. My colleague Senator Conrad will offer an amendment to 
that bill which will amend a provision that I added to the bill in the 
Senate Appropriations Committee.
  My colleague Senator Burns and I added a farm disaster amendment. My 
colleague Senator Conrad has been working on an amendment that will 
expand that to include the 2007 disaster

[[Page S10981]]

legislation. Because we are going to have an agriculture appropriations 
bill on the floor today at some point, I thought it was interesting to 
call attention to a story that was in today's newspaper.
  Our family farmers--many of whom got hurt badly with the devastating 
droughts and some of whom have been hurt by floods and so on--as I said 
yesterday are the economic all-stars of this country. They get up in 
the morning and do chores. They take showers afterwards--not before. 
They risk everything they have, hoping their crops will grow. They 
produce foodstuff for a hungry world. They are the economic all-stars 
in this country.
  But let me point out that in this morning's newspaper the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture has said they are going to eliminate 
``hunger''--actually eliminate the word ``hungry.'' The U.S. Government 
has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again, but they may 
experience ``very low food security.'' The U.S. Department of 
Agriculture has decided they are not going to use the term ``hungry'' 
as they define that number of people in this country who do not have 
enough to eat and are hungry.
  There is something called ``an ache in your belly.'' There are hunger 
pangs for people who do not have enough to eat. Apparently that is not 
going to be called ``hunger'' anymore. Those folks who can't find 
anything to eat and are suffering the pangs of hunger and the ravage to 
their body because of not having food are going to be called people 
with ``very low food security.''
  If you don't have anything to eat, that is a ``very low food 
security,'' but it doesn't describe in English what is happening. In 
English, these are people who are hungry.
  I don't understand sometimes the bureaucracy. I was here years ago 
when ketchup was described as a vegetable, a part of a daily meal. Of 
course, that was never very right. It is not a vegetable. Now they are 
going to eliminate ``hunger.''
  Throughout the years I have been here, I have served on the hunger 
committee when I was in the U.S. House, and I toured much of the 
world--going to refugee camps, been around parts of this country. I 
have seen hunger. I have seen devastating hunger.
  I would desire to eliminate hunger, if we can. Our farmers are part 
of being able to do that at some point with the prodigious quantities 
of good food which they produce. We are not going to eliminate hunger 
by taking ``hunger'' out of the lexicon of the Department and replacing 
it with ``very low food security.'' I think it is not about the 
terminology; it is about the will. Do we have the will to decide in a 
country such as ours to address the issue of hunger and make sure they 
have enough to eat.
  We have programs in this country such as food stamps and the WIC 
Program and other programs to try to address some of these issues. Now 
apparently we have some folks in the bureaucracy who will address it by 
changing the words to ``very low food security.''
  Remember that when we later today talk about family farmers and the 
plight many of them have. They are the ones planting the seed and 
growing the crops--or at least trying to do that, except during the 
years where there is a disaster when they have serious problems.
  We have a hungry world. The fact is in this world we circle the Sun. 
Our little planet has 6.3 billion neighbors. Half of them have never 
made a telephone call and live on less than $2 a day. There is plenty 
of hunger in this country and the world. Eliminating the word 
``hunger'' from the lexicon of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is 
not addressing the issue of hunger.
  I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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