[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 161 (Tuesday, October 23, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H11919-H11925]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1945
                  DROUGHT CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTHEAST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Mitchell). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 18, 2007, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Etheridge) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority 
leader.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to begin this hour to put 
a great spotlight on what is occurring in the southeastern region of 
the United States.
  You know, when you look at the statistics and you look at the 
effects, there is only one word that can describe the drought that has 
gripped the southeastern United States, and that is ``tragic.''
  If you look at this map to my right, you see that the Southeast is 
this large red area. And you also have some of the same effects in some 
parts of the west coast, and we've seen the effects of what's happening 
there with the terrible fires that are now taking place out in 
California.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a disaster, not like a tornado or a hurricane or 
even any major catastrophic event. When you have a big storm or you 
have an earthquake, it's over, you come in and put things back 
together, you're able to start sorting people's lives out. But a 
drought of the magnitude of the one that is now gripping the Southeast 
is sort of a continual process. It started well over a year ago. We had 
a dry winter, we had a dry fall, last year a dry winter, this past 
year, and now this year. And I will talk about it more as the evening 
goes on.
  We have places in my home State and in other places of the Southeast 
where we are 20 inches of rain below normal. And I will talk about that 
and will have more to say about it as the evening goes on. But this 
impact adds up over time. It impacts every person in the Southeast. It 
impacts animals, it impacts vegetation, and it certainly has an impact 
on the land.
  This drought, frankly, is the worst one that people who are now 
living can remember. And in some places in my State, people who are 
approaching 100 years of age say they have never seen anything this 
bad. We know that this entire region has had, in some places, 10 inches 
less rain, others plus-20. And I was on the phone just today with one 
of our small towns working with the Governor's office. They will be out 
of water in 60 days. We are struggling to get water lines to them just 
to help them out.
  But tonight I'm going to talk about a broader issue of it is 
impacting the people who live on the land, who provide our food and 
fiber in this country. This area has been the hardest hit. And it's a 
broad area, as you can see here. It's in the State of Arkansas, 
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Tennessee, Virginia, and even parts of Maryland.
  In North Carolina, Governor Easley has issued a state-wide ban on 
burning, and he has asked citizens to halt all nonessential water use. 
Just this week he took another step, and he asked our citizens to 
reduce their water use by 50 percent by Halloween. And this drought has 
affected our farmers to an extent so great that it is now affecting 
rural communities across North Carolina. And I'm sure, as my colleagues 
come this evening, they will share with you what's happening in their 
State across the Southeast.
  I don't know if my colleagues can see here, but certainly North 
Carolina is predominantly red because now, and I will talk about it in 
a few minutes, almost every county, almost all 100 counties are in 
what's called the ``extreme drought,'' and I will talk about that; but 
my congressional district falls 100 percent in the extreme drought 
area.
  And it does have an effect on rural communities, but it also affects 
suburban and urban communities. Plants are having their production 
levels cut to save water. Several communities have only a few months of 
water supply remaining. And I just talked about one that has no more 
than 60 days. It has now cut production in one of the plants that 
employs roughly 2,000 people; it has cut their production back to 3 and 
4 days. They're hauling water in water tankers just to keep operating. 
I know that this is the case in several of these other States as well, 
and I look forward to hearing from my colleagues.
  What we really need is a good rain. Members of Congress think they 
can do a lot of things, but they can't do a whole lot about rain. We 
can talk about it, we can pray for it, we can wish we were able to get 
it; but the truth is we can't do anything about it. And when we can't 
do that, what we can do is help in ways we can help.
  In my district, the Second District of North Carolina, as I've said, 
the entire district is virtually in the exceptional drought area. That 
is the most serious category of drought you can have. Farmers have had 
to struggle all year in this very difficult situation.
  The crisis that this drought is is underlined by the two critical 
variables that seem to be working against us. First is the self-
sustaining cycle that a drought of this magnitude can trigger. For this 
region to recover any time soon, we will need at least an additional 
foot of precipitation. We're not likely to get that. This late in the

[[Page H11920]]

year, we normally get the ocean tropical storms out of the Caribbean. 
There was a time when we worried about hurricanes. We have people in 
North Carolina now saying we wish we could get one because they would 
get rain.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm working in Congress to provide some relief. The 
House Agriculture Committee is holding a hearing on Thursday to help 
shine the spotlight on this growing disaster, and it really is a 
disaster of large proportion.
  I wrote a letter to the President asking for assistance. This letter 
was signed by 54 of my colleagues, both Democrat and Republican. I 
assume it takes a long time for a letter to get to Pennsylvania Avenue. 
I haven't heard anything from him. I assume that Pony Express will show 
up one day, maybe it went with Turtle Express, but I do hope to hear. 
We have asked that some money be included in the supplemental that the 
President requests. And I understand he sent a supplemental down, but 
there was no request in it. I hope he will reconsider because these 
farm families may not be able to make it another year.
  They pay taxes when they have money. They're God-fearing people. They 
help in their communities. And they deserve, when they have tough 
times, for their government to help them because they've helped others 
when they've had tough times.
  Farmers are some of the most resourceful, ingenious, productive 
people around; but there is not much you can do to grow crops or raise 
livestock or produce poultry and pork without some of the essential 
things you need, and rain is one of those things. And you need feed.
  Mr. Speaker, this is why we're here tonight, and this is why we all 
work together. And we're going to work to create an awareness to this 
problem. And we're going to put a fire under our colleagues, if 
necessary, and we're going to do the same at the White House if it 
takes that because our farmers and rural communities desperately need 
assistance. It is my hope that we can pass a relief package and that 
the President will sign it into law.

  These are good Americans. They don't live someplace around the world; 
they live here in the United States of America. As I said earlier, 
they're tax-paying citizens when they have money.
  Now, let me yield to my good friend from North Carolina, Mike 
McIntyre, who also understands this problem. His district is caught in 
the red area also. So I yield to him for whatever time he may consume.
  Mr. McINTYRE. Thank you, Mr. Etheridge. And I want to thank my 
colleague, Bob Etheridge, for requesting this time tonight. Indeed, we 
all stand together, knowing that the severe drought which is gripping 
the southeastern United States has already destroyed millions of acres 
of valuable crops, Mr. Speaker, not only in our home State of North 
Carolina, but throughout the southeastern U.S. And, unfortunately, the 
situation is only going to get worse.
  Today, North Carolina experienced yet another day of dry weather. 
Months upon months of hot temperatures, scorching sun back since early 
this summer, and little to no rain since then have brought about dead 
and dying crops, soybeans, corn, hay, cotton and nursery crops, in 
particular. During my travels around southeastern North Carolina, both 
the summer and this fall, I met with many farmers about this issue. 
Back in August, during our recess, I met with farmers then who feared 
the worse, and now here we are months later and unfortunately their 
nightmares are coming true. If we had not experienced significant 
rainfall by the Labor Day weekend, we were going to have even worse 
problems and, indeed, we have. Where lush green fields of corn once 
stood, ragged brown stalks, beat down by the sun, now dot our rural 
landscape; constant reminders of how devastating this drought is 
proving to be.
  During August, I met with and talked with farmers from several 
counties. I asked North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, on behalf of our 
area's farmers, to request a disaster declaration as severe drought 
conditions existed in most areas, and I know my colleagues have done 
the same.
  I also wrote then-Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and the 
President to request their assistance. And subsequently, upon the 
return to Washington after the August recess, I then also asked the 
leadership of both parties here in the House to help us to help those 
in need because, indeed, this is not an issue about political parties. 
This is an issue of economic survival, and ultimately, it's going to 
affect everybody.
  You know, Mr. Speaker, and to my friend, Congressman Etheridge, and 
those others who are joining us here tonight that you will hear from 
shortly, this is something that affects everybody's pocketbook. We all 
depend on food and fiber for our very survival. And this is an issue 
that is now going to affect all of us here in our neighborhoods back 
home, in our communities, indeed, across our State of North Carolina 
and throughout the Southeast, and ultimately across this Nation.
  According to USDA loss estimates, 85 of our State's 100 counties have 
reported excessive agriculture losses due to drought for at least one 
significant crop. And major losses have been reported already on corn, 
cotton, tobacco, soybeans, pastures, hay and peanuts. And those numbers 
continue to rise, Mr. Speaker, as farmers harvest what's left of their 
crops.
  I also joined my friend, Congressman Etheridge, in signing a letter 
to the President as well when we returned from our recess.
  Now, for many families in our district, farming is their sole source 
of income, and any significant loss of yields is financially 
devastating. As we all have been hearing from our farmers, they may not 
even be able to make it until next year, and many may be forced to sell 
the land they have just to pay their bills. And even if North Carolina 
were to see some significant rainfall, most crops are already too far 
gone for it to make a difference at this point.
  What these folks need now is disaster assistance to help them pay 
their bills, to make sure that they can remain on their farms and get 
ready to plant again in the spring. It is also important for all of us, 
as communities and as citizens, to realize that this is going to affect 
all of us beyond the farms into our very homes. And now people are 
realizing that with preventative measures they're having to do to avoid 
wasting water.
  It's imperative that we support our farmers during this dire time so 
that we may ensure a safe and abundant food supply for which we, in 
America, are known and which is important to all American citizens. We 
need help, and we need it now.
  And let me just say that this drought reaches, indeed, beyond the 
farm to citizens throughout regions now across the country. 
Restrictions on watering lawns and washing cars have now turned into 
calls to even reduce shower times. And public schools and some places 
now have started to switch to paper plates to conserve water.
  Our Governor now has called on even greater restrictions in North 
Carolina. And there are great concerns that we not only need rain to 
help the farmers, but this drought has affected every citizen, and our 
supply of water for all needs, in industry, in home, in schools, and 
throughout all sectors of society.
  We must all begin to think about long-term strategies to conserve 
water and protect the vital water supplies of countless communities 
through, not only North Carolina, but, indeed, the rest of the 
southeastern U.S. With meteorologists now calling for continued warm, 
dry weather, the urgency of addressing this worsening drought continues 
to rise, and the need for financial assistance is greater than ever.
  The time is now to act. I thank my colleague for helping us bring 
attention to this tonight in this time we have. And I know several 
colleagues from not only throughout North Carolina, but across the 
South, are going to be speaking tonight on the floor. We must act. We 
must stand in one voice. We must stand across party lines. And we must 
give the assistance that is needed now.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. I thank the gentleman.
  I have just changed the map here for my good friend, Mr. Spratt from 
South Carolina, to give a little bit better view of the South Carolina 
area that his district falls in. And it reaches, of course, into North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, as I said earlier, Tennessee, 
Kentucky, all the way down to Alabama.

[[Page H11921]]

  As my colleague, Mr. McIntyre, said, and I think my friend from South 
Carolina will confirm, you know, these are the things, it sort of 
starts to weigh on you as the drought gets worse and worse. You know, 
not being able to water our lawn, wash your car, take a long shower is 
an inconvenience; but if you're a farmer and you don't have the water 
for your crops, it's catastrophic. Because you not only have an 
opportunity to lose your livelihood; you could lose your means of 
future livelihood if you ultimately lose your land and the equipment 
that you till it with.
  So I would yield such time as he may consume to my good friend from 
South Carolina, the gentleman, Mr. Spratt.

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding and 
thank all of you for participating in this Special Order tonight. You 
know, we tend to think of ourselves as urbanized, even in the Southeast 
these days. But in South Carolina, my State, and even more so in North 
Carolina, agriculture is critically important as part of our total 
economy. In South Carolina, 46,000 full- and part-time jobs are 
supported by agriculture. That is 22 percent of all the jobs in our 
State; $15.1 billion in income is attributable to agriculture, 17 
percent of the State's total income.
  I could go on to show that even now in the 21st century, we in the 
Carolinas and throughout the Southeast still have a lot of agriculture, 
and we are critically dependent upon it. Our farmers and our people 
throughout the Southeast are faced with just about the worst drought I 
have seen in I don't know when. And it keeps getting worse and worse. I 
went to Marlboro County, probably one of the most agricultural counties 
in the 14 counties I represent. I couldn't believe what I saw. And it 
hasn't gotten any better since then. Soybeans that never develop. There 
is no pod. Cotton that is barely worth getting out of the fields. Hay, 
peanuts, pastures, you name it, they are all suffering. It is basically 
at the level of being catastrophic unless we can help and help soon. In 
Marlboro, back in September, the threshold for the Department of 
Agriculture in declaring a crop or an area a disaster area is 33 
percent crop loss. Marlboro County in September, 2 months ago 
virtually, at least 6 weeks ago, had 67 percent of its crop already 
damaged. It is worse by now I am sure. I represent 14 counties, small-
town counties, proud counties, but still dependent on agriculture, and 
13 of those 14 counties were included recently in a disaster 
declaration from the Secretary of Agriculture. That is how widespread 
the disaster situation is.
  Our Commission of Agriculture estimates that in South Carolina alone, 
the losses are going to equal $500 to $600 million. Now, most people 
don't know it, but most farmers today, responsible farmers, carry crop 
insurance underwritten and subsidized by the Federal Government. But it 
is not enough to cover their losses. It is partial recovery, but it is 
not nearly enough. The existing law requires, allows disaster relief 
and other forms of relief to farmers who have suffered from natural 
disasters, provided that they planted their crops or harvested their 
crops before February 28, 2007. Unfortunately, that applies to very few 
of our farmers in the crops that they plant. Consequently, they have 
next to no coverage, next to no protection from disaster relief that 
some farmers in other parts of the country would enjoy.
  Basically what we would like simply to see happen is for our farmers 
to be cut into the same program of relief that other farmers are 
enjoying by virtue of existing agriculture law. That is what we are 
asking for. And there's several different ways to do it. Supplementals 
will be coming through here with capital improvements in various parts 
of the world, Iraq, Afghanistan; we could afford something in those 
bills for our own farmers. The farm bill itself will be coming back 
here in conference report. Maybe there is some way we can adjust it to 
provide for us. The Agriculture appropriations bill has not yet been 
passed. There are lots of opportunities.
  We are here tonight to say we need the help of everyone, beginning 
with the administration. The Bush administration could initiate this 
process by requesting in the next supplemental some sort of assistance 
for these farmers, as was done and should have been done for the 
farmers suffering from wild fire on the west coast and, by golly, that 
will be a big first step and help us finish the process, carry the ball 
across the goal line here in Congress.
  We are here tonight from all over the Southeast to bring the same 
message to the Congress, to the country and to the Bush administration. 
We are hurting, hurting bad. And if we don't get some sort of relief, 
it is going to be devastating for our farmers.
  Thank you very much for the time you have yielded.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. I thank the gentleman, and he is absolutely correct. 
Let me share some numbers, and I think the same could be said for South 
Carolina as in North Carolina. This is from the National Government, 
and this map here was actually from the U.S. Department of Drought 
Monitoring and it is dated October 16. It is worse today than it was on 
the 16th because we have had no rain.
  Let me just share some numbers, and it will be the same that is true 
in South Carolina, Georgia and all these regions that we see in red. 
For instance, as a State as a whole in North Carolina, just talking 
about topsoil moisture, 73 percent short, very short, 21 percent short. 
Translated, what that really means Statewide is you can't plant grain 
for the fall. The ground is so dry it will not germinate. In the 
mountains, 81 percent, very short, 16 short. In the piedmont, 87 
percent short, 13 percent very, and even in the coastal plains 53, 34. 
From the mountains to the coast in North Carolina. South Carolina 
probably faces some of the same challenges in terms, and if you look at 
the crop conditions, and this was over a month ago, cotton, very poor 
and poor to fair, 80-some percent; pastures, 99 percent either fair, 
poor or very poor. I share that on pastures because there are a lot of 
cattle in South Carolina as there are in North Carolina. The price of 
cattle at the auction market has dropped $15 a pound since early 
summer. Now farmers are being forced to sell because of no hay, no 
grazing for the winter, and guess what is happening? They are getting 
hit twice. They are buying hay to feed the cattle that they have left, 
and the ones they are selling they get less money.
  Now, the people in the Midwest faced this several years ago. This is 
something we haven't faced before. I will go through the others later. 
But at this time, my colleague from eastern North Carolina, where he is 
facing some of the same drought areas, one of the heaviest agricultural 
areas in North Carolina, my good friend, G.K. Butterfield, I yield to 
you such time as you may consume.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. I want to thank my friend, Congressman Etheridge, 
for yielding me this time. This is a very important issue for North 
Carolina, and I want to thank him for allowing me to come to this floor 
tonight to add my comments to this subject. Also I want to thank my 
good friend Mike McIntyre. He spoke just a few minutes ago. Mike and 
Congressman Etheridge both are dynamic leaders of the Agriculture 
Committee. They both serve as chairmen of subcommittees on the 
Committee on Agriculture, and they are leading the way. I want to thank 
them publicly for their extraordinary leadership.
  But, Mr. Speaker, I have come to the floor tonight to, again, talk 
about this serious drought. My colleagues are absolutely correct. North 
Carolina is experiencing its worst drought in 50 long years. In fact, 
nearly three-quarters of North Carolina's 100 counties, that is 75 or 
more counties, are experiencing an exceptional drought, the most severe 
category listed by the Drought Management Advisory Council. The council 
also lists the remaining counties as experiencing extreme drought or 
severe drought conditions. This is very serious for North Carolina.
  The conditions have been so severe that several of our communities 
have as little as 3 months of water left remaining. If North Carolina 
does not see significant rain, some areas face prospects of water 
rationing. Yes, water rationing, or potentially running out of water 
entirely. The climate data shows that this spring and summer was the 
area's driest period since 1948.

[[Page H11922]]

  North Carolina, Mr. Speaker, is taking this problem seriously. 
Currently, 106 public water systems have already adopted mandatory 
water restrictions, while 118 have enacted voluntary restrictions. I 
was on a program a few nights ago with the Speaker of our House of 
Representatives in North Carolina, Speaker Joe Hackney, and I told 
Speaker Hackney that I would be on the House floor tonight with our 
friend Bob Etheridge and we will be talking about the drought. The 
Speaker of my House told me, ``Congressman, with all due respect, you 
need to talk about more than the drought. You need to provide resources 
for the farmers and others who are affected by the drought.''
  This is very serious. As anyone can imagine, the effects on 
agriculture have been brutal. Congressman Etheridge talked about it a 
few minutes ago and Congressman McIntyre and my friend Congressman 
Spratt, they all talked about it. The effects have been absolutely 
brutal. It is estimated that peanut production is down about 20 percent 
from this time last year. Hay production has been cut nearly in half, 
and soybean production is down by more than a third. My colleagues, 
that is serious. In many parts of my district, and Congressman 
Etheridge has the map there with him in the well of the Chamber, these 
conditions are so dry that the soil at the bottom of drainage ditches 
has started to crack, and water in streams and creeks has ceased to 
even move. For many, the water table has also dropped to the point 
where there is virtually no water in the ground. The drought also means 
that there is less water available for our cattle and horses and other 
uses. At this point, some farmers will likely have to abandon their 
crops, particularly our peanut farmers. The consequences will be even 
more serious if there is no significant rainfall between now and 
February.
  Our U.S. Department of Agriculture declared 85 North Carolina 
counties disaster areas last month, making farmers eligible for low-
interest emergency loans. And we are certainly thankful for that. But 
our farmers still need more help, and that is what Congressman 
Etheridge was talking about a few minutes ago. We are facing the kind 
of disaster that could push many of our farmers out of business and off 
of their farms. Congress must move quickly to avoid worsening this 
natural disaster.
  So, I am confident, I am extremely confident that the Democratic 
majority will rise to the occasion. We will certainly encourage the 
leadership to do that. We will make the resources available for our 
citizens. And I pray, Mr. Speaker, that the President of the United 
States would not veto that legislation, that he will sign it into law.
  Thank you, Mr. Etheridge, for your extraordinary leadership, and 
thank you for what you mean to North Carolina.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. I thank the gentleman, and I couldn't agree more that, 
you know, when you look at our State, really, all this whole region is 
suffering, but according to the numbers by the Drought Monitoring 
Council in the Department of Agriculture, if you look at North Carolina 
specifically, North Carolina is still reporting more drought impact 
than any other State from the mountains to the coast. Now, all these in 
the Southeast are hurting. But in North Carolina, as one farmer said to 
me the other day, and I mentioned this earlier, he said, ``You know, if 
you can't water your lawn, that is an inconvenience. If you can't wash 
your car, you can drive it a little dirty. You can cut back on the 
shower. But my ponds are empty, so I can't irrigate my fields. So I am 
facing the forces of nature, and I could lose everything I have got.'' 
That's a sad situation to be in. But it is a reality. When that 
happens, you know, farmers are the last ones to sort of stand up and 
say, ``We want the government to help us.'' They usually want to say, 
as you well know, ``If you just leave us alone, we can get our jobs 
done.'' But this is one of those times that many of them won't make it 
without help. And it is certainly true in your area as it is in mine.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Etheridge, are you beginning to hear from our 
farmers across North Carolina? Are they calling your office like they 
are calling my office?
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. They are.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. I discern a sense of desperation among our farmers. 
They are looking to their Federal Government for a response. Is that 
what you are finding?
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. I am. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I do. And it 
is one of those things where, as I said earlier, it didn't start this 
year. It really started last year, as you remember. We had a dry 
winter, then a late frost that hurt the spring crops, and then we had a 
dry summer that led into the fall, and now they can't plant the fall 
crops because there is no ground moisture. So there is a level of 
desperation that I can't remember having seen in my lifetime. Certainly 
we are hearing from farmers on a daily basis just saying, ``What can we 
do? What kind of help can we get to get through this?'' because they 
know they have no ability to make it rain.

                              {time}  2015

  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. If we don't do it, it won't happen.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. That's exactly right. If we don't get it done, it 
won't get done. I appreciate you being here tonight. Thank you for 
coming and joining us.
  According to the National Drought Monitor Center, North Carolina is 
still reporting, as I said, the largest drought impact in the United 
States at this time. The crop conditions are devastating.
  Let me just share with you an example of a farmer from Autryville, 
North Carolina. He grows watermelons. He said, We have suffered at 
least 25 percent for our early summer crop and an 80 percent loss of 
the later plantings in August and September. We had over 500 acres of 
watermelons.
  Now for the people who go to the grocery store, they are going to 
feel that impact because not having products produced close to home, 
that they don't have a lot of transportation in, that they know where 
it comes from, they get a good, fresh product at a reasonable price. 
That won't be there. He said, All of our ponds ran out of water in both 
the watermelon and the cantaloupe fields even though we only used drip 
irrigation. You say, Why would the water run out? Because we had the 
hottest summer on record. When you have a hot summer, you get a lot of 
evaporation. If you get no rain, you get no opportunity to replenish 
it.
  He said, Our cantaloupe crop wasn't hurt much more than 25 percent 
totally. However, a 25 percent loss starts to eat up our profit when 
you have over 300 acres of cantaloupes that were early. Pumpkins. We 
experienced 100 percent loss on our 100 acres of pumpkins. Even though 
we were able to irrigate some of them, we ran out of water. The 
excessive heat caused very poor pollination, which resulted in no fruit 
set.
  Now, for those who are listening this evening here in the Chamber and 
those who may be watching on C-SPAN, what they are really talking about 
is you have to pollinate those flowers, and if they don't get 
pollinated and don't set, you get no fruit. So all of a sudden, after 
all the work he put in, the expensive inputs, there's no money at the 
end of the year.
  He said his wheat crop was about a 65 percent loss due to the drought 
conditions as far back as February and March. Remember, I said earlier 
we had a dry fall last year, it went into the winter, and then we had 
the early frost that hit the wheat and the oats and a lot of our late 
grains. So he winds up with a 65 percent loss there.
  Then his other crops, and this is just one farmer, and I will share 
with you in a minute what these products mean in terms of dollars just 
in North Carolina. I could use other States, but since North Carolina 
is my home, I am going to use that State. It has an impact because 
roughly 25 percent of North Carolina's gross domestic product is really 
tied up in agriculture. Peanuts. Our loss ranged anywhere from 30 
percent to 75 percent below normal yields due to drought. That was just 
a plain lack of rainfall.
  Now, some of you might say, Well, why would the rains be so great 
between 30 percent and 75 percent for a farmer who had peanuts. You 
have got to understand, the rain, what little rain we got this year, 
and, remember, I said earlier it rains, depending on where you were in 
the State, 10 inches below normal, to as much as 20. If you happened to 
be in one of those 20-plus

[[Page H11923]]

inch areas, then your peanuts didn't do much of anything, or anything 
else. So that was part of the problem. It could happen within any given 
county. This is one of those unusual drought years.
  He said, I planted soybeans. Even though we haven't started 
harvesting soybeans yet, there is nothing there to harvest. We have 500 
acres of soybeans. So those of you who don't have an idea how much 500 
acres is, I will just share with you that if you had a good yield on 
500 acres, and you yielded say 40 bushels an acre, you can figure it up 
right quick if soybeans are $7 a bushel. You can see how much 
prospective income you have just lost. You have already got all the 
expenses of getting your land ready, buying the seed, putting the 
chemicals on it if you had to spray it for pesticides or something. 
This year they probably wouldn't because it was so dry. Any time you 
have a dry year, you're more likely to have pests eat it. That is a 
real problem.
  Just this past Monday I was in the field with a gentleman who 
actually farms in Johnston in Wake County. Mr. Jordan carried us into 
one of his grain fields of soybeans, showed us his sweet potatoes. Let 
me just read to you what he said when I visited him. He is a 
hardworking guy. He has farmed all of his life. His dad farmed the 
land; his son is now with him.
  He said, I just had a third of a crop of sweet potatoes come in, and 
the ones we harvested, and for those of you who know what I'm talking 
about, number one potatoes are the ones you get your money for, and the 
others don't turn out too good. They're good potatoes, but people go to 
the grocery shelf and they may not buy them. Most of them were not 
number ones.
  Then we went to his soybean field, and in that field, and I grew up 
on a farm, my son still farms, I participate in it a little, and I 
would venture to say we opened some pods on some of the soybeans, and 
those of you who ever had a BB gun know how big a BB is, and a soybean 
is supposed to be a lot bigger, like a pea. And they were like BBs.
  Of course, when they go through and harvest, they will go right 
through the harvest and wind up back on the ground. They are great to 
help the birds a little bit, but it's going to be devastating for Mr. 
Jordan and farmers like him. He said, The heat has been as big a factor 
as the drought. Of course, all of you know the heat contributes to the 
drought, because it was the hottest summer on record in the State of 
North Carolina and in the Southeast.
  He went on to say he has cattle. He said there is not enough hay to 
cut to justify running the machinery, so we are to spend a lot of money 
for feed to help these cows get through the winter. We have farmers in 
North Carolina hauling hay great distances, others that cannot even buy 
it, hay that was $20 and $25 for a big bale has now gone from $40 to 
$50, and in some cases they can't even get it. This is why they are 
asking for help. This is why this Democratic Congress, and I hope my 
Republican colleagues, and I pray the President, will do the right 
thing and sign legislation to help.
  Mr. Jordan has estimated that his gross loss will be somewhere 
between $115,000 and $200,000 on his fall harvest. He is a large 
operator. He might weather it. But it will take him years to recover, 
because the machinery he uses has got a year's use on it and it is 
getting worn out and he has no money to make it happen. He said, I hope 
we can salvage some of it. We will try to save what we can. And I just 
say thank God for people like him and other farmers who are willing to 
continue to get up early in the morning, work in the hot sun, and take 
the huge risk that it takes to provide food and fiber for all of us in 
America.
  Let me share with you something about what is happening with what we 
call the ``green industry.'' The green industry, of course, is our 
nursery industry and a host of those things tied to it. These numbers 
are for North Carolina.
  The green industry contributes more than $8.6 billion to the economy 
of North Carolina. The green industry alone employs roughly 151,000 
people. Due to the drought thus far this year, the green industry has 
laid off 30 percent of their labor force and revenues are down 40 
percent. Let me repeat that again: 40 percent.

  Now, that will be felt not just this year. That is going to be felt 
for a number of years, because that means, number one, you can't 
expand. Number two, you can't buy new equipment, and all of those 
people that they buy trucks, tractors and equipment from, they are 
going to feel it.
  As you can see from the map here, as I said earlier, the situation in 
North Carolina and the entire region is dire. Fifteen more counties 
were just moved into the worst category of drought, exceptional, this 
week. We talked about 85 already. Fifteen more have been moved into it. 
We hope to get some rain this weekend. Every time we get promised rain, 
it tends to split and get away. We hope we do. But more is needed to 
make it. When you have as much area having drought as we do, it just 
seems that it gets tougher and tougher.
  Let me share with you one other thing. I think it was my good friend 
Mr. Butterfield was talking about how he saw streams that were 
cracking. I was up toward Siler City about a month ago in the Upper 
Piedmont, western part of my district. It was the first time in my 
lifetime I have seen trees along streams that were dead. Not the leaves 
falling off, trees were dead, because the streams had long since dried 
up. And anyone who knows anything about forestry, a tree near a stream 
tends to have its roots fairly shallow and in the water or close to it. 
These streams had been dry so long, the trees didn't have deep roots so 
whole trees were dying. You could see long strips of trees along 
streams that were dead. Farmers had been feeding hay since late July.
  I keep repeating this because this is a critical situation. You know, 
you can be in Washington and you can come into this nice building and 
you can have plenty of food every day, but one of these days, if we 
don't take care of the people who provide food and fiber, we might face 
that challenge too.
  So I hope my colleagues understand how serious this situation is, and 
I hope the people at the White House understand. I pray that the 
President will send a request to help not only our folks in the 
Southeast that are going to take a long time to recover, but also those 
on the west coast that we see on TV tonight, and it looks like it is 
going to be awhile, who have lost a great deal as well.
  These things, if they do not deserve an emergency appropriation, I 
pray ask, what does? If we can't help the people in this country, who 
can we help? When can we help them, if we can't help them when they are 
hurting?
  Mr. Speaker, almost 85 percent of the land area of my State is now 
designated as being either extreme or exceptional drought. To my 
knowledge, that has never happened in my lifetime. I have talked with 
people who are almost 100 years old, and they never remember it.
  Fifty-four percent of the land area is in the exceptional category. 
That is up from 38 percent just last week. And, as I said, all of the 
State is in at least severe drought, with the last three counties in 
the moderate category now moving into severe.
  On October 18, the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council 
Web site listed the number of North Carolina counties in each category 
as follows: D-4, that is exceptional, 71; D-3, extreme, 18; and D-2, 
severe, 11.

                              {time}  2030

  We talked earlier about the challenge we face with water. And water 
is important to sustain life. I mentioned earlier about Siler City. I 
want to talk about that again because that county has probably suffered 
as much or more as any county in the district, agriculturally as well 
as the city of Siler City. They are down to 60 days of water. Tonight I 
want to thank the Governor of our State, Mike Easley, and his staff and 
some of the folks from USDA who have worked together to try to make 
sure that the town has water. They have been hauling water with trucks 
to keep roughly 1,500 to 2,000 people working. As I said when I began 
to speak, they are now down to 3 or 4 days a week. It looks like they 
are going to break ground, because of the hard work of the Governor's 
staff, on a waterline that will hopefully get them over the hump. But 
we still need rain and we need help.
  These two plants, Pilgrim's Pride and Townsend, provide a lot of 
jobs, but

[[Page H11924]]

they also provide an opportunity for our farmers to have income who 
produce a lot of poultry in our State. They provide a lot of food for 
the table of a lot of Americans who don't want to think about it, who 
don't want to know about it, who really aren't interested in it. They 
just want to go to the meat counter and have good, safe, plentiful, 
affordable food supply.
  Mr. Speaker, to do that it is incumbent upon every Member who took 
the oath of office in this Chamber and the other body across the hall 
and the President of the United States, if we can get together a bill, 
pass it, and we should, for him to sign it, to make sure that these 
folks continue to make it.
  I saw on Monday the sad commentary of what a major drought can do. I 
was on our farm with our son Saturday. We spent an hour or two and were 
going to put a cover crop in. We actually put some in last Saturday. He 
said to me I probably made a mistake; it might not come up. He is 
probably right. This Saturday we decided not to plant anything because 
the ground was so dry it wouldn't germinate.
  I happen to believe our food supply is part of our national defense. 
It is part of our homeland defense, and Members of Congress I think 
will rally. Farmers face some of the toughest perils that I can imagine 
when they invest their money in the spring and depend on weather to 
make it. Make no mistake about it, somewhere in America almost every 
year there is some catastrophic event tied to agriculture. Some of it 
is tied to our beaches with hurricanes. It is tied to tornadoes in the 
Midwest. It is tied to earthquakes. It is tied to a lot of things. We 
have always responded. We have always helped, and we should. Now is the 
time, Mr. Speaker, to help the people in the Southeast at a time when 
we have the toughest drought that we have ever faced.
  And I am pleased that we are now joined by my colleague from Wake 
County who understands this. He represents some of the agricultural 
area, but we are very fortunate to have him chairing the Appropriations 
Subcommittee on Homeland Security, and he certainly understands that 
our agricultural production is part of our national security as much as 
protecting our homeland. If we can't have cotton and corn and soybeans 
and those things we enjoy having on our table, then we are challenged. 
And I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price). He can 
see from the map as well how North Carolina is the worst of all of the 
southeastern States by the drought monitor.
  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I thank my colleague for yielding. That 
map before us is an all too familiar scene, I'm afraid. We have seen 
the drought areas growing and growing each week in the newspaper 
depictions of our weather pattern. It is very, very dry up and down the 
eastern seaboard. In the Washington, D.C. area, this is a serious 
situation as well. But my colleague is right; no State has been hit 
harder than North Carolina. And the devastation started in the western 
part of the State at first, but has now swept across the State, and we 
have severe drought conditions, I think, in every one of our North 
Carolina counties. The situation is dire.
  The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) who serves so well 
on the Agriculture Committee and also the Homeland Security Committee, 
has done us a service in organizing this Special Order tonight and 
bringing this serious problem to the attention of our colleagues and to 
the attention of the country.
  If anyone has spent any time at all in the Southeast this summer and 
fall, it would be difficult for the enormity of the drought not to 
catch your attention. We see it daily during our time in North 
Carolina. We are not simply talking about brown suburban lawns or 
needing to take shorter showers, although both of those are realities. 
The hot and dry conditions of the past several months have dried up our 
lakes and killed our crops. They are threatening the water supply of 
many communities, and they are irreparably damaging this year's 
agricultural output.
  It is that damage to agriculture that brings us here tonight. North 
Carolina boasts one of the most diverse arrays of agricultural products 
in the Nation, yet crop yields in North Carolina and other southeastern 
States are down across the board. There is not a crop that is not 
affected.
  Last month, following our Governor's recommendation, the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture designated 85 of North Carolina's 100 
counties as disaster areas, and all 85 of these counties have lost at 
least 35 percent of at least one major crop.
  Such losses are not confined to farming in rural areas. They may hit 
the smallest farming communities the hardest, but they inflict serious 
pain on the entire economy of an agricultural State like ours. They are 
felt throughout the country, seriously affecting the Nation's food 
supply and prices.
  This may be a regional drought, a disaster that is centered in the 
Southeast and in North Carolina in particular, but there is no doubt it 
is a national problem and that national attention is called for. We 
need to focus attention on this challenge in this body.
  Congressional attention and action are demanded. That is why we 
signed a letter to the President requesting that he include disaster 
assistance in any supplemental appropriations request. I am 
disappointed that yesterday's request failed to do so. I know my 
colleague shares that disappointment, and I suspect he has talked about 
it a good deal tonight already.

  I am hopeful that the Appropriations Committee will pay attention to 
tonight's remarks and understand the scope of this problem and take 
appropriate action. I am a member of that committee, and I plan to 
press for disaster relief wherever and whenever it can be achieved. I 
urge all of my colleagues to do the same.
  Again, I commend my colleague for calling this Special Order and for 
his dogged persistence in looking out for our farm communities, but 
also understanding the implications of this disaster for the economy as 
a whole.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Let me thank the gentleman and thank you for your 
leadership not just on this, but other issues as well. North Carolina 
is one of those States, I couldn't help but think as you were going 
through the list, as you talk about the drought, and over the years 
being here talking about floods and hurricanes because North Carolina, 
as folks can see on this map, we sort of stick out in the Atlantic and 
we get whacked by hurricanes and we have had floods. I thank the 
gentleman for his leadership over the years. He has taken the 
leadership on the Appropriations Committee, and we will lean on your 
broad shoulders again as we work through this because it is important.
  Let me share with my colleagues in the little time we have remaining 
what Brian Long, who is a spokesman for the State Department of 
Agriculture and Consumer Services had to say. He said, ``We cringe a 
little more each month because it is going from bad to worse.''
  And I say that because every day that it doesn't rain it gets drier, 
and every day that it gets drier, it means that more and more farmers 
move closer to the edge. Don Nicholson, a State regional agronomist, 
said: ``It's the worst I've ever seen. My mother is 76. She talks about 
how bad it was in the early fifties. That is the only reference point 
that I have.'' And what he was saying was fifties were bad, but 2007 is 
worse.
  Mr. Speaker, as I close out tonight, I want to thank my colleagues 
for coming and joining me to talk about this issue, to call attention 
at the national level because truly this is a problem of national 
proportion. As the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) said, it 
may now only affect the Southeast, but it really is a national issue. 
It is national in that we are all in this together, and it is national 
in that this will ultimately affect the table of families across this 
country in one way or another, because if cotton production is down, it 
will have an impact. And for all of the fruits and vegetables, it will 
have an impact. And soybeans and corn over the long haul, because if 
you have to pay more for feed for pigs and poultry, it is reflected on 
the tables of American consumers and people around the world.
  Mr. Speaker, I trust we can get a bill through and I trust that 
ultimately the President will send us a request in one of the 
supplementals where he is asking for additional money from this 
Congress. And if not, that we will put

[[Page H11925]]

it in and that he will sign it. That's the least that we can do for the 
people in this country who work hard every day, who play by the rules, 
who are good folks and deserve an opportunity to continue to do the 
things not only that they love, but provide food and fiber for our 
tables.

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