[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 175 (Tuesday, November 13, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14254-S14257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FARM, NUTRITION, AND BIOENERGY ACT OF 2007--Resumed
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the pending business.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 2419) to provide for the continuation of
agricultural programs through fiscal year 2012, and for other
purposes.
Pending:
Harkin amendment No. 3500, in the nature of a substitute.
Reid (for Dorgan-Grassley) amendment No. 3508 (to amendment
No. 3500), to strengthen payment limitations and direct the
savings to increased funding for certain programs.
Reid amendment No. 3509 (to amendment No. 3508), to change
the enactment date.
Reid amendment No. 3510 (to the language proposed to be
stricken by amendment No. 3500), to change the enactment
date.
Reid amendment No. 3511 (to amendment No. 3510), to change
the enactment date.
Motion to commit the bill to the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry, with instructions to report back
forthwith, with Reid amendment No. 3512.
Reid amendment No. 3512 (to the instructions of the motion
to commit to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry, with instructions), to change the enactment date.
Reid amendment No. 3513 (to the instructions of the motion
to recommit), to change the enactment date.
Reid amendment No. 3514 (to amendment No. 3513), to change
the enactment date.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
Mr. REID. Thank you, Mr. President.
We have the farm bill before us. We have been trying for a week to do
amendments on the bill. The Republicans have said that because this
bill is being handled in such an unusual procedural way, they are not
going to let us move forward on this bill.
This bill is being handled similar to every farm bill in the last 30
years. In that entire period, there has only been one time that a
nongermane amendment was offered, and that was on the last farm bill
when Senator Kyl offered an amendment dealing with the estate tax. It
was a sense-of-the-Senate resolution. That is it.
So for the minority to cry about this is simply that they are crying
about something there is no reason to cry about. We want to move this
bill. I had a conversation this morning right over here on the floor
with the distinguished Republican leader and the ranking member of the
committee, Saxby Chambliss. At that time, as I understood the
conversation, the Republicans had 10 amendments they wanted to do.
Let's look at them. We have some we want to do. Let's pare them off,
set very short time limits on them, and move this bill.
This is an important bill. If this bill does not move forward--a bill
that is being treated similar to every other farm bill in recent
history--the reason it is not going forward is the Republicans. If they
do not want a farm bill, why don't they say so. They can explain to all
the farm organizations around the country that they did not want a farm
bill, they wanted us to extend what is now in existence. If that is
what they want, why don't they say so?
It is unfortunate we have been unable to move forward on these
amendments. The first amendment pending is a bipartisan amendment
offered by Senator Dorgan. It is a good amendment. It is one that
should be debated and voted on. Another amendment is a complete
substitute--that is my understanding--and Senator Lugar and Senator
Lautenberg want to do that amendment. Let's debate it, find out what
the will of the Senate is, and move on. But to be in this position is
really unfair to farm State Senators, to farmers and ranchers, to the
Senate, and to our country. If you are unwilling to fight, just say so.
If you don't want this bill to come forward, just tell us that. Don't
play these games that they are not treating us right procedurally. This
is the way this bill is always handled.
So I just think it is something we need to do. It is an important
piece of legislation. The committee, on a bipartisan basis, reported
this bill out with an overwhelming vote. This is not a Democratic bill;
it is a bill reported out by the Agriculture Committee on a bipartisan
basis. So I hope this afternoon we can get some work done on the farm
bill.
Mr. HARKIN. Will the leader yield?
Mr. REID. I am happy to yield to my friend, the chairman of the
Agriculture Committee.
Mr. HARKIN. I thank our majority leader for all the support he has
given us in getting this bill through even when we worked in committee
and working with the Finance Committee to make sure we had the
necessary money to meet our obligations and bringing it to the floor in
a timely manner. We had all last week; we couldn't get anything done.
We have this week before we go home for the Thanksgiving break. We
could finish this bill, I say to our leader, we could finish this bill
if we could just get the other side to agree to start the process.
We have an amendment, I say to the leader, before us which we could
debate. We could even put a time limit on it. We have another amendment
on which we could put a time limit. We could get two or three or four
amendments done today. But, I say to the leader, I am very frustrated
that we have the farm bill out here, we are ready to go--we have been
ready for some time--there are amendments filed, and we would like to
get started on it, but we can't until the minority leader agrees to
move ahead and says we can bring up some of these amendments and move
ahead on them. I just hope we don't waste another whole day.
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I ask the leader, is there any way we can get the other side to kind
of help move us along? I have talked to my ranking member, Senator
Chambliss. He wants to move ahead. He has the desire, as I do. As the
leader pointed out, this bill came out of committee on a bipartisan
vote. There are going to be amendments, and I may support some and not
others, and I am sure my ranking member will support some and not
others, but that is the amendment process. I think we have a good bill
that is going to wind up getting a lot of support on the Senate floor,
and the sooner we get to it, the better off we are.
So I am just kind of perplexed, I guess, as to why the minority
leader won't let us move ahead or why we can't get some amendments and
time agreements.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would say to my friend that we have, as I
understand it, 22 amendments upon which the 2 managers have agreed.
Mr. HARKIN. That is right.
Mr. REID. We could take care of those very quickly. There are
amendments that, in the minds of the managers, improve the bill. We
should get those done. We are unable to move on anything.
The calendar dictates a lot of what happens here in Washington in
Congress. We have a limited amount of time. We have 3 very short weeks
when we come back after Thanksgiving before Christmas. I say to my
friends, we are not going to have time to work on the farm bill when we
come back after Christmas. We don't have time. We have to take care of
all of our appropriations matters. The funding for this Government runs
out on December 14. We have some must-do things that run out at the end
of this year. So the record should be spread with the fact that Senate
Democrats have been willing and terribly interested in moving this farm
bill. If it doesn't go forward, the blame is at the doorstep of my
Republican colleagues.
We are in the majority. We Democrats are in the majority, but it is a
slim majority. The way the Senate operates, the Republicans can stop us
from doing a lot--not everything but a lot. But I would bet, if there
were a fair vote and not some arm-flexing exercise, that a vast
majority of Democrats and Republicans want this farm bill to move
forward. Are they asking me--is this what they are asking--to file
cloture on this bill so we can have a cloture vote on it Thursday? Is
that what they want? Is that what we are going to be relegated to,
filing cloture on this bill without having heard a single amendment?
And why? Because they won't let us. Is that what they want? If cloture
fails--I know it will fail, not because of Democrats but because of
Republicans. We know we have broken records here in this year of this
session of Congress by having to file cloture 52 times. Only one of
those cloture motions was a bipartisan effort. We did it once. That is
all. So I am very disappointed because I don't see what the Republicans
are going to gain.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I say to my leader, if he will yield
again, I think we have set a record in committee. In a day and a half,
we had a comprehensive, 5-year farm bill passed--in a day and a half. I
don't think that has ever been done.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I say to my friend, that was the culmination
of weeks and weeks----
Mr. HARKIN. Months.
Mr. REID. Of meetings between Democrats and Republicans to move this
bill along.
Mr. HARKIN. That is right.
Mr. REID. I have great admiration for the Agriculture Committee for
getting a bill out of that committee on a bipartisan basis. There are
people who want very badly to try to improve this bill, but nothing
will be done. It is Tuesday. We have this bridge thing coming, dealing
with the Iraq war, tomorrow. Time is wasting. I am beginning to have my
doubts, I say to everyone here, because of the intransigence of the
Republicans, that we can do a farm bill.
Mr. HARKIN. I hope we can overcome that because, as the leader said,
we had great agreement in committee. He is right. We worked weeks and
weeks and weeks in meetings with people in getting it all together, and
in a day and a half we got it through on a unanimous vote--not one
dissenting vote. So we have a good bill.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I say to my friend, on the floor right now
are farm State Senators--Arkansas, Georgia, North Dakota, North Dakota,
Iowa--and in the back of the room is a State that does a lot of
agricultural products, the State of New York. Now, as I look around
this room, Senator Dorgan is an example. Senator Dorgan's amendment is
pending--a bipartisan amendment. He supports this bill. It came out of
committee, but he thinks it would be an improvement. Why shouldn't he
have an opportunity to offer that amendment and have a debate on it?
That is what this is all about. It is unfair to everyone concerned, as
I have mentioned before, that we are not able to move on this important
piece of legislation. I am from the State of Nevada. We grow alfalfa.
We are the largest white onion producer in America. We grow garlic but
mostly alfalfa and white onions. This bill is important to those
farmers out there. There are things from which they will benefit. I
just think it is too bad we can't move forward. This is a bill----
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, will the majority leader yield?
Mr. REID. Oh, I am sorry. And Kentucky grows things too.
Mr. McCONNELL. I would just say to my friend, the majority leader, I
am on the Agriculture Committee. I am from a farm State. I want a farm
bill. We have been discussing how to go forward. If I may be so bold to
suggest--I know Senator Chambliss and Senator Harkin have been working
on a list of amendments. I think we ought to see if we can lock in a
list. It will be bigger than we would like, but that is the way it
always starts. Most of those will go away in one way or another, but at
least it would help define the universe. I think that is achievable,
hopefully sometime this afternoon, and it will allow us to get started.
That is what I would recommend.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, it would be untoward on the Senate floor to
walk over and hug the Republican leader, but that is what I feel like
doing. I agree with him 100 percent. I think we should try to get a
number of amendments locked in, whether it is 5 or 50, whatever it is.
I think we should get it done and start moving on this bill.
I have been, as my friend from Kentucky knows, in a minority position
more than I would like to admit here in the Senate as the minority
Democratic leader. I understand he has certain things to do within his
caucus. Whatever was needed to be proven has been proven. Let's move
forward on this bill as the Republican leader has outlined. We greet
his suggestion with open arms.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, would the leader yield just one more time?
Mr. REID. I yield.
Mr. HARKIN. I would like to ask the minority leader if during this
time we are trying to work out a set number of amendments, we know
there are two or three amendments that are absolutely going to be
offered. One is the one we are on right now. Then there is another one
with I think Senators Lugar and Lautenberg. I am just wondering if we
could get time agreements on those.
Mr. REID. I would say to my friend, let's take one step at a time. He
has made an offer, and let's see what we can do. He has indicated--the
ranking member of the committee is here, you are here, and we will work
on that and see if we can get something done in the next little bit.
Mr. McCONNELL. I thank the majority leader. I think that is a good
way to go forward, and we will work on it this afternoon.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia is recognized.
Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, let me just say while the leadership is
here, we appreciate their assistance in moving this bill. Senator
Harkin, Senator Conrad, and I have taken our list of amendments we have
out there and we are working through them to try to get down to a
reasonable number. One problem, frankly, we are having--and I think
maybe on the other side too--is we keep having people come forward with
amendments. I would simply say to colleagues on both sides of the aisle
that we are going to reach a limit with these amendments, and if you
have an amendment, we need to know about it now so we can negotiate and
deliberate in good faith relative to the number of
[[Page S14256]]
amendments that are going to be on this list so that we can pare those
amendments down to a reasonable number.
I thank the leadership for working with us.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, would the Senator yield for a question?
Mr. CHAMBLISS. Certainly.
Mr. DORGAN. The important point here is that I think everyone on the
floor wants to get this bill passed, and while there will be some
amendments, my hope and my expectation--I have one amendment--would be
that we would relatively easily get time agreements, have a reasonable
number of amendments with time agreements. I think there should be a
lot of cooperation on the floor because I think all of us want what you
want, and that is to get a piece of legislation passed. This was not
easy to get out of the committee. I support this bill. I am going to
support a couple of amendments here and there, but by and large I think
we are on the right track, and I appreciate hearing the words of the
minority leader today on this subject because we need to get this done.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, first of all, I am enormously relieved to
hear what has been discussed, and I hope in the next few moments that
we could agree, first of all, on amendments that have to be voted on
for both sides, No. 1; No. 2, that we would agree on time limits, and
it is very clear that unless the time for the debate on amendments that
must be voted on is limited to 1 hour apiece, on average--some could be
a little more, some could be a little less, but if we don't on average
have time agreements of 1 hour or less, we cannot finish the work this
week; and finally, that we agree to an order. I have seen colleagues
who are very interested in some certainty. For example, if we could do
Grassley-Dorgan in an hour and a half and then go to Lugar-Lautenberg
for an hour and a half to at least begin the process, that would be
enormously helpful, and then establish a list in order with time
agreements.
I wanted to take a moment to respond, as leadership is working on
that kind of proposal, to an article that appeared in the Washington
Post this morning that I thought was not telling the whole story about
this farm bill. They have asserted that there is all this new spending
in the farm bill. They focus just on the spending side of the ledger;
they didn't focus at all on how we pay for it.
I want to indicate that it is true that there are increases in this
bill. We have increased spending on nutrition by $5.3 billion; on
conservation, we have increased resources by $4.5 billion; on energy,
by $1.1 billion and then an additional $1.4 billion from the Finance
Committee, for a total increase in energy of $2.5 billion.
Where did we find the resources for those additional investments?
Well, that is the uses on this side, and the sources are on this side.
Over one-third of the money came out of the commodity programs.
Commodity programs have been reduced. They have been reduced from the
baseline. They have been reduced as a share of total Federal spending.
The fact that the press--at least some elements of the press--seem
unwilling to tell the American people is that the reduction in
commodities--over a third of the money that has been used to give more
money for nutrition, more money for conservation, more money for
energy, a third of the money came out of commodities.
Almost a third of the money came out of crop insurance. Now, if you
are going to tell the story, Washington Post, tell the whole story.
These are not just my estimates. These are not Kent Conrad's numbers,
or the committee's numbers; these are the numbers from the CBO. They
show, on the 2007 farm bill, commodity programs have been cut by $4.2
billion, crop insurance by $3.7 billion, for a total savings out of the
$7.9 billion. That is from these so-called baselines. These are facts.
They also seem to overlook the fact that if you look back on the last
farm bill, you will see that the estimate at the time was that the farm
bill would take 2.3 percent of total Federal spending. The commodity
programs were to take three-quarters of 1 percent. Look at the contrast
with this farm bill. With this farm bill, the total share of Federal
spending is down from 2\1/3\ percent to less than 1.9 percent, and
commodity programs--the ones that draw all of the conflict and the
controversy--have been dramatically reduced to one-quarter of 1 percent
of total Federal spending. The Washington Post never mentions these
facts.
If we look at commodity program outlays on this chart, here is the
baseline at the time of the farm bill. This is what it would cost into
the future. Look at the estimates from the CBO on what the commodity
programs will cost now. It is a very dramatic reduction in real terms,
in relative terms--in whatever terms you want to use. If you are going
to report honestly to the American people, then you need to tell them
the whole story, not just the story that is the way you want to write
it. You have an obligation to people to tell them the whole story so
they can make a judgment about what is fair and what is right.
This bill is fiscally responsible. It is paid for. It takes up a much
smaller share of total Federal spending than the previous farm bill,
and the commodity provisions have been cut by two-thirds as a share of
total Federal spending. If you look at where the money goes--I will
tell you, I sometimes read these articles and hear broadcasts, and I
wonder why don't these reporters tell people where the money is going.
You would think this is all for subsidies for rich farmers.
The fact is, the vast majority of the spending in this bill is going
to go to nutrition programs; 66 percent of the money in this bill is
going to go for nutrition programs. Have you seen any article written
by the major mainstream press that has told the American people that
fact? Nutrition programs go to every corner of this country. They are
66 percent of the money in this bill. Crop insurance is 7.6 percent.
Conservation is 9 percent. Again, conservation is important to every
corner of America. When you put conservation and nutrition together,
that is 75 percent of the spending in the bill. Commodity programs are
only less than 14 percent of what is in this farm bill.
I hope at some point somebody will start to tell the American people
the full story. I certainly don't read it in the Washington Post. I
have not seen a single story in the Washington Post about agriculture
that I thought was fair and balanced. I have not seen one. They are
writing with a point of view. They are writing as advocates.
When I grew up, news people felt an obligation to try to tell both
sides of the story. But, apparently, those days are gone. Today, if a
publication has a point of view, or your television program or
television station or network has a point of view, that is how you
report it. You report one side of the story. That is not responsible,
and it is not telling people what they really need to know to make an
informed judgment. It is withholding from people certain information
they would need to make any kind of objective judgment. That is what is
going on here.
I don't want my colleagues to be fooled or to miss the point that
this farm bill is taking much less of total Federal spending than the
previous farm bill, and the commodity provisions that, in the last farm
bill, were estimated to take three-quarters of 1 percent of Federal
spending is down to one-quarter of 1 percent. Why do we need that one-
quarter of 1 percent? Very simply, because our major competitors, the
Europeans, are providing more than three times as much support to their
producers as we provide to ours. This is a fact. The Europeans are
providing more than three times as much support to their producers as
we provide to ours.
So what happens if you yank this slim rug out from under American
producers? Even though we are already outspent more than 3 to 1 by our
major competitors, what would happen if we yank that rug out from our
producers? Two words: ``mass bankruptcy.'' That is what would happen.
Is anybody paying attention? Do these publications or these news
broadcasts give one whit about what happens to the rural economy in
America? Why don't they ever report that the Europeans--on export
subsidies--are outgunning us more than 80 to 1? That is a fact. But
they don't seem to care.
[[Page S14257]]
They don't seem to care because, I guess, it doesn't affect their
economic lives directly. But I represent a State that has farm and
ranch families from one side of our State to the other, from one corner
of North Dakota to the other. The hard reality is they are out there
competing against the French and German farmers, and they can do that.
They are ready to do that, to take on a fair fight. But when you ask
them to take on not just the French and German farmers but the French
Government and the German Government, as well, that is not a fair
fight. To say to our farmers and ranchers: You go out there and take on
the French and German farmers, and while you are taking on the French
and German Governments, your Government is going to be AWOL, absent
without leave; your Government is going to declare unilateral
disarmament; your Government is going to let you fend for yourself--
good luck, Charlie, because the other side is outgunning us more than 3
to 1 already.
But some here say, let's not even put up a fight; let's throw in the
towel and let the Europeans take over world agriculture. They are
already equal to us in world market share. They are already advancing
every day, increasing their market share, while ours slips--they are
not alone, by the way. It is also our friends in Brazil, Argentina, and
other countries who manage their currencies to secure advantage in
terms of agriculture.
How long will it be, I ask these cynics, before America succumbs on
the agricultural front the way we have on automobiles, electronics, and
all the others, where our foreign competitors have taken the advantaged
position? How long? We are right on the brink of it happening now.
This farm bill is an attempt to meet many needs of the American
people. As I said, if you look at where the money goes, the
overwhelming majority of this money goes for nutrition; 66 percent of
the money in this bill goes to nutrition. I hear some of my colleagues
from nonfarm States saying, ``I don't have a dog in this fight; I don't
really care what happens in the farm bill.'' Really? Then you don't
know what is in the bill. Somebody from a nonfarm State who says they
don't have anything in this fight simply don't know what is in the
bill.
Sixty-six percent of the money goes for nutrition, 9 percent for
conservation, and more for research and trade. That is where the money
goes in this bill. Commodity programs are a small minority of less than
14 percent. As a share of total Federal spending, the commodity parts
of this bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will be
less than one-quarter of 1 percent of Federal spending. That is a fact.
It is an important fact. It is a fact that the Washington Post,
apparently, doesn't want people to know because they never report it.
They also never report that the vast majority of this money goes to
nutrition programs, or that the next biggest category is conservation.
They have an agenda, and their agenda is to look down their nose at
people who are in production agriculture, farm, and ranch families, who
apparently don't have their respect.
It is interesting, they don't write the same kind of article about
any other industry that gets help from the Federal Government.
Virtually every industry in America has some kind of Federal
assistance, whether it is highways for the trucking industry or
airports for the airline industry or any of the other things that are
done for industry after industry. I don't see them come after them with
this same sort of look-down-your-nose arrogance because that is what it
is. It is incredible arrogance.
Mr. President, I hope my colleagues will have a chance to pay
attention to both sides of the story in this farm program today. They
deserve to hear both sides of the story.
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.
Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. McCaskill). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in
morning business for up to 10 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________