[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 14, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14353-S14354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, this morning, the Senate will be in a period 
of morning business for 1 hour, with the time divided and controlled 
between the two parties--the majority controlling the first half and 
the Republicans controlling the final portion.
  Following this, the Senate will resume consideration of the farm 
bill. At 2 p.m. today, Secretary Rice and Secretary Gates will brief 
Members about the current situations in the Middle East. Both of them 
will be here in S-407 at 2 p.m.


                             The Farm Bill

  Mr. President, the farm bill is an important piece of legislation for 
this country. That is why we do it every 5 years. It is an immense bill 
and includes many different things dealing with the agriculture of this 
country. It is similar in its importance to the highway bill that we do 
every 5 years. The farm bill is one that affects virtually every State.
  We hear a lot on this Senate Floor and around the country, as we 
should, about the fact that we import about 65 percent of all the oil 
we use in this country, but it is not that way with agricultural 
products. We do so much in exporting food. It is one of the businesses 
in America that has a positive balance in trade.
  I was happy yesterday morning when I was told by the minority we were 
going to be able to get a list of amendments and work through this 
bill. It is true we got a list of amendments, but it is as unreasonable 
as anything could be unreasonable--270 amendments, and a large number 
of them nonrelevant. Democrats, after having received these,

[[Page S14354]]

came up with some amendments, but most of ours are, as well, 
nonrelevant amendments, meaning we wanted to match the Republicans. We 
are able to go forward with a handful of amendments, by that I mean 
five or six amendments, but that is all we need.
  To show how unrealistic their list is, one only needs to look at the 
list. Every Senator has a right to propose amendments. Historically, 
however, with the farm bill, the average number of nonrelevant 
amendments per bill? One, in recent years. My research indicates 
something a little different than I mentioned yesterday. In the last 
three bills, no amendments, nonrelevant; two amendments; one amendment. 
So an average of one nonrelevant amendment per bill.

  Here we have amendments they want to offer on this bill dealing with 
immigration, again, even though we debated for weeks on immigration. 
This bill is not an immigration bill. And, of course, the old faithful 
death tax. People come and say, well, farmers have problems, they are 
losing their family farms. In California, Senator Feinstein heard about 
that, and so she asked the farm bureau to give her a list of those who 
had lost their farms because of the estate tax. None. Zero. This is an 
urban myth or maybe even a rural myth. But, of course, a number of 
Senators wanted to try that again--Republican Senators.
  The issue of the day is the driver's license. A significant number of 
Senators want to offer amendments dealing with driver's licenses. And 
fishing loans, the Rio Grande River--I don't know what that is about--
the Gulf of Mexico, the death tax, and the AMT. We are going to do AMT 
before we leave here. We don't need to do it on the farm bill. Fire 
sprinkler systems, National Finance Center, the Exxon Valdez 
litigation, land transfer, AMT tax. I can't give you the exact number, 
but there are at least six or seven amendments on the AMT tax. Is AMT 
important? Of course, it is. We are going to do AMT before this year 
ends. Everyone knows that.
  In short, the Republicans aren't serious about doing the farm bill. 
This farm bill is headed down for one reason: the Republicans. They 
obviously don't want a farm bill. If we went along with this list, it 
would make it impossible to conduct a fair and reasonable debate--
impossible.
  So what I am going to do this afternoon is file cloture on the 
Dorgan-Grassley amendment, a bipartisan amendment, the one that is 
pending, and then on the bill. That will make a determination. All 
these organizations that say this farm bill is important--and I have 
had many of them write letters and contact me and say this is so 
important, we need to do this, the last farm bill is not as good as 
this one, it is a great farm bill--we will find out if the Republicans 
are going to kill this bill. It appears they are going to. They are not 
serious about passing a farm bill this year. If they come up with a 
list of amendments we can deal with, I am happy to do that. But I am 
not going to do this. It is not good for the Senate and it is not good 
for the country.
  I repeat: The average number of nonrelevant amendments on farm bills: 
One per bill. We have here enough nonrelevant amendments to fill a 
little notebook. So that is where we are. It is unfortunate. The 
committee has worked very hard. They passed the bill out of the 
committee by voice vote. All Senators obviously agreed this was a good 
bill. Saxby Chambliss, the ranking member, and Tom Harkin, the chairman 
of the committee, think it is a good bill--Democrat and Republican.
  We are in the situation where Republicans are saying: Well, I want to 
offer my amendment on fire systems, the Exxon Valdez litigation, the 
AMT, and, of course, the old faithful, immigration. So that is where we 
are. It is unfortunate that is where we are, but this bill is headed 
down.
  I indicated what I am going to do. Unless the Republicans come up 
with something more realistic, this bill is going to have cloture filed 
on Dorgan-Grassley, cloture on the bill, and that is where we will be 
on the bill this afternoon sometime.

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