[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 14, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14356-S14357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FOOD AND ENERGY SECURITY ACT

  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I rise today and come to the floor to 
encourage my colleagues to move expeditiously to pass the Food and 
Energy Security Act of 2007.
  Sometimes we get caught in our bubble in Washington and we forget, we 
forget there is a whole world outside in this great land of ours: 
working families, folks who are working hard each and every day to 
provide for their families, to ensure their safety, to take care of 
their children, to be a part of their community, and to help their 
neighbors.
  On October 25 our Senate Agriculture Committee passed this 
legislation unanimously, not one single dissenting vote. And that is 
because there were a lot of Members who understood the importance of 
this bill. They came together and worked to come up with a bill in 
which everyone had a vested interest.
  It passed unanimously for good reason. It does a tremendous amount 
not only for our farm families but for antihunger advocates, for 
environmentalists, those working to spur economic development in rural 
areas, and it takes tremendous strides to rid our Nation of its 
dependence on foreign oil.
  All of those are positive, progressive things that happen in this 
bill, brought together, again, by a group in the Senate Agriculture 
Committee who wanted to make progress, who wanted to put together a 
bill everybody could be proud of, that everybody could help move 
forward.
  I know this policy effort is not on the top of everyone's priority 
list in this body like it is on mine. It is on the top of my mine, and 
it is a huge priority for me for multiple reasons. One, I am a farmer's 
daughter. I understand. I understand what farm families are doing out 
there. I understand, when they get up at the crack of dawn, before the 
Sun comes up, they get out and work hard, to do something that gives 
them a tremendous sense of pride. They produce a safe and abundant and 
affordable supply of food and fiber for this country.
  I also know it is a huge priority for me because of my State, and the 
fact that my State has an economy that is based on agriculture. They 
have a great sense of pride in not only being able to provide that safe 
and abundant and affordable food supply in the most efficient way 
possible for this great land, but they do so worldwide as well.
  At a minimum, everyone here should recognize and appreciate what this 
bill accomplishes, even if you take for granted that the grocery store 
shelves are full when you go in that grocery store, even if you take 
for granted that you pay less than anybody in the developed world per 
capita for your food source, and even if you take for granted the fact 
that it is produced in the most environmentally respectful way, and 
also that it is produced in a way that is safe, through all kinds of 
regulations, all kinds of research that provides us the sound backing 
that our food source is safe.
  It is safe for our children, safe for our elderly, safe for our 
families. That is huge. At a time when we are seeing foods coming in 
through our borders, through our ports that are unsafe from countries 
that do not put on those restrictions and regulations, for countries 
that do not have the efficiency on their farms that we do, it is 
absolutely critical that we bring ourselves together and focus on this 
bill.
  In this bill there is a $5.28 billion increase--an increase--to our 
nutrition programs. These are programs that provide assistance and a 
nutritious meal at breakfast and lunch for children, nutritious meals 
for the elderly across this country, nutritious summer feeding 
programs, nutritious fruits and vegetables and snacks for school 
children. That is a huge step in the right direction.
  Something we can all get behind is over a $4 billion increase to 
conservation. You know it is unbelievable to see that kind of an 
increase to reinforce those who love and use the land, that they can do 
so with the incentives to make sure they are using the optimum of 
technology and research to conserve that land that means so much to 
them and to future generations.
  That is a third straight record for the farm bill in terms of 
increases in what we are seeing in this underlying bill. There is $500 
million for rural development in our small communities where we are 
seeing a desperate need for broadband and access to the information 
highway where we are looking for investment from entrepreneurs and 
small businesses so that we can keep strong our communities in rural 
America, and we do not see this flight into the cities, making sure 
those communities can be strong for the schools and for churches and 
for children and the working families who live in those rural 
communities, who have their heritage, their heart is there in that 
community, so that they can stay there, so that we as a nation make 
those investments.
  The energy incentives in this bill, when it is coupled with the 
Finance Committee incentives, shows a true commitment to moving 
renewable fuels into the marketplace. You know, it does not make a bit 
of difference if we continue to produce all of these renewable fuels if 
we do not get them into the marketplace, if we do not get them into the 
hands of consumers. And it also does not make any difference if we do 
not start to think outside the box, looking for newer and more 
innovative processes and research to provide renewable fuels that come 
from feedstock that might be leftovers.
  We know we can make cellulosic ethanol from cotton sticks and rice 
hulls and rice straw, but we have to get that to the consumer. We have 
to get that process going. There are great opportunities in this bill 
for that.
  In short, this bill is a win for every region of our great Nation. 
And everyone, even if your plow is a pencil, even if you have not spent 
time walking rice levees or scouting cotton or chopping down coffee 
bean plants in a bean field like I have, even if your plow is a pencil 
and the closest farm is 1,000 miles away from you, it should be so 
obvious to everyone that the farm bill provides exactly what this title 
suggests: it provides this Nation's security, it provides us with 
security of knowing that we will have the domestic production of a food 
supply for our people and for our Nation, that we will help feed the 
world with that safe and affordable and abundant supply of food and 
fiber.
  Unfortunately, it is clear by the criticisms of the farm bill by the 
editorial boards and major newspapers that many of our hard-working 
farm families are not getting the respect they deserve for what it is 
they provide. It is my hope the Senate will not also take for granted 
the security of safe food and fiber at a time when so much of what is 
entering this country

[[Page S14357]]

is either not inspected, nor safe, or sent back.
  We had a hearing in the Finance Committee. We were told about port 
shopping, that products coming in commodities, coming into our country 
come to one of our ports, get inspected, get rejected, and then they 
start shopping around for a port that does not have an inspector. And, 
yes, we have ports without inspectors.
  So not only are we accepting substandard food, but we are minimizing 
our ability to produce our own with the control and the oversight that 
ensures us that what we produce domestically is safe.
  This piece of legislation is about national security, just as foreign 
policy is in many other regions of the world. Why is it we think that 
when we go to these trade negotiations, usually the last thing that is 
negotiated is agricultural products? It is because those countries 
understand. Those countries have been hungry. They have been subjected 
to foods that are unsafe or grown in a manner they don't appreciate. 
But they also know they can control making sure that there is enough 
there, if they can control and keep out our products. Many of the 
commodities I grow do find themselves on the international scene as 
commodities left out of trade agreements. That is because they are 
critical. They are a staple in the global community for sustenance of 
life.
  Whether a country provides subsidies at levels much higher than those 
included in this bill or protects their farmers by a prohibitive tariff 
structure, every country in some form or fashion ensures a domestic 
food supply. If we continue in the direction we are going, where we are 
seeing for the first time in the history of our country the possibility 
of a trade deficit in agricultural products, what is that going to mean 
to us as a nation? It is going to mean we are then going to be more 
dependent on other countries for food that is critical for children and 
families all across this land.
  In the United States, the farm bill is the policy that ensures safe 
food and fiber. We have worked hard in the Agriculture Committee to 
come up with a bill that was both bipartisan and biregional, agreed 
upon by everybody. Everybody got something positive out of a bill that 
was respectful to the diversity of this country, to the diversity of 
how we grow our crops. Lord, it was interesting for me to talk with my 
colleagues from way up on the Canadian border who had snow in August. 
We had 12 straight days of over 100-degree weather in Arkansas. We are 
a diverse nation and we are blessed to be that way. It is all the more 
reason we have the responsibility in this body to be respectful of that 
diversity and what it is that each of us has to bring to the table from 
our States. The Agriculture Committee did that.
  It also respected the needs of those who are less fortunate in the 
nutrition title. It respected the idea that Americans want to ensure 
conservation and good stewardship of the land. We did that. We looked 
at the need for renewable energy, and we have made a huge investment, 
both in the farm bill in authorizing policy and also in the Finance 
Committee package that accompanies it, making sure that incentives are 
there for communities and for ag producers and all of those in rural 
America that not only can we continue the research but get into 
production of renewable fuels and, most importantly, that we can get 
them to the consumer. It doesn't matter how much we produce; if we are 
not using it, it is not benefiting the environment and not lessening 
our dependence on foreign oil. In the long term, it is not going to 
benefit growers who are looking for that secondary market.
  We should all recognize and appreciate the bounty this bill provides 
and what it does for the hard-working men and women in farm families 
across this country who support each and every one of us every day in 
what it is they do for us for that security. I urge my colleagues to 
get serious about passing this bill and providing the certainty our 
farm families deserve, knowing that Government stands with them. Today, 
this time right now in our State of Arkansas, it is time to plant the 
winter wheat crop. Without knowing what the policy is going to be for 
next year or the year after that or the year after that, it is pretty 
hard to go to that banker and ask for that tremendous loan for that 
investment one has to make in producing that safe and abundant, 
affordable food supply, without knowing where one's Government stands.
  I appeal to my colleagues and ask them to join us on the floor to 
talk about how important this bill is and, more importantly, to come 
together and figure out a way we can make this happen before we go home 
to celebrate Thanksgiving and the incredible bounty this country 
provides. Let us make sure those who provide for us have an 
understanding of where their Government stands on their behalf.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. CORNYN. I yield myself 10 minutes of our allotted 30 minutes.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is recognized.

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