[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 14, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4203-S4210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S4203]]
          FOOD, CONSERVATION, AND ENERGY ACT OF 2008--Resumed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. It is my great pleasure to join my colleagues today to 
speak about a wonderful bipartisan effort that took a lot of time and 
effort, a lot of energy, but we all come to the floor tonight to 
celebrate a very important food policy, conservation policy, energy 
policy to the country. And certainly there are many people to thank.
  It is wonderful to see a member of the Agriculture Committee as 
Presiding Officer this evening. Mr. President, we thank you for your 
efforts.
  I certainly have to thank our chairman. We would not be here without 
our chairman and his passion and his patience in working through what 
has been an extremely challenging effort but one that--pardon the pun--
has borne fruit and vegetables. So we are very pleased. It was great.
  I know Senator Chambliss is not here, but what a wonderful partner in 
all of this as well. I know he is somewhere in the building.
  I wish to say to Senator Crapo before he leaves that it has been 
wonderful to work with him on issues related to specialty crops and 
conservation, and also his wonderful leadership on the endangered 
species legislation.
  There were 250 different organizations, from environmental 
organizations to businesses, that all came together. That alone is a 
feat. So I congratulate the Senator.
  Standing next to Senator Crapo, of course, is Senator Roberts, who 
comes with such passion and experience himself, having led farm bills. 
Despite his razzing me about cherries all of the time, and asparagus, 
we are going to get you healthy by giving you a lot more fruits and 
vegetables as a result of this wonderful bill.
  So there are a lot of people to thank--Senators Baucus and Grassley 
for their efforts on the Finance Committee, leading us. I am proud to 
serve on both committees, as is the distinguished Presiding Officer, 
who has been in a spot on both Finance and Agriculture to help bring 
this all together.
  Also, we would not be here without Senator Conrad and the incredible 
knowledge he and his staff have in crunching the numbers and being able 
to bring us to this point in so many ways. So thank you to him as well 
and, of course, our House colleagues, Chairman Peterson and Ranking 
Member Goodlatte and Chairman Rangel.
  I also wish to say a special thank-you to a gentleman I have come to 
call a friend, Congressman Cardoza, who was my partner on the issue of 
specialty crops in the House. I very much appreciate all of his efforts 
as well.
  Of course, I have to say thank you to Senator Reid. We would not be 
here if our leader had not focused on this and provided the kind of 
leadership at the right times to be able to bring people together and 
to once again provide us time on the floor, when time is a precious 
commodity here as there is so much to be done. So I wish to thank 
Senator Reid for always getting the priorities right in terms of what 
is in front of us.
  Then I finally, on a personal note, wish to thank two terrific, hard-
working members of my staff: Chris Adamo, who has worked every part of 
this bill for months and months, and Oliver Kim, who did such terrific 
work on the nutrition title for me. So I wish to thank both of them.
  This was not, as I said before, an easy negotiation. But we are very 
proud. I am very proud--I know we all are--of the end result. We have 
created new opportunities for food and nutrition, significant new 
opportunities. We have new investments in renewable energies--certainly 
important to jobs in the great State of Michigan and around the country 
as well as creating energy independence. We strengthened our research 
efforts.
  I am proud to have led an effort that began with our research 
institutions, our land grant colleges proposing something called 
CREATE-21. We used that structure to be able to put in place a research 
structure to be able to focus more on the competitive research and 
other important changes in this bill as well.
  We also put in permanent disaster assistance. Due to some weather 
very recently in Michigan, unfortunately, we may be finding ourselves 
needing some of the disaster assistance for some of our specialty 
crops. I am hopeful we will not but, weather being what it is, having a 
permanent disaster assistance program is very important. I think it is 
important to have it paid for and have it part of our policy. So I am 
pleased we have that as well.
  There is also an incredible conservation title that is in this bill, 
as well as rural development and, of course, our support for our 
Nation's farmers, while at the same time we achieve significant 
reforms.
  When you put it all together, it is an incredible picture of many 
pieces coming together to create the right kind of values and 
priorities and the right kind of policy. I hope we will pass this 
conference report as we passed the original Senate farm bill and as the 
House has passed the conference report with an overwhelming majority. 
We will then send a very strong message to the White House that we have 
incredibly strong bipartisan support, and we are hopeful, in fact, that 
we will see the same support in the end from the White House. Even 
though we have certainly received comments to the contrary, we hope we 
will send a very strong message and that they will come together and 
join with us and the overwhelming number of Members who have worked so 
hard and supported this policy.
  We have agreed on a monetary framework that has been talked about 
before that is $10 billion above the baseline, above the last farm 
bill. We actually started with fewer dollars, $58 billion less than 
last time because of commodity prices and so on. So there has been a 
lot of work on the financial side to have a way for us to be able to 
create some new investments. And it is significant that those 
investments were done not by raising revenue or raising taxes but by 
making reforms, by making changes within farm policy. That is very 
significant.
  I think it is also a credit to everyone involved that the $10 billion 
in new spending all goes to food and nutrition programs--all of it; in 
fact, a little bit more than that, $10.35 billion. That is extremely 
significant in terms of where our values and priorities are.
  It is important as well to indicate, as colleagues have, that 73 
percent of the farm bill goes to food and nutrition programs for 
America's families, primarily through the Food Stamp Program but 
through other critical programs as well.
  I can tell you, coming from Michigan, where we have been hard hit as 
it relates to the economy and what has happened in the global economy 
to manufacturing and so on, we have a lot of folks who never thought 
they would need help, a lot of folks who have worked hard their whole 
lives and have lost their jobs and now find themselves in a situation 
that, in order to feed their families, they need some help. They paid 
taxes their whole lives, and now they are in a situation where they 
need to have some assistance. In fact, we have one out of eight 
people--one out of eight--in Michigan today who is eligible for food 
stamps because of the recession and the economy. I am proud we have 
recognized the fact that we need to make sure in America that food 
assistance is available at times of hardship when families need it.
  We have also talked about other programs. In the nutrition title, the 
school snack program is also critical in terms of supporting our fruit 
and vegetables growers. We are talking about expanding a program so 
that children in schools all across Michigan and all across the country 
will have the ability, rather than going to the vending machines, to be 
able to have a fresh apple, fresh blueberries, fresh strawberries, 
plums, asparagus, celery, be able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, 
which we know is so important for their own health and growth as well 
as a way to support our growers. With this program, 81,000 Michigan 
students will be able to receive fresh fruits and vegetables as a 
result of the policies we have set up.
  There are also emergency food programs, community food banks, 
seniors' farmers markets to be able to allow senior citizens to have 
coupons to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. This is very significant.
  I wish to also mention and say a special personal thank-you to a 
member of my family who has advocated so strongly for these food 
programs, my

[[Page S4204]]

daughter Michelle, who works for the Capital Area Community Services 
office in Lansing, MI. She works with low-income families and seniors 
every day. On more than one occasion, I have been e-mailed while we 
were working on the farm bill, with my daughter expressing great 
concern about the small number of items available for senior citizens 
when they come in once a month for food. She is giving me lists of two 
potatoes, dried milk, rice, small little lists, and then she says, 
``Mom, these are seniors. Can't we do better than this?'' Well, I am 
proud to say that with what we are doing here now, we are going to be 
able to do better than that. I think personally there is something 
wrong when we have these senior programs and they can't get fresh milk 
or bread, which is not part of those programs. So I wish to thank 
Michelle for pushing and pushing me to remember what it is like for 
people who are having to live under the funding and the policies we put 
forward.

  There are many titles of the farm bill. Every title is significant. 
Every title affects Michigan. I come from a State that everybody thinks 
of as automobiles. And we are proud of our auto heritage, our 
manufacturing heritage, but our No. 2 industry is agriculture. We have 
more diversity of crops than any other State but California, and we are 
very proud of that as well. And while our specialty crops--our fruit 
and vegetable growers--are over half of what we grow, we also have corn 
and soybeans and sugar beets and livestock and milk as major components 
of Michigan agriculture.
  I am proud to have helped author this bill, which maintains a strong 
safety net and improves policies for all of our farmers and our 
ranchers. Michigan is rural in many ways. Around Michigan, up north, 
the Upper Peninsula, all of Michigan, we benefit greatly by the rural 
development title. I do not think there is a community in Michigan that 
has not, in some way, benefited by the rural development title.
  I am very excited about the energy title and what we have been able 
to do. The energy title really is not only about supporting growers but 
about creating economic opportunities, jobs, and also addressing the 
issue of gas prices and dependence on foreign oil. With billions of 
dollars in new money for both titles, I know we can help grow jobs as 
well as grow sources of energy--both incredibly important.
  One of the most significant energy policies is the new cellulosic 
ethanol tax credits. I know that our Presiding Officer has been a very 
strong proponent of this as well. This tax incentive will build upon 
corn ethanol, with new cellulosic-based fuels that can be made with a 
variety of organic sources such as wood, with the great woods of the 
Upper Peninsula in Michigan, to switchgrass or agricultural waste. 
These new sources of ethanol will also alleviate the burden on corn and 
food prices, as we know.
  Furthermore, in Michigan, this new tax credit will provide certainty 
and an incentive for investors like Mascoma, which is a partner with 
General Motors on a cellulosic ethanol project; New Page, which is in 
the Upper Peninsula and is partnering now to create commercially 
produced cellulosic ethanol and, again, jobs in Michigan.
  The farm bill also has one of our Federal Government's strongest 
environmental investments, something that I know, among many passions, 
has been the passion of our chairman, and we would not have the 
conservation title we have if it were not for our chairman.
  This is significant for natural resources across the Nation, but in 
Michigan it is really crucial, not only to our farmers who use the 
conservation title, but we have any number of ways, whether it is 
preserving wetlands or whether it is focusing on water quality or 
wildlife in the Great Lakes. This is extremely important to us, 
protecting land and open spaces. Overall, the $4 billion in new 
spending for conservation is vital for us in wetlands, grasslands, 
forests, and maintaining some of our best stewards of the land, our 
farmers and our ranchers.
  I am extremely pleased to have included language that makes it clear 
that we can use dollars from the conservation title to focus on soil 
erosion, runoff, and other issues that address the challenges of our 
Great Lakes, a very important national resource.
  Of course I am especially proud of the new farm bill specialty crop 
title. I think my colleagues have gotten tired of me talking about 
specialty crops, but I am very grateful for the fact that half of the 
growers in the country, half of our cash receipts in the country come 
from what are called specialty crops, fruits and vegetable growers, 
other specialty items, and they have not had a place in other farm 
bills in our history. So I thank the chairman again for working with me 
to create the specialty crop title. These are growers who have not 
asked for direct payments, but they do ask that we recognize and 
support them to be successful in a number of areas.
  They have unique and significant challenges with pests and disease, 
with trade barriers, with marketing, disaster relief, the need for 
research. We know there are important things we can do to support fruit 
and vegetable growers. We have all together, counting disaster 
assistance, a little over $3 billion that will go toward the area of 
specialty crops. I have to say that when we started this process, we 
put together a bipartisan letter with 36 Members of the Senate asking, 
in fact, that we invest $3.3 billion in specialty crops. We pretty much 
hit that number at the end of the process. I am very grateful to all 
colleagues who joined together in that effort.
  These new funds will help the Nation and Michigan. For example, 
Michigan orchards will benefit from competitive research grants that 
will provide much needed support for efforts to research alternative 
pesticides and solutions for new diseases. This is incredibly important 
because the FDA zero tolerance policy for insect and larva in fruit is 
something our growers have to address. Alternative pesticides have to 
be found by 2012 to allow cherries and apples to continue to be 
marketed in the United States. This is a very real challenge, and this 
bill will help them address that. The cherry industry has invested 
millions of its own dollars in partnering with my alma mater, Michigan 
State University. This partnership will be in a very competitive 
position to tap into these new dollars for specialty crop research.
  USDA's ability to aid growers in times of surplus has been 
strengthened significantly by this title. The addition of value-added 
products to section 32, our commodity purchase program, will be of 
great help to Michigan growers. Our cherry growers, for example, in 
fact had a surplus year and a promised $8.1 million purchase is coming 
soon. It is helpful to know in the future this program will be stronger 
and even better.
  Finally, let me stress the fruit and vegetable snack program. 
Michigan's dried cherries are the single most popular dried fruit 
served in the program, according to the USDA's own 2004 evaluation. 
This new market expanding the fresh fruits and vegetables program is 
something they are very excited about. There is no question this will 
focus on and contribute to the health and welfare of our children. 
There is much in this specialty crop package for both growers and 
consumers. I am grateful for colleagues supporting this effort.
  Again, this is a bill that has reforms. It speaks to the future. I 
would say when we look at not only the safety net that is important for 
our growers, our ranchers, but when we look at new energy 
opportunities, food and nutrition support for our families, 
particularly now in challenging times, a major effort in conservation 
to protect our land and water, and to provide the ability to protect 
forests and lands for the future, rural development research, on and 
on, this is a bill that touches every family, not only those in rural 
America.
  We specifically included some items such as community gardens to help 
those in cities who live in areas that unfortunately have been now 
dubbed food deserts, where the local store doesn't have fresh fruits 
and vegetables. It is not something they are able to get. But being 
able to support community groups to have community gardens so, again, 
fresh fruits and vegetables are available, is something that is part of 
this bill.
  In every way, this is a bill deserving of a strong bipartisan vote. 
It is an example of a complicated process that people came together to 
work very hard on. I am very proud of Senate colleagues. We stuck 
together. We pushed

[[Page S4205]]

very hard for what we believed was the right set of values and 
priorities. We were able to achieve it. I encourage and urge colleagues 
tomorrow to join with us in support of this very important bill.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, the hour is late. Obviously, the 
galleries are very nervous and full of people who wish to go home. The 
aggie press covering this momentous event is tired, writing furiously, 
as I was. And the chairman of the committee, we are trying his patience 
as he has been sitting here all these hours listening to members of his 
committee discuss the farm bill. I thank the chairman for his 
perseverance. I thank the distinguished ranking member, Senator 
Chambliss, who, I understand, like Elvis, has left the building, but 
his presence is still here. So I shall try to be brief.
  I rise today to speak on the farm bill conference agreement and, most 
importantly, to stand up and support production agriculture. I want to 
associate myself with the remarks of the Senator from Arkansas who gave 
a very good speech on the value of production agriculture. Apparently 
our Nation enjoys, but too many times simply does not appreciate, 
whether it be the national media or some in this Congress or whether it 
be observers of agriculture program policy, the modern-day miracle 
known as U.S. agriculture. That used to be a staple of all agriculture 
speeches. I think we need to repeat it--the modern miracle that 
provides the cheapest and highest quality food supply in the world.
  We have heard claims throughout the debate that since commodity 
prices are high, we don't need farm programs. That has been in the 
print of many a newspaper and the subject of several topics within the 
national media, on television, radio. Those who would make these claims 
do not understand agriculture or the challenges our farmers and 
ranchers face. I doubt seriously if they have ever set foot on any farm 
ground. Prices were high in the past and, as quickly as they rose, they 
fell. We could very well see history repeat itself. This is precisely 
why we need a farm bill to begin with, a farm bill that provides an 
adequate safety net so producers can compete in the global marketplace, 
producers especially in high-risk States such as Kansas, who contribute 
so much, 350 million bushels of wheat a year, maybe 400 million, and 
many other grain products, a big beef State.
  These producers may barely scrape by for 2, 3, 4, and even 5 years 
due to inclement weather. High-risk agriculture is what we call it. But 
the benefits are great. Then 1 year they make it big. When they do, 
they are able to pay down some debt and maybe upgrade the equipment 
they have been using for 15 years or they can take their wife and kids 
on the first vacation they have been able to afford in years to take 
time to enjoy. Yet as soon as they get a little bit of breathing room, 
unfortunately, some in the media and other critics claim our producers 
are taking advantage of taxpayers, and they are getting rich, 
especially farms that farm a lot of acres. It seems to me now that we 
have a new criteria. If you are a large farmer, meaning if you farm a 
large number of acres, you are automatically rich, which is simply not 
the case. What other business do you know of that can sustain such 
prolonged periods of loss only to hold out for 1 year of reprieve? That 
is why we need a safety net in our farm programs. That is it in a 
nutshell, to help producers weather the storms of instability in the 
marketplace.
  It is the deficiency in the safety net protections for wheat and 
sorghum, our producers of sorghum and wheat in this conference 
agreement, that does give me pause. That certainly doesn't come as any 
surprise to any member of the committee who has taken the time to 
listen to this member. As a Senator from a State with high-risk 
agriculture, many of our current farm programs simply don't work for my 
farmers when they have no crop to harvest. This is especially true of 
target prices and loan rates. However, two programs have worked. In 
recent years direct payments, which should be called safety net 
payments and crop insurance, have been a lifeline for Kansas farmers 
and their lenders. Yet title I of this agreement increases target 
prices and loan rates, the same programs that do not help producers 
when disaster strikes and they have no crop to harvest, while at the 
same time cutting the safety net payments or what is called a direct 
payment and crop insurance.
  Back in 2002, we discovered that the countercyclical program, when we 
were considering that bill and I made the same speech on the floor at 
that particular time, would not have provided assistance in 9 of the 
previous 17 years in Kansas. That is over half the time. My question 
was, why support a farm bill that does not help your State, one of the 
biggest producing States in over half the number of years as we went 
back the 17 years? And those 9 years represented some of our toughest 
years in regard to weather in that period. Since that time, because of 
a prolonged drought and late-season freezes, the countercyclical and 
the loan programs have simply failed to provide assistance to Kansas 
producers, even when they didn't get a crop. Direct payments or safety 
net payments and crop insurance did provide the support.
  Unfortunately, these key programs are treated as a bank in the 
conference report. Even though both the House and Senate passed bills 
that kept this direct payment completely intact, the conference report 
reduces this producer support in years 2009, 2010, and 2011. Some of my 
colleagues here and in the House have stated publicly they would like 
to see the direct payment ended altogether and rely on the 
countercyclical program. Again, it simply has not worked in most of the 
years that it has been in effect on behalf of my State of Kansas. These 
statements did create an atmosphere in which moving forward was 
difficult and at times very frustrating. Thankfully, we were able to 
protect salvage farmers who were getting ready to head into the fields 
and harvest their 2008 winter wheat crop.
  I am pleased the conferees worked with me and with others to ensure 
that our producers would not face cuts to these direct payments in 
2008. Long ago these producers signed operating notes with their 
lenders for this crop year. They should not have the rules of the game 
changed now. I am pleased we prevented that from happening.
  Historically we had kept the crop insurance legislation separate from 
the farm bill, but that changed in 2002. Unfortunately, it does 
continue in this bill. I think it should be a separate bill. I remember 
all the hard work Senator Bob Kerrey and I worked on in regard to that 
bill. It was separate then. Perhaps we can do that down the road. Last 
time around we took $2 billion out of crop insurance. I warned at that 
time that that was a dangerous road to take. This time the crop 
insurance program offers close to $6 billion for the benefit of other 
programs in the bill. So we are taking from crop insurance, using it as 
a bank for other programs. This is going to have an effect on producers 
and providers, and don't let anybody tell you differently. While these 
cuts may not unravel the program in low-risk States, they are 
dangerously close to doing so in high-risk States. You know very well I 
am talking about doing an excellent job of representing Colorado, the 
neighboring State, to the west.
  I am also concerned our producers will have to pay their premiums 
earlier, beginning in 2011. This means they may have to secure credit 
to cover the payment. I am hopeful that since we have a few years 
before this takes effect, we can get it fixed before it does hit 
farmers on their balance sheets.
  Notwithstanding my concerns for the commodity and the crop insurance 
sections of this bill, let me emphasize that there are strong, positive 
provisions in this conference report that will go a long way to benefit 
not only Kansas but the entire Nation. I thank Finance Committee 
Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley and their staffs for 
fighting so hard to ensure that the tax title of the Senate bill 
remained in the conference report.
  I am honored to serve on the Finance Committee under their 
leadership, just as I am honored to serve on the Agriculture Committee. 
They often take hits from all corners around here because of their 
efforts to work together. But it is because of their bipartisanship 
that we have been able to show the American people that we can work

[[Page S4206]]

together to get things done in Washington.
  They have fashioned an agricultural tax relief package that provides 
targeted tax relief for farmers and ranchers. It encourages significant 
investments in conservation, it decreases our reliance on foreign 
energy, and it invests in our rural communities.
  Of particular importance to many of us is a provision that does 
correct an inequity in the Tax Code that harms retired and disabled 
farmers when they receive the Conservation Reserve Program payments. I 
and many others on both sides of the aisle have worked for years to get 
this fixed.
  We also help agricultural businesses manage the growing costs of 
securing agricultural pesticides and fertilizers. While important to 
farmers and agricultural businesses, these can also be used for illegal 
purposes. They have in the past, including the manufacture of 
explosives, and other drugs very harmful, more especially to young 
people. Those of us in the heartland who remember the attack on 
Oklahoma City in 1995 know this risk all too well. Having served on the 
Intelligence Committee, I know all too well about this risk.
  Also included in this title is important tax assistance for a 
community called Greensburg, KS. Ten days go, we marked the 1-year 
anniversary of the EF-5 tornado--a mile and a half wide--an EF-5 
tornado that literally wiped the town off the Kansas prairie. I have 
seen tornado damage. Serving in the Armed Services, I have seen tornado 
damage. I have never seen anything like this, destroying literally 95 
percent of this community of 1,500 people. The grade school, high 
school, city hall, hospital, water tower, fire station, every church, 
and all but three businesses in the town were completely destroyed. 
Lives were lost in this storm.
  In the aftermath of this devastation, Senator Brownback and I put 
together a very modest and temporary tax relief bill to help residents 
and small businesses pick up the pieces and rebuild Greensburg. This 
tax relief mirrors many of the same provisions Congress approved to 
help those affected by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.
  Some in the House actually questioned why this legislation was 
necessary and why it belonged on a farm bill. It belonged in the farm 
bill because this is a rural development and rural revitalization 
issue. The provisions in the package will help residents rebuild the 
1,000 homes that were damaged or destroyed and will help the 113 small 
businesses in Greensburg to rebuild and grow their businesses.
  This tax legislation represents exactly what our Government should do 
to help in times of extreme need, and it belongs in this bill. Frankly, 
the House should have passed it a year ago, as the Senate did 
originally on May 25, 2007.
  The tax title of this conference report is a solid win for rural 
America, and it is a major reason why I will support this legislation--
despite my concerns with the commodity title and crop insurance, which 
I have already gone over.
  I also thank the chairman of the Agriculture Committee and the 
ranking member, Senator Chambliss, for working with me to address my 
concerns with regard to the Rural Utilities Service's broadband loan 
program. The reforms included here represent a rare bipartisan and 
consensus-driven effort to bring broadband Internet to more Americans.
  As has been noted by others, the conference report makes significant 
investments in conservation programs that are popular in Kansas, such 
as EQIP and the Open Fields program that Senator Conrad and I have been 
working on for years.
  I am also pleased to see the investments made in nutrition policy, 
specifically the provisions which encourage our schoolchildren to eat 
more whole grain foods. Whole grain products are an excellent source of 
fiber and provide nutrients that help reduce the risk of heart disease.
  Finally, the bill includes two sections that are extremely important 
to Kansas.
  First, through the livestock title of this bill, we have ensured that 
competition is protected in the marketplace and that producers will 
continue to be able to market their livestock as they see fit. I am 
also pleased the livestock title allows for the implementation of the 
COOL program, the country-of-origin labeling program, in a way that 
does not require additional burdensome paperwork on our producers in 
the beef industry. The beef industry is nearly a $6-billion-a-year 
industry in Kansas. The livestock title of the bill helps us ensure it 
will continue to be an important part of our State's economy.
  The research title of this bill also includes an important provision 
to allow DHS to continue plans to build a new National Bio and 
AgroDefense Facility, NBAF.
  The research that will be conducted at this facility will be crucial 
in protecting our livestock and commodity industries, human health, and 
the overall health of our Nation's economy. I thank the chairman and 
ranking member for helping to ensure this provision was included in the 
conference report.
  So, Mr. President, as I have said before, this is not the best 
possible bill. But it may be--and I think is--the best bill possible 
under extremely difficult circumstances. Certainly the chairman 
understands that.
  While I am not pleased with the way our Kansas wheat and sorghum 
producers are treated in this bill, I am worried that no farm bill or 
revisiting the farm bill in the next year or two may lead to an even 
less desirable outcome.
  You have heard of ``The Last Picture Show.'' This may be ``The Last 
Farm Bill.'' The fact is that we do have important provisions in this 
bill. We also have producers who, in a few short days or weeks, will be 
in the fields harvesting their 2008 winter wheat crops. They need--no, 
they deserve the predictability and stability of a long-term bill. It 
is time to let them know the rules of the game.
  I wish, Mr. Chairman, we could seek unanimous consent simply to pass 
the bill tonight and thereby relieve the President of any decision he 
might have to make in terms of a possible veto, even though the vote in 
the House was certainly overwhelming on behalf of the bill.
  With that, I thank my chairman for his patience.
  I thank you, Mr. President, for your patience.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise to speak of my support for the 
conference report on the farm bill. I am delighted to follow my 
colleague, Senator Roberts, who supports the bill, who has served on 
the conference committee and has been a longtime worker and writer of 
farm bills. I think this is probably Senator Roberts' fifth or sixth 
farm bill. So I am delighted to follow in his wake here and to support 
the same farm bill.
  I wish to commend my colleagues, Senator Harkin and Senator 
Chambliss, for their leadership on this issue. I am proud to represent 
an agriculture State, along with Senator Roberts, and I am proud to 
represent Kansas producers and their interests here in Washington. I am 
proud to be here representing my dad and brother who are full-time 
farmers and people who both use the farm bill and swear at it from time 
to time as well, complaining about different of its provisions that are 
in the farm bill that hit them in an adverse way.
  Still, I think overall this is a good farm bill. I think some of the 
highlights of the farm bill are the expansion of ethanol and the 
cellulosic ethanol field. It is an area we are seeing now--with grain 
prices rising and people being concerned about the competition between 
food and fuel moving into cellulosic--that makes enormous sense, and I 
think it is clearly one of the ways of the future we need to go.
  The expansion of biobased products that is in the bill, the expansion 
of the conservation area in the bill, with a keen interest in the 
environment that continues to grow in the country in its importance and 
its importance to farmers--I think those are all highlights of the 
bill.
  I think weak aspects of the bill are its treatment, particularly in 
my State, toward wheat and sorghum producers. I think those are weak 
aspects of this bill.
  So I think, overall, as my colleague from Kansas said, we need to get 
some certainty of a bill done, and it is way

[[Page S4207]]

past time for that to take place--way past time. The extensions that 
have been taking place are an insult to producers who have to have some 
form of planning on the horizon to be able to move forward. They do not 
just buy inputs on a whim. They have to have some planning on the 
horizon for buying fuels, for being able to buy fertilizers and 
chemicals, and, obviously, with us doing this in May, this spring 
planting season is over in many places and certainly in the waning 
weeks in others. We need to get this done.
  Much has been said about this farm bill. It has been well over 2 
years in the making. I do not believe it is a perfect farm bill. No 
bill ever is. But I believe it is a bill we need to pass. My producers 
back home simply want a bill passed. That is what I continue to hear 
more and more: We just want to see a bill passed. They are tired of the 
constant wrangling back and forth, and they are not pleased with the 
commodity title that has been cut. Neither am I. But they would rather 
have the certainty that this bill represents than continue living under 
1- or 2-week extensions.
  I would like to focus on reasons why I am supporting this farm bill.
  First--and one of the provisions noted by my colleague--the tax 
package attached to this bill has a lot of provisions my farmers and 
ranchers should be able to take advantage of. There are several 
programs and incentives for young and beginning farmers, as well as 
mandatory funding for rural micro-entrepreneurs.
  This is an issue I have been focused on for several years, along with 
my colleague from North Dakota, Senator Dorgan. We and many others have 
put forward the New Homestead Act, trying to target the outmigration 
from rural areas, and to cause and to help investment in rural 
communities, to help stem this tide of outmigration. While we have not 
been successful in passing that New Homestead Act yet, I am pleased 
that many of the initiatives in this farm bill are taken from or mirror 
those provisions in the New Homestead Act. I think they will help in 
the outmigration progress that is a big problem in my State, that is a 
big problem, I know, in the chairman's State, in Iowa, as well.
  Another piece of the tax package I am pleased is in this bill is the 
provisions to help Greensburg, KS, rebuild. My colleague from Kansas 
noted this is a town that was nearly wiped out. Ninety percent of the 
town was wiped out. The President has visited there twice. He most 
recently gave the commencement address at the high school, less than 2 
weeks ago.
  It is heartening to see the heart of the people in rebuilding. You 
knew from when you saw Greensburg right after the tornado hit and when 
you met with the people that this town was coming back, that the will 
and the spirit of the people were there. They are building it back 
green. It is really fascinating to see the number of small-scale and 
large-scale windmills that are in the town, the number of green 
construction sites and buildings that are going up. They want this town 
to be green Greensburg, and they are doing it. It is a very interesting 
thing to see.
  I was visiting with the John Deere dealership there, and he was 
showing me all of the green features they are putting in. This will be 
the most environmentally sensitive John Deere dealership in the 
country. You can say: Well, I am not sure if that title means a whole 
lot, but it is going to be a model for dealerships around the country 
in the farm equipment business. They are excited about it, and I am 
excited for them.
  This bill contains tax provisions that my colleague from Kansas, 
Senator Roberts, has worked hard to get passed. They passed this body 
three times but have never made it into law. With this bill, they will 
become law and go into practice.
  I am also pleased there are several initiatives in this bill to 
develop the biofuels and biobased products. The agriculture industry is 
now a food, fiber, and fuels business. For years, this has been the 
dream of people in agriculture: to expand the base of the industry from 
food and fiber to food, fiber, and fuels. Well, that has now taken 
place. That is now here.
  You travel across my State, you travel across the chairman's State, 
and there have been enormous investments in ethanol and the expansion 
of that industry, and it has been a great industry. I realize recently 
a lot of people have taken to hitting at ethanol. I would ask them, 
when they go to the gas pump and they are filling up and they are 
looking at how high this price is, that they would consider that price 
would be 25 to 40 cents higher without ethanol. Do they want that?
  I would note as well that the price of corn is not the culprit on the 
rising food prices. It has had an impact, but quite modest for what 
people are experiencing, and it is keeping down your fuel prices in an 
ecologically sound way. I think we can expand that ecologically sound 
fashion with the cellulosic base. So I would hope in the future you 
would not only have a corn stream going into the ethanol plant but you 
would have a corn stover or fodder stream going into that same ethanol 
plant that would build and create ethanol out of both cellulose and out 
of the grain as well. That can happen with this title here.
  I think one of the key provisions is loan guarantees and a new 
production tax credit of $1.01 per gallon for cellulosic ethanol that 
will be available through December of 2012. I think this is a key 
provision and a very helpful provision in this bill.

  We have been able to make numerous everyday household items recently 
out of agricultural products. Not only do these products reduce our 
need for petroleum, they also provide a new market for farmers in rural 
areas to tap into.
  For instance, the Kansas Polymer Research Center at Pittsburg State 
University in Pittsburgh, KS, has been studying, developing, and 
patenting ways to use various soybean oils to replace petroleum 
products. The foam rubber in car seats now, they have a patent to be 
able to make that--and it is being made in some places or soon will 
be--out of soybean oil rather than out of oil products. They have come 
up with ways to use soybean oil to create new chairs, materials in 
carpet, and even green concrete. Now, the color of the concrete is not 
actually green, but it is using soybean oil providing a new market for 
our farmers and is up to four times stronger than regular concrete. I 
am pleased to see this is being supported in the bill.
  As I mentioned, I think cellulosic ethanol is one of the key titles 
of the bill. One of the Nation's first cellulosic ethanol plants is 
being built in Hugoton, KS. I am pleased it is there. I look forward to 
the further development of cellulosic ethanol, and this bill helps us 
get there.
  Finally, while it is not specifically legislated through this bill, 
it is my hope the USDA will hold ``New Uses Expos'' around the country 
to showcase these bio-based products that we clearly have been 
targeting the Congress to do and to expand with; that the marketplace 
can expand with, that this title does, that this bill does, and we need 
to show those products off in many places around this country and 
around the world as a further greening of the United States and the use 
of the agricultural industry in expanding its base. This simply makes 
sense. Not only is the Federal Government required to procure bio-based 
products when available and affordable, but these are the types of 
innovative ideas that we should be pushing our agricultural industry to 
further develop. We all want our farm economy to move toward a more 
market-based system, and these new uses provide us with that 
opportunity.
  In the livestock title, I would like to also add that I am pleased to 
see it is going to allow our livestock producers to produce for a 
market and not create artificial barriers so the producer cannot get 
closer to the consumer. There were provisions that were being suggested 
before that would block our producers, our livestock producers, 
particularly our beef producers in Kansas, from being able to get 
closer to the consumer and thus more of the consumer dollar back to the 
farmer. Those are not in here, and I am very pleased the livestock 
title does not contain those and has worked with the producers, the 
livestock producers, to help them out.
  These are just a few reasons I am supporting this bill. I think the 
circumstances have been very difficult, but I believe it is a bill 
worth supporting. I wish to congratulate the

[[Page S4208]]

chairman and ranking member, Senator Chambliss, for their leadership on 
a very tough issue and on a tough farm bill, and it is time to get it 
passed.
  Mr. President, with that, I yield the floor, and I note the absence 
of a quorum.
  Mr. President, I will withhold that for just a minute.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Harkin). I thank the Senator from Kansas.
  The Senator from Colorado is recognized.
  Mr. SALAZAR. Parliamentary inquiry: Are we in a quorum call?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. No. We are on the bill, and the Senator is 
recognized for up to 26 minutes.
  Mr. SALAZAR. Thank you very much, Mr. President and Mr. Chairman. 
Thank you so much.
  Let me first say thank you to all of the people who have worked on 
this legislation in this body. Tonight is a night to celebrate what can 
be done when people come together and work for a common effort. To the 
chairman of the Agriculture Committee, the distinguished Presiding 
Officer, I will only say it is his patience which is the kind of 
patience of Job which has gotten us here tonight on the evening before 
we pass the conference report on the farm bill and get it moved forward 
to finality. It takes someone such as the Senator from Iowa who is the 
only U.S. Senator who still lives in the same house that he was born 
in, who really understands what it is like to be a salt-of-the-earth 
farmer and rancher, to move forward with the kind of patience and 
leadership to finally be at the point where we are going to get this 
historic farm bill across the finish line. So I wish to thank him, as 
well as Ranking Member Chambliss for his leadership.
  This has been a work long in progress. I remember some 3 years ago 
beginning some of the first conversations about the rewrite of the farm 
bill. I fondly remember the chairman of the Agriculture Committee, 
Senator Harkin, coming to the State of Colorado to hold the very first 
hearing on this farm bill which is here before us tonight. For that, 
the producers, the nutrition programs, the hunger programs, the farmers 
and ranchers of the State of Colorado and of this Nation will always be 
grateful.
  I also wish to say thank you to Senator Baucus and to Senator 
Grassley, the chairman and ranking member of the Finance Committee. I 
have the privilege of sitting on both the Finance Committee and the 
Energy Committee. At the end of the day, how both committees were able 
to work together to develop a package that is one that we will be 
rightfully proud of is in part a great tribute to both Chairman Baucus, 
as well as Senator Grassley, for their work.
  I also wish to thank Senator Conrad for his leadership in 
understanding the numbers. He is in a unique situation as the chairman 
of the Budget Committee and is the one who understands the Federal 
budget perhaps better than anybody else in this entire Chamber. I wish 
to thank also the others who served on the conference committee and who 
labored so hard to get this bill across the finish line, and to my 
colleagues on the Finance Committee, as well as on the Agriculture 
Committee, for all of their great work.
  Across the hallway, on the other side of this Capitol, I wish to 
thank Chairman Peterson of the House Agriculture Committee and Chairman 
Rangel for his hard work as well, and Congressman Salazar, a member of 
the Agriculture Committee, one of the salt-of-the-earth, true farmers 
still here in Washington, DC, who still wears the calluses on his hands 
from the work that he does on tractors and out in the fields. I thank 
him for his leadership.

  Finally, in terms of thanking leadership, it is important for us also 
to recognize that we would not be here were it not for Senator Harry 
Reid, our majority leader, because it was through his efforts that he 
steadfastly continued to push for us to get a final farm bill. His 
multiple meetings with Speaker Pelosi and with the leadership in the 
Senate in the committees to try to get us across the finish line is 
something we must honor and we must pay tribute to because without his 
leadership, we would not be here tonight.
  I also wish to briefly say thank you to my wonderful staff and to the 
producers of the State of Colorado, to Grant Leslie, my legislative 
director, Brendan McGuire, to Tommy Olsen, and to all of my State staff 
and Washington staff who worked so hard on this bill.
  I strongly support this farm bill conference report and I wish to 
thank everyone who has worked on this bill. It is a bill which is 
bipartisan, forward-thinking, a balanced package, and it is one which I 
think will pass overwhelmingly tomorrow.
  There is a lot riding on this farm bill. This is a bill that helps 
families put healthy and safe food on their tables. It helps kids get 
fresh fruits and vegetables for their lunches. It helps protect our 
land and our water. It helps us build a clean energy economy so vital 
to the national security of America and of the 21st century. Nowhere, 
however, is the farm bill more important, of course, than on farms and 
ranches in small towns and rural communities all across our Nation. 
Today, more than half of the counties in America are designated as 
rural counties. Mr. President, 44 of the 64 counties in my State of 
Colorado are defined as rural counties. For the last 8 years, many of 
these counties which are home to 50 million Americans have, in my view, 
been largely ignored by Washington, DC--ignored in its policies and 
ignored in its priorities. This farm bill sets us on the right track 
and in a new direction.
  We can see the effects of Washington's neglect in places such as my 
native Conejos County, one of the poorest counties in the entire United 
States of America where almost a quarter of the residents today still 
live below the poverty line. You can also see the difficulty in rural 
America on many of the Main Streets across the country, including Main 
Street of Brush, CO, where you can drive down Main Street and probably 
half of the businesses and stores have been closed down. The population 
in all of those counties across all of the eastern plains of my State 
has been declining.
  The truth is, the rural communities across our country are 
struggling. Median income in rural counties is around $11,000 less than 
the national median--$11,000 less than the national median. So country 
cousins and city cousins, when they compare their average per capita 
income, they know if you happen to live in that part of the country, 
you are going to end up making about $11,000 less than if you happen to 
live in the city.
  Jobs in many rural areas across America are disappearing. Hospitals 
and health clinics are closing. Schools have declining enrollments, and 
young people everywhere across rural America have to leave to find 
opportunities elsewhere. It is an exodus that takes place from rural 
America into urban America day after day, year after year, decade after 
decade.
  Of the 1,729 rural counties in the Nation, 865--that is about half of 
those counties--lost population between 2000 and 2005. This map shows 
all of those red counties which have been losing population between 
those years, and it is those counties in all of America that we try to 
address to provide a new direction, a new hope, a new opportunity and 
optimism for rural America in this farm bill.
  In my view, rural America has been forgotten for far too long, and 
passing this farm bill is of the utmost urgency. This legislation will 
help bring new life, new energy, and new opportunities for farmers and 
ranchers and for small town populations all across America. As a 
reminder of the importance of our farms and ranches in rural 
communities for our food supply in our society, I have for a long time 
since my days as attorney general in Colorado had a sign on my desk 
that says: ``No Farms, No Food.''
  Today, I have that sign on my desk in Washington, DC. I think it is 
always important for all of us to understand the importance of 
agriculture and the food security of this Nation to take every 
opportunity to remind the world and to remind our fellow 300 million 
American citizens that our food security ought never to be taken for 
granted.
  Tonight, this legislation, which has been led by Chairman Harkin, is 
making that statement across America: No Farms, No Food. I will tell my 
colleagues that anyone who goes without food for a day or two will 
recognize how important our farms are to America's food security.

[[Page S4209]]

  Unfortunately, I don't think the President of the United States has 
understood what is at stake. I hope he doesn't veto this bill. He has 
said multiple times that he will, even though his administration has 
had ample opportunity and has been at the table of negotiations and 
dialogue on the farm bill for many years now. So I am hopeful at the 
end of the day, this President, who at least in pictures is from 
Crawford, TX, would understand what those rural communities--including 
the community of Crawford, TX, and the communities across all of rural 
Texas--that signing this farm bill is an important way for him to stand 
and say rural America is, in fact, important.
  I am proud of this bill before us. The farm bill will spur the clean 
energy revolution that is already underway on our farms and fields 
across America. It will help us reach the goal of producing 25 percent 
of our energy from renewable resources by the year 2025. There was a 
provision that was included in the 2007 Energy bill which we passed out 
of this Senate and signed by the President which Senator Grassley and 
myself worked on during that Energy bill. This farm bill will stimulate 
rural development because in a number of different ways it will provide 
the stimulus needed for rural development to move forward, but in 
particular broadband, which is really needed in the 21st century for 
rural America to advance, is included and addressed in this bill in a 
major way.
  This farm bill--thank you, Mr. Chairman of the Agriculture 
Committee--is also the strongest conservation farm bill in the history 
of the United States of America. It will help in an unparalleled way, 
unprecedented way to protect our lands, our water, and our air for 
future generations to come.
  This farm bill also makes significant major investments in nutrition. 
Some of these changes are long overdue, including the changes to the 
food stamps program. This bill will help make sure we have healthy and 
safe food on dinner tables all across our country.
  Finally, this bill will bring a better balance and certainty to 
agricultural markets, while closing loopholes and carrying out needed 
reforms for our farm programs.
  Through a set of smart investments, this bill will help America build 
a clean energy economy that has its roots in America's farms and 
fields. I predict that in the decade ahead, we will see rural America 
and agriculture start to bloom and flower as it embraces the new energy 
frontier. With the $1 billion in the farm bill devoted to energy 
programs and an additional $403 billion in tax incentives for the 
production of renewable energy, farmers will be able to apply for 
grants to develop biorefineries and improve the handling, harvest, 
transport, and storage of feedstocks for biofuels.
  This bill includes tax credits for small wind turbines and cellulosic 
biofuel production, and it stimulates research into the methods and 
technologies that will allow the most productive lands in the world to 
provide more and more of our energy.
  On rural development, this farm bill lays the infrastructure to rural 
broadband and micro business loans, for accelerating economic 
development in rural areas. The bill includes $150 million for 
important rural development initiatives, including the $15 million for 
the Micro Enterprise Loan Program, a provision I was honored to work on 
with Senator Ben Nelson from Nebraska. The program will also provide 
technical assistance and small grants and loans to beginning rural 
entrepreneurs. The micro loans will provide incentives for beginning 
entrepreneurs to open their businesses in rural communities, thereby 
creating jobs and increasing the rate of rural migration. According to 
the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, 
microenterprises account for about 30 percent of the jobs in 37 of the 
State's mostly rural counties. These types of important programs are 
essential to economic development.
  In my view, this is the strongest conservation bill in the history of 
farm bills, building on the 2002 farm bill by investing an additional 
$4.4 billion in conservation programs. Non-Federal agricultural and 
forest lands occupy 1.4 billion acres here in the mainland of America. 
That is about 70 percent of the land in the lower 48 States.
  We all consume the air, the water, and open space, and enjoy them 
all, so it makes sense that the farm bill should provide some incentive 
for farmers and ranchers to deliver these public goods, along with all 
the other products they grow.
  That is why the farm bill increases spending on conservation programs 
by $7.9 billion, including increasing funding to important programs 
such as the one developed by the chairman of the Agriculture Committee, 
the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, EQIP, increasing the 
amount by $3.4 billion. It provides $1.3 billion to the Wetland Reserve 
Program and extends the Conservation Reserve Program by 32 million 
acres to be enrolled in the program from 2010 to 2012, all of which 
have been very successful programs in the State of Colorado.
  This is a picture of an EQIP conservation innovation grant at work in 
my State of Colorado. These farmers from the Saint Vrain and Boulder 
Creek watersheds are learning new practices that reduce tillage and 
increase yields from those farmlands. At the end of the day, these 
farmers went home with new ways to boost their bottom line, while 
reducing erosion. These programs work. The EQIP program works. We know 
that we, as a nation, will benefit from them.
  On nutrition, sometimes people forget that the largest investments in 
this farm bill don't actually go to the commodity programs or the 
energy programs or to any of the other titles of the farm bill; they go 
for nutrition. Nutrition programs receive two-thirds of the funding of 
this bill. This farm bill does some wonderful additional things for 
nutrition and for hunger, including the more than $10 billion for 
nutrition programs that will reduce hunger and provide kids with 
healthy meals. That is $10 billion above what had been provided before. 
That is a significant investment in nutrition.
  I am particularly proud we are able to expand the chairman's Fresh 
Fruit and Vegetable Program in all 50 States, including my State of 
Colorado. That means that in my State--my small State of Colorado--
80,000 Colorado kids are going to get fresh fruits and vegetables in 
their school lunches. This will reduce childhood obesity, increase 
productivity in school, and it will teach the habits of a healthy 
lifestyle.
  In food production, there are benefits to rural development, energy 
production, but this farm bill also ensures continued production of 
safe, healthy food right here at home.
  Growing up on our ranch and farm in the San Luis Valley in southern 
Colorado taught me how tough it is to make a living off the land. You 
work sun up to sundown all year. You cannot take Sundays off. It is a 
7-day-a-week job--most of the time 365 days a year. You try to raise a 
good crop or a healthy herd, and then without anything you can do to 
prevent it, a disaster comes, something such as disease, drought, hail, 
or flooding, which can wipe it all away. I still remember when 
hailstorms would hit our farm. My mother would take and pour a salt 
cross outside of our house in the hope that somehow the hail would 
forego destroying our wheat and our alfalfa and other crops, because 
that was our only way of subsisting. We have gone beyond the cross 
here, although we all have faith. We have moved forward with the 
creation of a disaster program that, hopefully, will help us address 
the issue of disaster in rural America.
  I know the time is late. I want to make a quick comment about some of 
the reform efforts about which some have criticized this farm bill, 
including the White House. I think those criticisms are wrongly placed. 
I think there may be additional reform we can do and may do at another 
time with the farm bill. But it is important to note we have included 
reform in this farm bill. This farm bill requires direct attribution of 
payments to individuals, rather than ``entities'' so that there is 100 
percent transparency about who is receiving farm program payments.

  The bill eliminates the three-entity rule and also includes a 
provision that I helped with to eliminate the ``cowboy starter kits,'' 
which will prevent the distribution of commodity support payments for 
land that has been subdivided for houses or transferred to 
nonagricultural uses. This is an important fix.
  I conclude by saying that those of us who have had the privilege of 
being a

[[Page S4210]]

part of rural America can appreciate how important agriculture in our 
rural communities is to our country. That is why I am hopeful the 
President's threat to veto the bill will be reconsidered.
  The farm bill is not only about farms, it is about our future. It is 
about the entrepreneur who wants to build a biofuels plant in eastern 
Colorado; it is about the third grader who, for the first time, will 
get fresh fruits and vegetables for lunch; it is about the mother who 
wants us to reduce our dependence upon foreign oil so her children do 
not have to fight a war far away in the Middle East. It is about all of 
us who want to make sure we have a strong and secure America.
  We have a lot at stake in the passage of this farm bill. I urge my 
Democratic and Republican colleagues to join us and send a strong 
statement about the importance of rural America, our food security, and 
our energy security in an overwhelming vote on the conference report 
tomorrow.
  On my part, I will be very proud to take this farm bill back to the 
State of Colorado and go throughout the great State of Colorado and 
meet with those who care about rural America and the food security of 
this country, and who care so much about nutrition, and to talk to them 
about how it is that after 2\1/2\ years of hard labor, we have finally 
gotten to the end of the journey and we have a farm bill of which we 
can all rightfully be proud.
  I thank the Presiding Officer and I thank the chairman of the 
Agriculture Committee.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Salazar). The Senator from Iowa is 
recognized.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I believe there are no more speakers on 
the farm bill tonight, or I should say the food, conservation and 
energy bill. I will close by thanking all of the speakers tonight who 
spoke so eloquently and strongly for this bill. I thank them for their 
diligence and interest in and so many of them for their efforts in 
bringing us to this point. It truly is a bipartisan bill.
  A lot of times while I am traveling around Iowa and other States, 
people will come up to me and say: Can't you people get together and 
quit your bickering and get something done? I am sure the Presiding 
Officer has heard that, too. We have all heard that. Well, this is a 
time when we did that. We did get together in a bipartisan fashion on 
our committee and we worked hard. We got it through our committee in a 
day and a half. In December, we had the vote here and we had 79 votes 
for the farm bill. You cannot get much more bipartisan than that. So we 
did it. We worked together.
  Tomorrow, we will have another hour and a half of debate, evenly 
divided, on the bill. There will be at least one motion, which has 
already been made, on a point of order. I don't know if there will be 
any others tomorrow morning. Then we will proceed to final passage. I 
will have more to say tomorrow morning.
  Again, I thank all of the members of the Agriculture Committee on 
both sides of the aisle. I can honestly say each member of our 
committee had a hand in this bill in one way or the other, or on 
certain parts of it--some more than others in different parts. The 
Presiding Officer, my good friend from Colorado, Senator Salazar--if he 
had one fingerprint on this bill, it would be the energy title and all 
the great work he did to help focus us on getting more in the bill for 
biomass energy, that is, energy from cellulose--to begin the process of 
moving us toward more clean, renewable energy in this country. I thank 
the Senator from Colorado for all of his hard work in that area. 
However, the Senator also had a lot to do with the nutrition title, to 
make sure that was a good title to help low-income Americans.
  Everybody on our committee had a hand in this. I am privileged to 
chair a great committee.
  This is a committee of caring people. I know each of them. I can say 
that characterization applies on both sides of the aisle. These are 
people who care very deeply about fighting hard to represent the 
minority of Americans who live on our farms and our ranches and in our 
small towns and communities. But for, I think, the interest and 
involvement of the members of this Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry 
Committee, the legislation that is passed here would leave a lot of our 
rural people on the sidelines.
  Let's face it, we don't have the votes here on farm and rural issues 
like we used to in the old days. So it falls on the shoulders of those 
of us on our Agriculture Committee who represent agriculture and people 
who live in rural America, it falls on us to make sure their voices are 
heard and their concerns are addressed.
  That is why I say I am privileged to chair a committee of caring 
people, who care very deeply about those minority of Americans who work 
out there on farms and ranches every day, get up, feed the livestock, 
plant the crops, harvest the crops, who never know from one day to the 
next what the weather is going to bring or what foreign involvement may 
mean to markets or what effect a crop failure or abundant crop in 
another country has on this country and on our markets and prices. 
Agriculture is different. A lot of people say: Why do we have farm 
programs? We don't have a program for this business or that business. 
It is because agriculture is so unique. It is sort of the wellspring of 
everything else in our society--the production of our food and fiber, 
for the health of our country, and for our exports.
  I was listening to the President of the United States give his State 
of the Union Address earlier this year. I heard him say, there was one 
passage--I will never forget--he reminded us that last year our trade 
deficit had shrunk. I had hoped to hear him say in the next sentence, 
thanks to our nation's farmers because were it not for the exports of 
our agricultural commodities, our trade deficit would be much worse 
than it is.
  Again, I thank everyone for all of their statements. I thank all the 
members of our committee. We will be here tomorrow morning, and we will 
have a final vote. I hope we will have a strong vote. I hope we can 
beat our 79 votes that we had in December. The House today had 318 
votes. So I hope we have an equally strong vote in the Senate tomorrow.

                          ____________________