[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 80 (Thursday, May 15, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E938-E939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2419. FOOD, 
                  CONSERVATION, AND ENERGY ACT OF 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 14, 2008

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 2419, the 
Food, Conservation, and Energy Act. It has been a long road to this 
point, and while I must say that I am not entirely pleased with the 
final bill, I do believe that it makes important steps forward to 
reforming the priorities of our farm policy.
  Michigan has had a tough go of things lately--and farming is no 
exception. Just last spring and summer Michigan experienced severe 
weather and droughts that caused enormous damage to local farms, 
leading the USDA to designate 83 Michigan counties as disaster areas. I 
have long said that farming is an inherently risky enterprise and with 
the recent downturn in the economy and fickle Michigan weather, it is 
clear to see why.
  I will be frank and say that this bill is far from perfect. 
Personally, I would have liked to see greater reforms in the areas of 
conservation and fruit and vegetable programs, however, I do think 
Michigan will benefit from the bill. Like the farm bill the House 
passed last summer, I am pleased to note that most of our farmers in 
the 15th District of Michigan will not see any significant negative 
changes if the farm bill is enacted. All of the safety net programs 
from the 2002 farm bill are maintained with minor changes--including 
direct payments and the counter cyclical and the marketing loan 
programs.
  However, the conference report does take measures to curb wasteful 
spending and distribute our resources to those in need. This bill 
places a cap on payments to those with an adjusted gross income (AGI) 
of $500,000 or more, and puts in place the first-ever cap for farm 
income at $750,000 for fixed direct payments. In addition, the bill 
would eliminate the ``3-entity'' rule that allows producers to collect 
payments for multiple ownership interests.
  As a diverse agricultural state, Michigan has the second-widest 
variety of farm products after California, this legislation will 
provide great support for specialty crops. In 2006 Michigan produced 
825,470 tons of fresh market and processing vegetables and the state

[[Page E939]]

ranks 5th in exports of fruits and 8th in exports of vegetables 
nationally. This bill creates a brand new section dedicated to fruit 
and vegetable producers and allocates a total of $1.3 billion for new 
specialty crop programs including $466 million over ten years for the 
specialty crop block grant program, which provides grants to states to 
support projects in research, marketing, education, pest and disease 
management, production and food safety.
  The conference agreement will also create a pilot Farm Flex project 
that will allow farmers to switch base acres to specified fruits or 
vegetables for processing for 2009 through 2012 crop years. This pilot 
project is limited to seven Midwestern States, including Michigan which 
is allocated 9,000 acres. This planting flexibility pilot program 
provides an important opportunity for specialty crop producers and I am 
pleased Michigan is included. More importantly, this will help the 1.26 
million Michiganders that are currently using food stamps.
  Given Michigan's economic situation, I have advocated that a second 
economic stimulus package include an increase in food stamp benefits, 
and I am pleased that the Farm Bill has increased funding commitments 
for the Food Stamp Program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program 
(TEFAP). The conference agreement includes $7.8 billion for the Food 
Stamp program and would raise and index inflation for the program's 
standard deduction and minimum benefit. This is the first time since 
the program was created 40 years ago that the Food Stamp Program would 
fully account for annual inflation. According to the Congressional 
Budget Office, this will help 11 million low income people.
  TEFAP, a program that has provided assistance to approximately one 
million people in Michigan, will see $1.26 billion in funding that will 
benefit food banks and food pantries across the country. More 
importantly, this bill will increase annual funding for commodity 
purchases from $140 million to $250 million allowing organizations to 
meet the increasing demand for food services and the rising food 
prices. The CBO estimates that Michigan alone will receive $45 million 
in additional 
TEFAP funding from fiscal year 2008 to 2017. This is critical to 
organizations in Southeastern Michigan such as Gleaners Community Food 
Bank, who just over the last holiday season provided over 34,000 meals 
using the TEFAP program.
  Now while this conference agreement contains many benefits for my 
home state, as a lifetime conservationist I am extremely disappointed 
in the conservation title. I was displeased to see that the cap for the 
Conservation Reserve Program was lowered to 32 million acres. Both the 
Senate and the House had reauthorized the current enrollment level of 
39.2 million acres. Lowering the cap would result in a cut of almost 7 
million acres. Each year this program helps produce 13.5 million 
pheasants and 2.2 million ducks. As the largest land retirement 
program, lowering the cap will be devastating.
  And while the Wetlands Reserve Program is continued through 2012, it 
is done so at a lower level than in the 2002 Farm Bill. This is 
extremely disappointing because 50 percent of Michigan's threatened or 
endangered species require healthy and functional wetlands. Michigan 
currently has enrolled 125 easements of over 16,000 acres and has a 
backlog of close to 25,000 acres. This reduction will be extremely 
detrimental as it is the only conservation program solely dedicated to 
restoring wetland habitat.
  In addition, I have real concerns about the wisdom and merit of the 
agricultural chemicals tax credit provided in Section 15343 that allows 
a tax credit up to $2,000,000 per year until 2012 for eligible 
agricultural businesses to pay for and offset the costs of security 
measures taken to protect pesticides and fertilizers used in 
agricultural operations. Fortune 500 companies that manufacture or 
retail agricultural pesticides and fertilizers should not need the 
taxpayer to help offset the costs of employee security training, 
installation of security lighting, computer security measures, locks 
and fences to protect their facilities, and other such security 
measures.
  Finally, Section 7524 amends current law to direct the Secretary of 
Agriculture to issue a permit to the Department of Homeland Security to 
transfer live foot-and-mouth disease virus from Plum Island, New York, 
to the mainland United States. The majority of the research at Plum 
Island is concentrated on foot-and-mouth disease, which is very highly 
contagious, and which Federal law has for more than 50 years restricted 
to Plum Island. An accidental release of this infectious virus could 
have grave implications for the livestock industry and for the national 
economy. This issue is highly controversial, yet it has not been the 
subject of hearings nor open debate. I believe that it is a mistake to 
proceed with this until Congress has fully examined whether USDA and 
DHS have adequately assessed the health and economic risks, 
environmental impacts, and cost-benefit of this proposal.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is not a perfect one, however, it has 
bipartisan support. I know from my years in this institution that 
compromise is necessary in order to be successful, and I know the 
conferees worked night and day to come to this agreement. I feel 
confident Michigan farmers and producers will benefit from this final 
bill, as will the folks in Michigan who have fallen on hard times, 
which is why I stand today to lend my support.

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