[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 194 (Friday, December 16, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8699-S8700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              AGRICULTURE

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I know we are all anxious to reach a 
conclusion on significant legislation that is pending. It determines 
many things important to Americans and it creates the opportunity for 
Members of the Senate and the House to spend a little

[[Page S8700]]

time at home during the holiday season. I am reminded how blessed I am 
this holiday season to return home to a rural State, where family 
values and community traditions run deep. There is no tradition more 
important to us than how we pass on, from one generation to the next, 
the workings on a family farm.
  I am worried these rural traditions are under attack by Washington, 
DC. In September, our Department of Labor proposed new rules that would 
ban youth under the age of 16 from participating in what are many 
common farm-related tasks such as rounding up cattle on horseback, 
operating a tractor or cleaning out stalls with a shovel and 
wheelbarrow. I am sure there are many 15- and 16-year-olds who would be 
happy not to do that work, but it is important work, and it is a way 
fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, grandparents, work side by 
side with family members.
  One of the things I care a lot about is agriculture. That matters to 
us in places such as Kansas because that is the economy of our 
communities. But I also know it is important for other reasons as well, 
not just dollars and cents. It is important because it is how, 
historically, in this country, we passed on our values from one 
generation to the next. Working side by side with moms and dads and 
grandparents is the way we pass on character and values and integrity 
from one generation to the next. It is something that throughout the 
history of our country has been important across our Nation when every 
place was a rural part of our Nation.
  To most young people growing up on that family farm, jobs are 
routine, it is a part of their lives. These Department of Labor 
regulations are going to intrude significantly in that ability. 
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, about 98 percent of 
our country's 2 million farms are family owned. By working alongside 
those parents and grandparents, important skills and values are 
learned. The problem we face now is that agriculture is a way of life 
and the Department of Labor wants to change that.
  Until recently, farms jointly owned and operated by multiple family 
members had discretion over the responsibilities they gave their 
children on the farm. But this new rule would do away with that 
freedom. The Department of Labor is proposing to tell farmers and 
ranchers: We know what is best for your children and what they should 
and should not be doing.
  The Department of Labor is also trying to do away with successful 
farm safety and training certification programs. In our part of the 
country and around the Nation, 4-H and FFA county extension offices are 
very important. They play a critical role in training and certifying 
young people to safely carry on farm activities. That happens today. 
But the Department has ignored research that shows such programs 
improve safety habits of young people and instead criticizes these 
training programs for being too locally driven and lacking Federal 
direction.
  One would assume, before making such a drastic change to farm labor 
rules, the Department would identify reliable evidence and data that 
show the need for changes, but it is quite the opposite. In fact, the 
Department of Labor admits it lacks data to justify many of its 
suggested changes. Furthermore, according to the National Farm Medicine 
Center, youth-related injuries from farm accidents have declined by 
nearly 60 percent from 1998 to 2009.
  If you ask any farmer or rancher about the importance of safety, they 
would tell you safety is at the top of their list. It is their 
children. It is their neighbor's children. They care greatly. But they 
would also tell you it is critical for the rural way of life to be able 
to train and encourage the next generation to safely and successfully 
begin careers in agriculture. If today's young people are not given the 
chance to learn at a young age what it takes to operate a farm, we put 
at risk the future of agriculture in our Nation.
  If these changes go into effect, not only will the shrinking rural 
workforce be further reduced and our Nation's youth be deprived of 
valuable career training opportunities but, most important, a way of 
life begins to disappear. Our country cannot afford to lose the next 
generation of farmers and ranchers.
  I shared my concerns with the Secretary of Labor several weeks ago, 
in which we asked for a delay, a longer comment period. The comment 
period was running through fall harvest across most of the country. The 
Department of Labor granted a 30-day extension, but that expired 
December 1, about 2 weeks ago. Parents and communities should be 
allowed to look after the best interests of their families and 
citizens. Now that comment period has run. I hope the Department of 
Labor will take into account the serious concerns by farmers and 
ranchers, their families, and agribusiness across the country. But just 
a delay and longer comment period is insufficient. In fact, I am 
circulating a letter among my colleagues in the Senate that I am asking 
them to sign, requesting the Department of Labor not proceed to 
implement these rules. I ask my colleagues to take a look at that 
letter and please join me.
  Local experts should be the ones conducting safety training programs 
to educate our Nation's young people. The future of agriculture depends 
on stopping this vast overreach of Executive authority, protecting 
individual rights.
  We know rural America's values are not always the values held in 
Washington, DC. In the weeks ahead, I will continue to work with my 
colleagues to make certain this destructive rule does not move forward 
so we can protect and preserve our values for the next generation of 
American farmers and ranchers, values our country so desperately needs.

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