[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 17 (Wednesday, January 29, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S561-S562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE FARM BILL
Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I was privileged to be in our capital
city of Des Moines 2 days ago, on Monday, January 27, and I was
privileged to visit a lot of my friends in the Iowa legislature. I was
in the Iowa House on Monday morning when a resolution was brought up by
Representative Dan Muhlbauer and read and adopted unanimously. It was a
resolution requesting the U.S. Congress to immediately enact a new
Federal food, farm, and jobs bill. I won't read it all, but ultimately
I will ask unanimous consent to have this resolution printed in the
Record. The resolution basically points out how much a farm bill means
to our fellow Iowans.
The resolution states:
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives--
That is the Iowa House of Representatives--
that with the reconvening of the United States Congress after
its holiday recess, the United States House of
Representatives and the United States Senate should enact a
new food, farm, and jobs bill with all possible speed but no
later than January 31 of 2014.
I guess the good news I have now for Representative Muhlbauer and his
colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the Iowa legislature is that
we heard them. Under the great leadership of Senator Stabenow, we now
have a farm bill ready to come to the floor after the House passes it,
I hope sometime today. We hope to have it on the Senate floor maybe as
early as tomorrow--if not, the first of the week--to get the job done.
I think everybody has signed off on it. It is a good farm bill. It has
taken a long time and a lot of hard work to get there, but a lot of
good people worked together on both sides of the aisle in both the
Senate and in the House to get it done. So I thank Representative
Muhlbauer and his colleagues for holding our feet to the fire and
sending us this resolution.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record House
Resolution No. 102.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
House Resolution No. 102
Whereas, the United States Congress regularly establishes
agricultural and food policy in an omnibus farm bill in a
bipartisan spirit of cooperation, exemplified by the federal
Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-
246 which originally was to expire in 2012, but was extended
by the 112th Congress in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of
2012, Pub. L. No. 112-240; and
Whereas, a new food, farm, and jobs bill is critical to
maintaining a strong agricultural economy and an abundant
food supply that benefits all Americans, including by
providing programs relating to farm commodity support,
horticulture, livestock, conservation, nutrition assistance,
trade and international food aid, agricultural research, farm
credit, rural development, bioenergy, forestry, and
innovative strategies to revitalize this nation's rural
economy by creating jobs in small towns and rural
communities; and
Whereas, in Iowa, agricultural producers have faced a
multitude of disasters, including drought, flood, and
blizzard conditions which have been alleviated by disaster
assistance under farm bill programs; and
Whereas, during 2013, the United States Senate and House of
Representatives have been engaged in prolonged negotiations
to enact a new food, farm, and jobs bill that is now in
conference committee which is considering differences between
the Senate version, titled the Agriculture Reform, Food, and
Jobs Act of 2013 (S. 954), and the House version, titled the
Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act of
2013 (H.R. 2642); and
Whereas, without the passage of a new food, farm, and jobs
bill the United States will be subject to previously enacted
permanent law, including commodity price support statutes
effective in 1949; and
Whereas, the prolonged delay in passing a new food, farm,
and jobs bill has created uncertainty for agricultural
producers and will negatively impact the nation's overseas
trade; and
Whereas, without the immediate passage of a new food, farm,
and jobs bill consumers will increasingly suffer economic
consequences; Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, That with the
reconvening of the United States Congress after its holiday
recess, the United States House of Representatives and the
United States Senate should enact a new food, farm, and jobs
bill with all possible speed but no later than January 31,
2014; and be it further
[[Page S562]]
Resolved, That a copy of this resolution shall be
transmitted to the President of the United States Senate and
the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives;
and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this resolution shall be
transmitted to the Honorable Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of
the Committee on Agriculture. Nutrition, and Forestry of the
United States Senate, and the Honorable Frank Lucas, Chairman
of the Committee on Agriculture of the United States House of
Representatives; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this resolution shall be
transmitted to each member of the Iowa congressional
delegation; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this resolution shall be
transmitted to the Honorable Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the
United States Department of Agriculture.
Mr. HARKIN. I thank the Chair and I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
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