[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 26, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4382-S4385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AGRICULTURE AND NUTRITION ACT OF 2018--MOTION TO PROCEED
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 2,
which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed Calendar No. 483, to H.R. 2, a bill to
provide for the reform and continuation of agricultural and
other programs of the Department of Agriculture through
fiscal year 2023, and for other purposes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Michigan.
Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I thank the majority and minority
leaders for bringing this bill to the floor for consideration as
quickly as they have done. I appreciate all the Agriculture Committee
members on both sides of the aisle for working together to write this
important legislation. Most importantly, many thanks to my friend and
my partner, Chairman Pat Roberts, for his work and his leadership and
his commitment to our farmers and growers throughout this process. It
is a great pleasure to work with him.
From the very beginning of this process, Chairman Roberts and I made
a commitment that we would deliver a strong bipartisan farm bill.
Despite the long road we faced, we stayed true to our word. I am proud
to say that we wrote a bill that will provide certainty, as the
chairman talked about, to our farmers, our families, and rural
communities.
We stayed focused on strengthening our Nation's diverse agricultural
economy and the 16 million jobs it supports. This is a jobs bill for
America. A lot of those jobs are in my home State of Michigan, where
our food and agricultural economy supports one out of four jobs in
Michigan.
People look at us as an auto State, which we proudly are, an auto
manufacturing State. We make things, but we make things and we grow
things. I don't think you can have an economy or a middle class unless
somebody makes things and grows things. That is what we do. This bill
is critical to both of those things. The farm bill helps us make things
and grow things, and it is critical to our Michigan economy and to the
economy of the country.
Even though agriculture supports the livelihood of so many families,
the rest of us may take for granted the work they do and how much we
depend on them to be successful. After all, we all have to eat, and the
food on our plates comes from a farm or a ranch. Farms like Everbest
Organics in Munger, MI, grow the black beans you may find in your
burrito. Dietrich Orchards in Conklin produces the apple slices your
kids might eat as a snack.
The men and women who own and operate so many farms in Michigan and
across this country are the reason our grocery shelves are stocked with
the safest, most affordable food in the world. The food we eat depends
on the hard work they put in day in and day out. They do this work
knowing the great risks they face. For a farmer, a year of work can be
lost in a single day. I saw an example of that in the Upper Peninsula
of Michigan just yesterday, where severe flooding and mudslides have
caused unimaginable losses in Houghton, MI, and Hancock and the
surrounding small towns. A number of farms in Menominee County
experienced heavy damage. The loss of hay alone will hurt dairy and
cattle operations for weeks and months to come.
On top of the uncertainty farmers face from Mother Nature, they also
contend with unpredictable markets and certainly unpredictable
situations today in terms of Federal policy. The farm economy is
struggling right now with low prices. Many farm families are struggling
to make ends meet. Uncertainty about international trade is definitely
not helping.
When times are tough, the farm bill provides a strong safety net to
protect our farmers and ranchers. We took
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steps to strengthen the risk-management tools and crop insurance to
help producers of all types protect their businesses from unexpected
losses. We create that risk-management safety net for all types of
farms, large and small.
We also made a number of important changes for our dairy farmers. The
dairy support in the last farm bill, unfortunately, did not work as
expected, leaving many family dairy farms without a reliable safety
net. In addition to the $1.1 billion we secured in the Bipartisan
Budget Act, we replaced the Margin Protection Program with new,
affordable coverage for dairy farmers when the market dips.
Thanks to the support and the leadership of Senator Gillibrand,
Senator Baldwin, and Senator Klobuchar, we also refund premiums for
dairy farmers who did not see returns under the old safety net.
From commodities and dairy to specialty crops and urban farming, the
strength of American agriculture is rooted in the diversity of what we
grow and how we grow it. This is certainly true in Michigan, where we
grow more crops than every other State but one--that little State
called California. We are working on that one.
Our farm bill continues to support the wide variety of farms all
across America, big and small, urban and rural. We invest in the bright
future of agriculture by helping new and beginning farmers, including
young people and returning veterans. We expand agricultural market
opportunities so our farmers can make a living. Historic investments in
organic farming help producers tap into one of the fastest growing
sectors of agriculture.
New and permanent investments in international trade promotion will
help our farmers sell their production abroad. Streamlined, permanent
support for farmers markets, food hubs, and local food processing will
help our farmers sell to their neighbors.
Just as the farm bill provides a safety net for farmers, it also
provides a safety net for our families. We know nutrition assistance
provides a critical lifeline for families who are struggling to make
ends meet. The good news is, according to the Congressional Budget
Office, nutrition programs are saving over $80 billion more than
expected because the economy is getting better and fewer people need
temporary help. So we focused on strengthening nutrition assistance the
right way--by working on a bipartisan basis.
We improved the integrity of SNAP and created new job-training
opportunities and public-private partnerships, while preserving
critical food access for American families. We also worked to improve
access to healthy foods through SNAP by bolstering fruit and vegetable
incentives--what we call in Michigan Double Up Bucks--and reducing
paperwork for senior citizens on fixed incomes.
The farm bill also plays an important role in improving the quality
of life in every single small town and rural community, like where I
grew up in Clare and where I was this weekend up in the Upper
Peninsula.
Access to high-speed internet is one of the top concerns we hear
about in rural America. In 2018, having internet access is not a
luxury, it is a necessity. High school students need to do their
homework and be able to apply for college. Hospitals and health centers
need it to connect patients with specialists and use telemedicine and
reach those in their homes. Farmers and small business owners count on
it to steer their tractors and sell their products and communicate with
customers. The farm bill includes new opportunities that will connect
communities that need it most.
We are also continuing to create jobs. The strong investments in
rural small businesses promote entrepreneurship. Support for renewable
energy helps farmers and businesses be more efficient, while also
adding installation jobs in rural communities.
Biobased manufacturing creates rural and urban jobs--taking crops
like corn and soybeans and turning them into products we use every day,
from laundry detergent, to seats in automobiles--yes, you may be
sitting on soybeans in your car--to biofuels.
All of these things create opportunities for young people to stay in
their hometowns and raise their families. We want children to feel they
can stay at home in their small town and have the quality of life they
want for themselves and their families and have the opportunity to
raise their children there.
Despite facing a tough budget, the farm bill continues to be one of
the largest investments in the conservation of our land, water, and
Great Lakes, which is so important to us in Michigan. Contrary to the
House bill, we made no cuts to the conservation title, which helps our
farmers be more productive and more profitable. In fact, by focusing on
successful conservation partnerships, we will actually grow funding by
leveraging an additional $1 billion in private investments.
Clean water and healthy wildlife habitat are not only good for our
farmers and our environment, they also support hunting, fishing, and
outdoor recreation. Again, that is where I grew up. We were outdoors
all the time hunting, fishing, enjoying the outdoors. The great news is
that this accounts for over 7 million jobs.
There is no doubt that this farm bill is a jobs bill, and, as the
chairman said, it is a national security bill. It is a conservation
bill. It is a food security bill. It is also a bipartisan bill, with
the strong support of the members of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry Committee.
I am proud to be here with my friend and colleague, the leader of our
committee, Chairman Roberts, and I urge our colleagues to join us in
swiftly passing this bill.
Thank you.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kennedy). The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cruz). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I rise to discuss, once again, an issue
of utmost importance to the people of Louisiana and to the millions of
Americans who live in coastal States or in a floodplain. I am talking,
of course, about the National Flood Insurance Program, or as we refer
to it, the NFIP.
As one knows, in the absence of reauthorizing legislation, this
program will expire at the height of hurricane season, and its
expiration will leave more than 5 million American families and
businesses without insurance and, therefore, in limbo. For the good of
our national economy, we simply cannot allow that to happen. That is
why I am requesting a vote to extend the program through hurricane
season as either an amendment to our farm bill or after recess as a
stand-alone bill. My amendment to the farm bill is clean. It would be a
6-month emergency extension that would just maintain the status quo and
give flood insurance policyholders peace of mind while allowing us to
put together a viable, bipartisan, long-term reform bill.
As one well knows, flooding is the No. 1 natural hazard in this
country. It poses an extraordinary risk to both life and property. Of
course, families who live near oceans, lakes, rivers, and bayous rely
on the NFIP to protect their homes and businesses. Yet winter storms
and snowmelt also flood thousands of properties every year, and you
don't have to live in a coastal State to have a bad rainstorm. In fact,
you are twice as likely to have your home flood as you are to have it
catch on fire, regardless of where you live. I can assure you that
regardless of where you live, if you have 20 or 21 inches of rain over
a 2-day period, you are going to flood. I do not care if you live on
Pikes Peak.
If you do happen to have your home or business flood, your normal
homeowner's policy is not going to help you. You are not covered. That
is why Congress created the NFIP, and that is why we need to continue
it. Yet we find this program in jeopardy once again. I mean no
disrespect, but Congress has repeatedly and consistently mangled the
reauthorization of the NFIP.
Despite its being the primary source of flood insurance coverage for
millions of American homeowners, Congress allowed the National Flood
Insurance Program to expire four times in 2010, for a total of 53 days.
Those disruptions had lasting effects on ordinary Americans. In June of
2010, for each day the NFIP had been expired, over 1,400 home sales had
been canceled or delayed.
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This had injected uncertainty into a fragile housing market. It had
disrupted mortgage lending and had sent our local economies into a
tailspin. If the NFIP were to lapse this July--and unless we do
something, it will lapse on July 31--the National Association of
Realtors estimates that more than 40,000 home sale closings will be
affected each month.
As it now stands, we have 21 Senate session days until the NFIP
expires at 12 midnight on July 31. I regret to say that no meaningful
progress has been made with regard to our efforts to confect a reform
bill that would continue and improve the NFIP. To make matters worse,
our friends in the House of Representatives decoupled the NFIP from
spending bills in the omnibus, which has only increased the likelihood
that the NFIP will be allowed to expire, which is unacceptable.
Without independent reauthorizing legislation--either stand-alone
legislation or an amendment to our farm bill--Congress stands poised to
bring our domestic real estate market to a standstill and leave
Americans in our coastal States and elsewhere exposed in the middle of
hurricane season. We simply cannot afford to let down that many
Americans who depend on the National Flood Insurance Program.
Again, I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this emergency
extension of the NFIP, which I am working on, along with Senator
Cassidy, who is the senior Senator from Louisiana and whose support I
greatly appreciate.
We are a month away from a lapse of the NFIP--21 working days in the
Senate. That is why I am requesting a vote on a clean, short-term,
status quo reauthorization that will get us through hurricane season.
I thank the Presiding Officer.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, as we all know, we are on the farm bill
this week in the Senate. I express my gratitude to Chairman Roberts and
Ranking Member Stabenow for bringing us this far.
Interestingly, in a town where differences tend to be along partisan
lines and ideological lines, the differences in the farm bill tend to
be largely regional as much as anything else, but they have done a good
job in trying to bring a fair and equitable bill to the Senate floor.
That is reflected by the near unanimous vote in committee for the bill.
The farm bill has always been important. With its being renewed every
5 years, it helps to ensure that Americans and the people who benefit
from American exports around the world enjoy access to the safest,
cheapest, most reliable food source on the planet. The farm bill
impacts many areas beyond food production. It promotes the conservation
of farmland and watersheds. Foreign food aid programs are reauthorized
as part of this bill, and we lay down the policy that affects the
management of our Nation's forests.
I am especially pleased with this year's farm bill and its impact on
my home State and the Presiding Officer's home State of Texas. Among
the most noteworthy provisions is protecting seed cotton eligibility
for the farm bill safety net. This year's bill also retains and
strengthens the Price Loss Coverage Program to help provide Texas
agricultural producers with stability through unpredictable weather and
natural disasters. Finally, the bill promotes animal health and
reauthorizes disease research programs, including a crucial one that
will help the U.S. Department of Agriculture provide research to
contain the spread of the cattle fever tick. I doubt many people have
heard of the cattle fever tick, but it is a real threat to our herds,
our beef herds, and it has the potential to wipe out cattle herds and
cause devastating financial losses.
I want to highlight three areas where I do think the bill could stand
some improvement--first, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance
Program. There is a lot of good done in the bill for farm and
agricultural programs, but many people don't know that about 80 percent
of the money spent in the farm bill is directed to so-called nutrition
programs. So calling this a farm bill is a bit of a misnomer, since
only 20 percent of its resources deal with farm and agriculture. So we
need to consider targeted ways to ensure that tax dollars used to pay
for these nutrition programs are used wisely.
That is why I will support an amendment that expands work
requirements for those who receive SNAP benefits. It is not just for
work, but for people who are able-bodied who need to train for work or
provide community service as condition of qualifying for this welfare
benefit.
My second related amendment will authorize a pilot program to
encourage nongovernmental partners to help address food insecurity in
local communities. While I salute Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member
Stabenow for attempting to ensure the integrity of our nutrition
programs, I believe these amendments will further promote the goal we
all share.
The last one I will cosponsor with the junior Senator from Kansas,
whose leadership I would like to commend, is one that addresses the
wildfires we have had the last 2 years and the destruction these
natural disasters have provided in farm country.
I see the chairman of the Agriculture Committee on the floor, and I
yield to him if he has a question he would like to ask.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, just a comment, and I state to the
Presiding Officer that I thank the Senator from Texas for his general
support for the farm bill.
The issues Senator Cornyn has mentioned are very important. In the
nutrition title, we have addressed deficiencies that he has mentioned.
We have 10 States now that have private projects for job training to
figure out what really works best. The law currently allows States to
have job training and a worker program. Kansas has that law. I am sure
Texas probably has the law.
I think we have achieved about as much as we can to at least
determine where we are going. The House bill, with all due respect, has
$8 billion in cuts, and then there are questions as to how that is
implemented and what agency does that. Agriculture, I don't think, is
prepared to really launch into a full program of job training. The one
issue the Senator from Texas specifically mentioned that caused me to
come down here and interrupt his great speech is, we do have that
private part to supplement the Federal situation in the Food Stamp
Program. I don't know if we have hit all three areas of concern he has
mentioned, but we are pretty darn close.
I appreciate the Senator's interest. We are just trying to get a
program that has better integrity, that works better, and is more
efficient.
By the way, we deal with that bonus program, where some States--
actually, only eight States--were not guilty of this, but a lot of
States gamed the system, and we have taken care of that. We have taken
a hard look at the nutrition program, but we don't declare the farm
program to be a welfare program or try to put it into that kind of a
description.
So, basically, I am just saying with the three things the Senator
just mentioned, we tried to address all three. Now, perhaps, not to the
degree that the distinguished Senator would like, but that is still up
for consideration, and I appreciate his comments.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of the chairman
of the Agriculture Committee, and I appreciate his efforts to try to
accommodate the concerns I have raised.
Believe me, I understand this isn't his first rodeo. He has been down
this path many times trying to come up with a farm bill that can get
passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President of the
United States, and that is no easy task.
I would state on the work requirement for qualifying for the so-
called nutrition program, I am aware of the fact that since these are
Federal dollars, many States, even though they have the authority to
impose some work or community service requirement, can waive that
rather easily, since they are not spending their
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money; they are spending the Federal Government's money. So we are
looking for ways to perhaps strengthen that provision.
I hope we will have an opportunity to have a vote on it. My goal is
to make sure we pass a farm bill, but I do think it is important that
we demonstrate our commitment to protecting the Federal taxpayer and
imposing modest work, preparation for work, or community service
requirements on able-bodied people.
I yield to the chairman.
Mr. ROBERTS. I thank the Senator for yielding.
We are looking at those provisions, and we are looking at making sure
able-bodied people do achieve the goal of going from dependence to
independence, more especially in this time of economic recovery, which
is really the secret to all of this. The numbers in the Food Stamp
Program have decreased dramatically as we have seen our economy
improve, but we are taking a look at those waivers. The difference is,
in the House bill, we have a situation where if somebody has children 6
and under, it used to be 10 and under, and then on the other side,
people who were 50 to now 60 are included--that has raised some dust.
There are several other issues the Senator has mentioned. It is just
a matter of degree. We want to provide integrity to that program. We
want it to work and have it go to the people who truly need it, and we
have tried very hard to accomplish that.
We will study hard the good recommendations the Senator has
mentioned, and we will do our best.
Mr. CORNYN. I appreciate the chairman's comments, and I have
confidence in him and his ability to manage this bill successfully
across the floor.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________