[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 147 (Wednesday, September 5, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H7865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DAIRY FARMERS FACING A CRISIS

  (Ms. TENNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, our dairy farmers are facing a crisis. 
Family farms have shaped our upstate communities, built our local 
economies, and put food on our tables, but the great tradition of 
family farming is in jeopardy.
  Our farmers need help. Unfair trade agreements; rising regulatory 
costs; high taxes, especially in New York, which has some of the 
highest property, sales, and income taxes in the Nation; and 
distortions in the labor market have pushed our farmers to the brink of 
bankruptcy. Sadly, many have chosen to close in New York altogether, 
the third largest dairy-producing State in the Nation.
  I am grateful that the Trump administration is hearing our desperate 
call. In a recent visit to Trinity Valley Farm and Brabant Farm in New 
York's 22nd District, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary 
Sonny Perdue heard our farmers' pleas for help.
  He visited our district, the first time a sitting Secretary of 
Agriculture has visited our district in over 20 years. He provided 
insight and took our concerns back to Washington.
  It is time to turn the tide and end this crisis. Preserving the great 
tradition of farming is vital to preserving our heritage, our families, 
and our economy.

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