Congressional Record, Volume 166 Issue 161 (Thursday, September 17, 2020)

[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 161 (Thursday, September 17, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5684-S5687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Agriculture

Mr. President, while most sectors of our economy were thriving before
the coronavirus pandemic hit, farmers and ranchers were struggling. Low
prices, extended trade disputes, and natural disasters had meant a lot
of tough few years for agriculture producers even before the arrival of
the coronavirus.
Yesterday, I held virtual meetings with South Dakota farmers and
ranchers and heard firsthand about the challenges they are facing
because of the pandemic.
Agriculture is the lifeblood of my home State of South Dakota, and
making sure our ag producers have what they need to keep feeding our
Nation--and the world--is one of my top priorities here in Washington.
During debate on the CARES Act--our largest coronavirus relief bill
to date--I fought to make sure that we included relief for farmers and
ranchers. The final bill included $14 billion for the Commodity Credit
Corporation, plus an additional $9.5 billion in emergency support to
allow the Department of Agriculture to provide income and price support
for farmers and ranchers.
USDA has been putting these resources to work to provide assistance
to producers in South Dakota and across the country who were affected
by the pandemic, and they have been a lifeline to many farmers. But
more needs to be done to support our Nation's agriculture industry. And
part of doing that is funding the Commodity Credit Corporation in the
continuing resolution--the appropriations measure that hopefully
Congress will be considering soon.
The Commodity Credit Corporation ensures that USDA has the resources
it needs to provide assistance through farm programs, including the
programs included in the bipartisan 2018 farm bill--commodity programs
like the Agriculture Risk Coverage, we call it the ARC Program; the
Price Loss Coverage, what we call the PLC Program; and Marketing
Assistance Loans; dairy programs like the Dairy Margin programs;
disaster programs, like the Livestock Forage Disaster Program; and the
Livestock Indemnity Program.
These programs are a critical part of farmers and ranchers' safety
net, and we need to ensure that they are fully funded.
Later this morning, my colleague Senator Hoeven from North Dakota
will be hosting a colloquy to draw attention to the need to get USDA
the resources it requires to help our agriculture producers weather
this crisis. I appreciate Senator Hoeven's work to highlight this
issue, and I hope my Democratic colleagues will hear agriculture
producers' concerns.
I see my colleague, the chairman of the Agriculture Committee--the
committee on which I serve--is here as well to talk about these issues
and to point to the need to ensure that we are doing everything we can
to support our Nation's farmers and ranchers during this time of
incredible challenge.
I look forward to working with the chairman of the Ag Committee and
our other colleagues from our agriculture States--many of whom will be
here momentarily to talk about this issue--to help our ranchers and
farmers face down the challenges that are in front of them.
I urge my Democratic colleagues to work with Republicans to make sure
that USDA has the resources it needs to support our agricultural
producers--the men and women who feed not only this country but the
entire world.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. ROBERTS. Madam President, I want to thank Senator Thune for his
very pertinent and cogent remarks. This is an important time to make a
decision that affects all farmers and ranchers and growers all across
our country during a time in which we are going through some very
difficult times--weather and everything else that you can imagine.
I see Senator Ernst over there, who will be following me, I am
assuming.
I want to thank Senator Hoeven for reserving this time, as other
members of the Agricultural Committee come and speak on an issue that
we shouldn't really be having an issue.
As I said, I rise to engage in a colloquy on the importance of
providing certainty and predictability. Those were the watch words we
used when we passed the farm bill. To our Nation's farmers, ranchers,
and growers, by replenishing the Commodity Credit Corporation, there
should not be an issue.
First, I would like to thank Senator Hoeven, who has just arrived on
the floor, for his leadership and speaking to this issue, and other
Senators for their commitment to agriculture in their respective States
and across the country. No matter what they grow or where they live,
farmers, ranchers, and growers have done their part to ensure the U.S.
food, fiber, and fuel supply continues without disruption during these
unprecedented times.
I think everybody is familiar with the situation. Every 5 years,
Congress passes legislation that sets the national agriculture,
nutrition, conservation, and forestry policy--commonly referred to as
the farm bill. That is our commitment, and we did that. These are for
the folks on the frontlines, in the fields, caring for livestock,
managing the lands day in and day out, despite all the weather problems
we are having today.
As chairman of this committee--the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry Committee--we were successful in passing the 2018 farm bill in
a bipartisan manner. Everybody says: Oh, we have to work together to
get back to where we were bipartisan. We were. Eighty-seven Members in
this Chamber voted in favor of this legislation.
That vote demonstrated that the 2018 farm bill did provide much
certainty and predictability to all farmers and ranchers across all
regions and all crops. However, it is no secret that times continue to
remain tough in farm country. Farmers and ranchers continue to
experience low commodity prices, a global pandemic, natural disasters,
and the effects of retaliatory tariffs. That is a terrible combination.
The 2018 farm bill does provide essential programs to producers that
allow them to mitigate some of the risks--some of the risks--that are
outside their control. Many of these programs are implemented through
the authority

[[Page S5685]]

and the annual funding Congress provides to Commodity Credit
Corporation, or the CCC
I want to stress to my colleagues that now is not the time for
partisan gamesmanship. If Congress does not replenish the CCC, it could
significantly harm or even halt these important programs. I can't
imagine doing that. Farmers, ranchers, and others in farm country are
counting on us to do our job. In fact, we have heard loud and clear
from over 40 different organizations representing farmers, ranchers,
and other rural stakeholders across the country that the CCC must be
reimbursed before the end of the fiscal year.
I want to say this and make this emphatically clear: Failure to do so
would result in delays of the 2018 farm bill programs. We are talking
about other programs because of COVID-19 and the pandemic and all of
that. But even during a global pandemic, U.S. farmers and ranchers
continue to hold up their end of the bargain by producing their crops
for the world's safest, most affordable food supply. The least we can
do is to ensure that the 2018 farm bill--the piece of legislation that
received 87 votes in this body right here in the Senate--continues to
be fully implemented, on time, and without delay.
I hope that we can reach a bipartisan agreement. This business of at
least holding up the CCC funds--I understand what people have with
regard to their own top things that they want to get accomplished, but
holding up the CCC is not an answer.
I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues in a bipartisan
way to ensure that we provide farmers and ranchers with certainty and
predictability from the 2018 farm bill.
I thank the distinguished Senator, Mr. Hoeven, for asking for this
time.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I want to thank our Ag chairman. I want
to thank him for being here today. I want to thank him for his many,
many years of service in this body. And most of all, what I want to
thank him for today is his leadership on farm issues, on ag issues, on
working on behalf of our farmers and ranchers, and in working in a very
bipartisan way. That is what he is here doing.
You heard from our whip, the Senator from South Dakota, an ag State.
You heard from our Ag chairman, the Senator from Kansas, an ag State.
You are going to hear from other members of our Ag Committee. You are
going to hear from the Senator from Iowa, an ag State. You are going to
hear from Senator Boozman from Arkansas, an ag State; from Senator
Fischer, Nebraska, obviously a big farm and ranch State; the Presiding
Officer, I know, would be right here speaking with us if he weren't
presiding--again, an ag State.
What this is all about today is making sure that we support farmers
and ranchers. We are here in a very positive, encouraging way, and it
is to make the point that we need to get assistance to our farmers and
ranchers. We have some of that available. We have about $14 billion
that we secured in the CARES Act that is ready to go out. It is ready
to go.

We have done a ton of work with the USDA. We want to thank the Ag
Secretary, Sonny Perdue. Georgia is another ag State. His whole team
worked hard on this. We worked hard with him.
That $14 billion needs to get out to our farmers and ranchers and
across the country. It really touches just about every State.
Then we need to replenish the Commodity Credit Corporation, the CCC.
I chair Ag Appropriations. I work with that every year. There is about
$30 billion, year in and year out, that goes in it. This is not a new
thing. This is something we do every year. We need to get that done now
in the CR so we can continue to provide that help and support for our
farmers and our ranchers. This is what funds the key farm programs.
The countercyclical safety net. Very key programs--ARC, AGRIS
coverage, and PLC, price loss coverage--are funded by the CCC. That is
just fundable--that is the heart and soul of the bipartisan farm
program we passed, as our Ag chairman just described. It is bipartisan,
strongly supported in our committee, and strongly supported on the
floor of this body, as well as in the House. As I say, this funding is
the heart and soul of the farm program. It also funds conservation
programs and other things. That safety net that our farmers and
ranchers rely on every year is what is funded through the CCC. That is
why we are here today.
As our Ag chairman said, we have over 40 farm groups from across the
country that sent a letter to leadership and said: Absolutely, not only
move forward with this aid we are talking about, the $14 billion we
have gotten through CARES--and I think we are close to getting there
again, thanks to the USDA. I think you will see that very soon. But
absolutely take that step to replenish the CCC so that we can continue
to provide that countercyclical safety net, that farm program our
farmers and our ranchers depend on.
Remember, this isn't just about our farmers and ranchers. This isn't
just about good farm policy. In this country, we have the lowest cost,
highest quality food supply in the world that benefits every single
American every single day because of our farmers and ranchers. That is
how important this is.
Let me turn next to my colleagues. I am going to turn to the Senator
from Nebraska. She is a cattle rancher. Who better to hear from next
than Senator Fischer from Nebraska, a cattle rancher herself?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
Mrs. FISCHER. I want to thank my colleague from North Dakota.
It is so appropriate, Madam President, that you are in the chair
right now presiding because you are a cattle farmer from the great
State of Mississippi, and we have many, many discussions on the
importance of livestock and on the importance of agriculture to our
States.
Nebraska is an ag State. In 2018, Nebraska generated around $21.3
billion in agricultural cash receipts. Agriculture and ag processing
accounts for 9.4 percent of the State's GDP. The agriculture production
complex accounts for approximately one-quarter of our GDP workforce. By
these measures, agriculture plays a greater role in my State of
Nebraska than it does in the economy of any other State in the United
States. When agriculture suffers, Nebraska suffers.
Over the last several years, our farmers and ranchers have done their
fair share of suffering. As my colleague mentioned, USDA's most recent
farm income projections forecast that cash receipts will be at their
lowest level in more than a decade. As a rancher, I know it is
difficult to plan for the future when you are facing so many factors
that are outside of your control, whether it is low commodity prices or
retaliatory tariffs or natural disasters that we have gone through and
also a global pandemic.
Nebraska's farmers and ranchers have maintained their patience in
these tough times, but they deserve to know without any kind of doubt
that amidst all of this unpredictability they are experiencing, we here
in Congress are going to hold up our end of the bargain.
For decades, the Commodity Credit Corporation has been routinely
replenished to fund the programs that the Senator from North Dakota
spoke about--those programs that are so important to the farm safety
net. Producers count on programs like the agriculture risk coverage,
price loss coverage, marketing assistance loans, the important
conservation programs, and so many more.
For PLC alone, U.S. farmers are expected to receive $4.7 billion in
October. Out of that total, Nebraska farmers are anticipating $180
million in program payments. Without that immediate CCC reimbursement,
these payments and these programs are going to be significantly
delayed. That will jeopardize the nearly 46,000 farms and ranches in my
State of Nebraska.
We have seen more than 40 agriculture and commodity groups who have
stepped forward and written congressional leadership this week with a
very, very clear message: Blocking the inclusion of that CCC
reimbursement in a CR will hurt farmers and ranchers, no question.
We need to come together. We need to come together and fund the
programs that we, Republicans and Democrats alike, have voted on in
countless

[[Page S5686]]

farm bills. Our farmers and ranchers rely on them, and they rely on
them now more than ever. Congress must keep its commitment to these
hard-working men and women.
I urge my colleagues in the House and here in the Senate not to allow
politics to stand in the way of upholding our commitment to those hard-
working men and women who get up every morning and work tirelessly day
in and day out to put food on our tables. Our producers aren't thinking
of just themselves; they are planning for future generations that will
proudly carry on their life's work and continue feeding our world.
Let's make sure we continue to fund these programs so that we can
ensure that they can do that.
My thanks to my fellow ag State colleagues who know the importance of
agriculture, not just to the States we represent but to this country as
a whole. Thank you to the Senator from North Dakota for organizing us
to come to the floor so that we as a group can stress that importance
Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I would like to thank the good Senator
from Nebraska and turn to the Senator from Iowa, who has also been an
absolute champion on behalf of agriculture. Thanks so much for being
here.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). The Senator from Iowa.
Ms. ERNST. Thank you, Senator Hoeven and Senator Fischer, as well. We
have so many of our great ag State friends here on the floor today to
join in this colloquy.
I did grow up on a small family farm in Southwest Iowa and grew up
around hogs. We have row crops, of course, coming out of Iowa--soybeans
and corn, which are very, very important.
This is an important discussion today because our farmers need
certainty--I hear it time and again from Iowa's ag community--whether
it is trade, biofuels, or the supports that are coming from USDA.
Just yesterday, I heard the message loud and clear as I was on a
phone call with our farmers from the Iowa Farm Bureau. They said we
need to make sure the CCC is fully funded. This isn't just because of
COVID-19 aid payments. That is something different. Those have been
helpful to most of our farmers. This is because our farm bill programs
depend on the CCC being funded. The important supports out there for
dairy, for conservation, for young and beginning farmers--you name it;
it is the CCC.
Just a couple of weeks ago, USDA Secretary Perdue was in Iowa, and we
toured one of the many conservation sites across the State and saw
firsthand the good work that is being done with our farmers through
USDA's conservation programs. They are working to improve their
operations while also cleaning Iowa's water, air, and keeping our soil
healthy. Without these conservation programs funded through the CCC,
this work simply would not be happening.
Folks, since 1987, Congress has replenished the CCC back to $30
billion every year. This is not the year to stop.
Iowa farmers in particular have been suffering through COVID-19; plus
we had a derecho and a drought. The last thing we need is to take away
something they have come to depend on.
Madam President, 2020 has been hard on everyone, and there is no time
to play games with our farmers' futures. I hope our friends on the
other side of the aisle join us in supporting the replenishment of the
CCC in the upcoming funding bill.
I yield back to Senator Hoeven, the great Senator from North Dakota.
Again, my thanks to the Senator and all of our farm State participants
today for joining in the colloquy.
Mr. HOEVEN. I would like to thank the Senator from Iowa. Again, she
directly brings that experience from the farm, growing up in
agriculture.
Somebody else who is here represents Mississippi, so you can see we
are going from North Dakota to Mississippi to Iowa to Nebraska. This is
the whole country we are talking about.
The Senator also is somebody who has a long background in
agriculture. I would like to turn to the good Senator from Mississippi.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Scott of Florida). The Senator from
Mississippi.
Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, as a former commissioner of
agriculture in Mississippi, this is so vital and so important. In
Mississippi, agriculture is the No. 1 industry. One in every four jobs
is related to agriculture. So this is very vital for my State.
With the end of the fiscal year fast approaching, we must act to
ensure important agriculture and conservation programs administered by
the Department of Agriculture do not come to a screeching halt on
October 1.
The 2018 farm bill, which was supported by 87 Members of the Senate,
authorized important safety-net programs to protect producers against
sharp price and revenue declines; provide short-term loans and interim
financing to help producers meet cash flow needs; assist dairy
producers affected by low milk prices and high feed costs; compensate
landowners for taking fragile land out of production and implementing
conservation improvements to help the environment; and assist producers
when natural disasters destroy feed for livestock, cause above-average
livestock mortality, and damage commercial orchards and fruit trees.
Current law requires many of these program payments to be made
annually after October 1, which highlights the importance of this
matter on this day.
As Congress discusses measures to keep the government open and
Federal programs operating beyond the current fiscal year, it is
essential for any continuing resolution to include a provision allowing
the USDA Commodity Credit Corporation to continue financing these
programs. Failure to include such a provision would pose a serious risk
to America's farmers and ranchers in these already challenging times.
It would cause harmful delays in program funding and benefits at a time
when many producers across the country simply cannot afford to wait
months to recover for these losses.
This issue is not just about supporting American agriculture; it is
about Congress living up to its promises. More than 1.7 million
producers signed contracts for the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price
Loss Coverage Programs. Millions of private landowners have signed
conservation contracts to take their land out of production. These are
contracts, and the terms of those contracts must be met.

I remind my colleagues that this is not a situation to be taken
lightly. In recent years, America's farmers and ranchers have
experienced unfair foreign tariffs, depressed prices, catastrophic
flooding and other natural disasters, market disruptions, and now
COVID-19.
I applaud my fellow Republican colleagues on the Appropriations
Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee for raising awareness on
this issue. It is our job to feed this country. We need to be allowed
to do that.
Thank you.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, again, I thank Senator Hyde-Smith of the
State of Mississippi. Not only is she a strong advocate for our farmers
and ranchers, but as I say, all of these people you are hearing from
this morning have backgrounds in agriculture. They have been out there,
and they know what they are talking about, as does the next Senator,
somebody who himself has raised cattle--the Senator from the good State
of Arkansas.
This documents again that ag touches every region of the country and
that the people you are hearing from have strong ag backgrounds. So,
when they talk about this issue, they know how important it is, and
they know that this help is very much needed at this time.
I turn to the good Senator from Arkansas, Mr. Boozman.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.
Mr. BOOZMAN. I thank Senator Hoeven and Senator Roberts for
organizing this and getting us down here to talk about a topic that is
so, so very important.
I am not going to say anything new. I am going to be saying that we
need to include reimbursement to the USDA's Commodity Credit
Corporation in the upcoming continuing resolution. The CCC is the
funding mechanism for the bulk of our Nation's agriculture and
conservation programs that are authorized with broad bipartisan support
in the farm bill.

[[Page S5687]]

In order for these programs to work as intended, the CCC must be
reimbursed by Congress on an annual basis. For decades, the CCC has
been reimbursed by Congress without fanfare, and I am hopeful this year
will be a continuation. Earlier this year, the Senate voted unanimously
to allow the USDA to use $14 billion from the CCC to prevent, prepare
for, and respond to the coronavirus. This provision was included in the
CARES Act.
As our farmers and ranchers face the most challenging year in recent
history, we have an obligation to advance this provision so the
important farm and conservation program payments are made on time and
in full to our farmers and ranchers.
Earlier this week, over 40 agricultural organizations representing
farmers and ranchers across the country sent a letter to the
Appropriations Committee, urging this provision be included in the
continuing resolution.
Preventing a CCC reimbursement would only exacerbate the tremendous
hardship and challenges facing our farmers and ranchers. So I am here
with so many other members of the Senate Ag Committee and Members who
represent rural States to urge the Senate to help farmers and ranchers
and prevent the uncertainty that would come from not including this
important provision.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Boozman for his strong
leadership on ag. He said it very well and very clearly and very
simply.
We have heard from more than 40 ag groups from across the country,
including from the Presiding Officer's State. The last I checked, he
has tremendous agriculture in his State of Florida, whether it be with
the cattle raised in Central Florida or those wonderful oranges that we
all enjoy all year round. It is just one more example of how
agriculture touches everybody's life every day in the most important
ways.
Our farmers and ranchers feed the country. They feed the world. What
could be more important? Look at the challenges they have faced. They
have come into this cycle with very low commodity prices when they have
had years of low commodity prices. We have tough trade agreements in
which countries like China and others have targeted us on trade. Then
you put COVID on top of that. In the midst of that, they have continued
to provide the food supply that feeds every American every single day.
What could be more important? As we have said, that food supply is the
highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the history of the world.
Do you know what else? It is safe, and they have never missed a beat.
What we are talking about today, make no mistake, is of making sure
that we fund the heart and soul of the farm program. The bill passed on
a bipartisan vote in this body with about 87 votes. That is what we are
talking about with regard to funding the CR. It is vitally important
that we do it. I thank these members of the Ag Committee for making
that point so clearly and so well.
We will wrap up, actually, pretty close to on time, which is fairly
remarkable as seven Senators have just gone through this colloquy
process, and I thank them all.
Remember what we are talking about here--the food supply that
benefits every single American every single day.
Thank you.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.