[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

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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

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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.