[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 165 (Wednesday, September 23, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5799-S5803]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Agriculture

  Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, we are here to talk about agriculture. We 
are here to talk about those great farmers and ranchers who feed this 
country and feed the world.
  You know, when we talk about good farm policy, we are talking about 
something that benefits every single American every single day because 
our farmers and ranchers produce the highest quality, lowest cost food 
supply in the history of the world that benefits every single American 
every single day. That is just how important it is. How could we be 
reminded even more so right now than during this COVID pandemic of that 
abundant, safe, wonderful food supply that we have every day thanks to 
our farmers and ranchers, and there is so much that goes into it.
  As the Presiding Officer well knows, with Nebraska as his State and 
its being a big part of the incredible ag production in this country--
as a matter of fact, there could be a little rivalry here with his 
contiguous State to the north in terms of cattle production or 
something like that--this is something that touches everybody every day 
and is so important.
  It is not just those farmers and ranchers who produce that food every 
day; it is the whole supply chain that has to work. Remember, that food 
supply has to be safe every day, not only tasty and affordable and 
abundant, and that is what we are talking about. This has become a big, 
big issue in the continuing resolution that we are working on right now 
in that the way we are funding the coronavirus food assistance 
programs, in part, is with the direct funding that we secured in the 
CARES Act and also from what they call the CCC, the Commodity Credit 
Corporation. With regard to the farm bill--the bipartisan farm bill 
that has incredibly strong support on both sides of the aisle in this 
body and the House--many of its very key programs are funded by the 
Commodity Credit Corporation. We put about $30 billion a year into that 
fund every year to make sure that those programs are funded to support 
our farmers and ranchers.
  That was not in the original House version that was going to be 
filed, so a group of Senators from ag States came together last week 
and had a colloquy in this body. They immediately went to work with our 
friends in the House who are also strong supporters of agriculture and 
now the continuing resolution that has passed the House overwhelmingly, 
which we will be taking up, has that key funding in it.
  So we are really here to, once again, emphasize the importance of 
making sure we fund these farm programs, to make sure that we fund them 
in a timely way, and, again, to point out very clearly that this is 
funding that is being used expressly the way it was authorized to be 
used both in the overwhelmingly bipartisan farm bill we passed--the 5-
year farm bill--but also in the CARES Act, in which we secured 
additional funding. Now the funding that is included in the continuing 
resolution is exactly that funding that we put out there every year to 
make sure this farm bill is provided on time.
  It could not be more important than this year, when not only are our 
farmers and ranchers fighting COVID but

[[Page S5800]]

when they are fighting low commodity prices, challenges in the world of 
trade in their being targeted by China, fighting challenges of tough 
weather, and on top of that, COVID. So, again, we have to be there for 
them.
  I thank the Members of the Senate and the House who worked very hard 
on this and the farm group, and I am going to kind of run through this 
whole roster here in a minute.
  Before I do that, I turn to the senior Senator from South Dakota--our 
whip here in the Senate and somebody who has worked on behalf of 
agriculture his whole life--and ask him for a few of his comments.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I say to my colleague from North Dakota how 
much we appreciate his leadership. He is a relentless advocate for the 
farmers and ranchers of North Dakota and across this country. We share 
a border, but we also have a lot of commonality in the people whom we 
represent. They are hard-working people who work from dawn to dusk to 
feed not only this country but the world.
  It has been no easy task being in agriculture during these last few 
years for lots of reasons, as my colleague from North Dakota has 
pointed out, whether it be from, of course, most recently, COVID, but 
also from chronically low and depressed commodity prices, coupled with 
bad weather, coupled with trade disputes, and difficulties with markets 
here and around the world. Farmers and ranchers have had a tough and 
difficult road these past few years, so it is critically important that 
we continue to be there for them.
  As my colleague from North Dakota pointed out, there was a concern 
because what we had heard initially would be in the continuing 
resolution that was coming over from the House--that will fund the 
government and that we will pass, hopefully, later this week in the 
Senate--was not going to include funding for agriculture and for all of 
those programs that keep ag running that we authorized in the farm 
bill.
  A key Member of the House Agriculture Committee, Senator Boozman, of 
Arkansas, who is also a key member of that committee--in fact, he is 
somebody we hope to be the next chairman of that committee--and the 
current chairman of our authorizing committee, Senator Roberts, of 
Kansas, who, I think, will be down here in just a few minutes, all 
played an important role, along with the ag community. All of the 
organizations that Senator Hoeven is going to talk about engaged right 
away when they realized what was happening, and we were able to work 
together to solve that.
  Now we will consider on the floor of the Senate the continuing 
resolution to fund the government that does include funding for the 
Commodity Credit Corporation, which provides the funds that keep all of 
those agricultural programs that we authorize when we do a farm bill. 
The last farm bill was in 2018, and we were all involved with that. It 
would keep all of those programs funded, and that is critically 
important. It has never been more important than it is right now in our 
coming out of the pandemic. Food security is an absolutely essential 
priority. It should be for our country, and it certainly should be for 
the Members of Congress in both the House and the Senate.
  I thank my colleague Senator Hoeven. As I said, he is a strong, 
strong voice for our agricultural producers. When he and I and those 
from Arkansas and Kansas and Nebraska--those of us from farm country--
work together and put together coalitions at times like this, it is 
only due to that advocacy we have heard from Senator Hoeven and others 
that has enabled us to be successful.
  I am glad that we have gotten the right outcome here, and it is 
something to celebrate. Obviously, our farmers and ranchers across the 
country are going to be, I think, enormously grateful that we have been 
able to get this problem resolved.
  I thank the Senator for his leadership, and I look forward to 
continuing to work with my colleagues on those issues that are 
important in farm country that will help our farmers and ranchers not 
only survive but, hopefully, prosper into the future.
  Mr. HOEVEN. I thank the Senate's majority whip for all of the work he 
has done.
  Again, he works for farmers day in and day out. He comes from South 
Dakota, which is a strong farming and big ranching State. He was 
instrumental in this effort, not only by his joining us last week in 
the colloquy but then by engaging in the negotiations as part of our 
leadership time, along with our majority leader, who held fast on this.
  I have to tell you that, as we negotiated back and forth with the 
House, our leadership--Senator McConnell, Senator Thune, and others--
held strong in saying: No, this is something that must be in the 
continuing resolution. Also, the administration--the President and the 
White House--was involved in this negotiation and held fast on this as 
well.
  This is one of the last pieces of the puzzle to come into place, but 
it is so very important that we have gotten it. As I say, we had seven 
Senators down on the floor last week who were talking about it, and 
those seven Senators were led by our Ag chairman, and I will I ask him 
to make a few comments as well.
  Again, let me thank those other Senators who have joined and will 
join us--Senator Thune, from whom you just heard; Senator Boozman, from 
whom you will hear in just a minute; Senator Ernst, of Iowa; Senator 
Fischer, of Nebraska; and Senator Hyde-Smith, of Mississippi. All have 
strong ag backgrounds. I mean, they are people who not only work on 
behalf of agriculture but who are involved in agriculture. They are not 
just here, advocating for it--they live it. It is a great group.
  They have also reached out to so many in the House, to the farm 
groups, to the commodity groups, and to the ag groups, which I will 
talk a little bit more about later.
  Let me turn to our Ag chairman, who, though still a relatively young 
man, has been in the House and the Senate for many years and has always 
been a tireless advocate for agriculture. He is a marine--once a marine 
always a marine. Semper Fi. He brings that attitude--that marine, you 
know, ``never turn back and never let up'' attitude--and makes sure 
that he does everything he can on behalf of our farmers and ranchers.
  I yield to the chairman.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. ROBERTS. I thank the distinguished Senator for his comments. I 
appreciate the shout-out for the U.S. Marine Corps and to all of us who 
are marines.
  The Marine Corps taught me one thing, and that was that I could 
always do more than I thought I could. This is a good example of what 
happens when we work together as a team--when we work with our 
colleagues across the aisle--when we see a real problem that has come 
up.
  This was a situation for which I wanted to express my gratitude to 
all of the Members who joined together to provide certainty and 
predictability. This is what we sold the farm bill on--certainty and 
predictability. We had a situation that we faced, and it was really 
difficult to understand how this came about, but that is not the news 
today. The news today is good news in that we reached a compromise and 
found agreement to replenish the CCC, the Commodity Credit Corporation, 
in the continuing resolution, absent some of the barbed wire that was 
in there.
  I especially want to thank more than 40 agriculture organizations, 
and I have the letter right here. I know both Senators who are in 
attendance here, as well as Senator Thune and everybody concerned, are 
aware of it. It is to Majority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, Leader 
Schumer, and Leader McCarthy. It is from 47 different farm 
organizations and commodity groups that speak for, I think, virtually 
every farmer, rancher, and grower in the country. So I give thanks to 
the 47.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed at this point in the Record 
this letter, dated September 15, 2020, from 47 farm organizations and 
commodity groups
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


[[Page S5801]]


                                               September 15, 2020.
     Hon. Mitch McConnell,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Nancy Pelosi,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Charles Schumer,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Kevin McCarthy,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, Leader 
     Schumer and Leader McCarthy: As Congress assembles a 
     continuing resolution to extend government funding, we 
     respectfully ask that you provide the U.S. Department of 
     Agriculture (USDA) with the resources necessary to continue 
     assisting American farmers and ranchers. To that end, 
     reimbursement for the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) must 
     be included in any measure to keep government operating past 
     the current fiscal year.
       For decades, CCC has been regularly replenished to fund 
     programs integral to the farm safety net that Congress has 
     worked tirelessly to craft. Producers count on programs like 
     Agriculture Risk Coverage, Price Loss Coverage, Dairy Margin 
     Coverage, Marketing Assistance Loans, conservation programs, 
     and many others as they provide food, fuel and fiber for our 
     nation. Without immediate CCC reimbursement, payments and 
     programs would be significantly delayed, jeopardizing 
     operations across the country.
       More than ever, farmers and ranchers need the certainty and 
     support provided by farm programs. Low commodity prices, 
     unjustified retaliatory tariffs, natural disasters, and a 
     global pandemic have placed a tremendous burden on farm 
     country. USDA's most recent farm income projections forecast 
     that cash receipts will be at their lowest level in more than 
     a decade. Coupled with rising farm debt and a decrease in 
     working capital, producers face challenges not experienced in 
     decades.
       As the industry continues to endure hardships during this 
     unprecedented time, we urge you to include CCC reimbursement 
     in a continuing resolution. Thank you for your consideration 
     and continued efforts on behalf of American agriculture.
           Sincerely,
       Agricultural Retailers Association, Amcot, American Agri-
     Women, American Cotton Producers, American Cotton Shippers 
     Association, American Dairy Coalition, American Farm Bureau 
     Federation, American Pulse Association, American Sheep 
     Industry Association, American Soybean Association.
       American Sugar Alliance, Association of Equipment 
     Manufacturers, Cotton Growers Warehouse Association, Cotton 
     Warehouse Association of America, Crop Insurance 
     Professionals Association, National Association of Wheat 
     Growers, National Barley Growers Association, National 
     Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Corn Growers 
     Association, National Cotton Council.
       National Cotton Ginners Association, National Council of 
     Farmer Cooperatives, National Farmers Union, National Milk 
     Producers Federation, National Sorghum Producers, National 
     Sunflower Association, Panhandle Peanut Growers Association, 
     Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., Produce Marketing Association, 
     Rural & Agriculture Council of America.
       Society of American Florists, Southeastern Cotton Ginners 
     Association, Southern Cotton Growers, Southwest Council of 
     Agribusiness, U.S. Canola Association, U.S. Cattlemen's 
     Association, United Egg Producers, United States Peanut 
     Federation, US Rice Producers Association, USA Dry Pea & 
     Lentil Council, USA Rice, Western Peanut Growers Association.

  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, if we had not done this, it would have 
resulted in delays in the 2018 farm bill programs--the one that we 
passed here with 87 votes--and the ability farmers would have with the 
risk management tools.
  I would just simply point out that no matter what they grow or where 
they live, farmers, ranchers, and growers have done their part to 
ensure that our Nation's food, fiber, and fuel supplies continue 
without disruption during these unprecedented times. They are counting 
on the Department of Agriculture--and, for that matter, the Congress--
to deliver a range of agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and 
forestry programs.
  More than 50 of these programs--here is the list--were in danger 
because of the uncertainty in replenishing the CCC funding and then due 
to some of the add-ons with regard to policy being difficult to 
understand. Well, they are easy to understand, but it is bad policy, 
bad precedent.
  We have put the Secretary of Agriculture in a very bad position in 
that he has announced the specifics of this program. I would urge all 
of my colleagues--more especially my colleagues across the aisle who 
have expressed great concern as to what is in this latest program and 
what isn't--to get on the phone, and I will get on the phone with the 
Secretary. I know that Senator Boozman and Senator Hoeven will do the 
same. We all have concerns as to how this is going to work, and that 
has been true with all of the programs prior to this one. That is the 
way to express our concern with regard to getting something done.
  I do want to point out that my colleagues across the aisle, under the 
banner of nutrition programs--the SNAP program in particular, school 
lunches, et cetera--did point out that we had some real deficiencies 
with regard to keeping our commitment to these programs, more 
especially with COVID-19. I understand that, so that was included. That 
is really what we are all about here--working in a bipartisan fashion 
on behalf of farmers, ranchers, and growers in agriculture. That is 
what we have always done on the committee.
  I thank my distinguished ranking member, and I thank everybody who 
brought this thing together.
  As the chairman of this committee, we were successful. As I 
indicated, in a bipartisan manner, we--87 Members of this Chamber--
voted in favor of this legislation. These were some of the programs 
that were threatened: price loss coverage, agriculture risk coverage, 
and marketing assistance loans. If you just go down the list of 
everything farmers were depending on, all of a sudden, it was up in the 
air. Why that was true I am not quite sure, but this shows the extent 
of the damage that could have been done with the original request in 
the CR without the CCC funding.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed at this point in the Record a 
list of these programs that were in danger.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                      Programs Funded Through CCC

       Price Loss Coverage; Agriculture Risk Coverage-County; 
     Agriculture Risk Coverage-Individual; Marketing Assistance 
     Loans; Economic Adjustment Assistance for Upland Cotton; ELS 
     Cotton; Payment Limitations and Actively Engaged (commodity 
     certs, separate peanut payment limit, marketing loan; Sugar 
     Loans; Electronic Warehouse Receipts; Dairy Margin Coverage.
       Dairy Indemnity Payment Programs; Milk Donation Program; 
     Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program; Feedstock 
     Flexibililty Program; Biofuels Infrastructure Program; 
     Biobased Market Program; Biorefinery Assistance Program; 
     Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels; Rural Energy for 
     America Program; Export Credit Guarantee Program.
       Agriculture Trade Promotion Program (Market Access; 
     Program, Foreign Market Development Program, Emerging Markets 
     Program, Technical Assistance for Conservation Reserve 
     Program; Agricultural Conservation Easement Program; 
     Conservation Stewardship Program; Voluntary Public Access and 
     Habitat Incentive Program; Environmental Quality Incentives 
     Program; Regional Conservation Partnership Program; Emergency 
     Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Livestock Forage 
     Disaster Program; Livestock Indemnity Program; Tree 
     Assistance Program.
       Facility Guarantee Program; Food for Progress Program; 
     Quality Samples Program; The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust; 
     Wool Apparel Manufacturers Trust Fund; Pima Cotton Trust 
     Fund; Citrus Trust Fund; APHIS efforts for emergency plant 
     and animal disease; Local Agriculture Market Program; Organic 
     Production and Market Data Initiatives.
       Organic Agriculture Research and Extension; Small Watershed 
     Rehabilitation; Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot; 
     The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program; Specialty 
     Crop Block Grant Program; Animal Disease Prevention and 
     Management Program; Wool Research and Promotion; Farming 
     Opportunities Training and Outreach; Beginning; Farmer and 
     Rancher Development Grant Program; Emergency Food Assistance 
     Program; Food for Peace Program.

  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, finding a bipartisan solution to 
replenish the CCC and to provide much needed certainty and 
predictability for all reasons, all crops, all farmers, and all 
ranchers, I, again, appreciate the efforts of my colleagues and those 
who represent them--the Nation's farmers, ranchers, growers, rural 
stakeholders, everybody in rural and small-town America, and their 
lenders, who could not believe what we were about to face with pulling 
out the CCC funds with regards to the CR, or the continuing resolution, 
to keep our government running and avoid a government shutdown.
  So this agreement, the continuing resolution, represents a good step, 
a good bipartisan step. I really appreciate that, although I must say 
we didn't have to go down this road.

[[Page S5802]]

  There is a saying we have in Kansas that there are a lot cactus in 
the world. We don't have to sit on every doggone one of them. And, boy, 
we sat on this one, and we sat on it too long.
  I want thank the staff, especially the Agriculture Committee staff, 
representing all of our Members on the Ag Committee. They did 
tremendous work, making sure the right policy was there, making sure 
that at least the CCC was operating with the funds that they need to 
operate during the middle of COVID-19, and, again, on behalf of all of 
agriculture.
  So I want to again thank Senator Hoeven for holding this discussion.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mr. SASSE. Mr. President, before Chairman Roberts leaves, I just 
wanted to come down and lend my voice to him and Senators Boozman, 
Thune, and Hoeven, and to Chairman Roberts and his staff for his work, 
and the Presiding Officer. Thank you for spelling me in the Chair 
momentarily. Senator Hoeven and his team have done great work as well.
  As Chairman Roberts just said, there was no reason to have gone down 
this path and injected all of this partisan uncertainty, holding 
farmers and ranchers and their communities and their lenders and their 
welders and their truckers hostage over the last 48 hours. It served no 
policy purpose, and it continues to diminish public trust in this 
institution and our ability to serve our people.
  So I just want to commend you and Senator Hoeven and your teams for 
the work that you have done.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, we are here today to commend our 
Republican leadership for forging a bipartisan compromise on a 
continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown.
  In particular, I am so pleased that we reached an agreement that 
included full reimbursement to the Commodity Credit Corporation, which 
we have all been talking about--not only agreement, but to take away 
the potential of unnecessary delays in farm and conservation payments, 
which are so important to our farmers.
  For decades, the CCC has been routinely reimbursed without fanfare, 
but, unfortunately, not so this year. Our farmers and ranchers have 
faced more than enough challenges this year--extreme weather events, 
low commodity prices, market volatility, a global pandemic, and the 
list just goes on and on and on. They don't need Washington to make 
things even more difficult
  With passage of this bill, with the full CCC reimbursement, farm and 
conservation program payments will go out as planned and will offer 
farmers and ranchers a little more certainty and a little bit more 
predictability to continue growing the food and fiber for this Nation--
not only for this Nation but for the world.
  These important programs--like Ag Risk Coverage, Price Loss Coverage, 
Market Assistance Loans, the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, 
and others--were authorized in the 2018 farm bill that was supported 
with an overwhelmingly bipartisan record number of votes in the Senate.
  So I want to really just thank all of those involved in this effort. 
They worked so, so very hard. A special thanks to Senator McConnell and 
his staff and Chairman Roberts, whom we have with us now, who is 
certainly the voice of ag in the Senate and in Congress. We are going 
to miss him greatly, as he decides to step aside. And also to Senator 
Hoeven and the great work that he did through the ag appropriations 
part of this.
  Then, as Senator Roberts mentioned, there are the staffs that worked 
so, so very hard, and also the members of the Ag Committee who stepped 
up and really shouldered the burden and just did a tremendous job in 
really explaining to Congress and explaining to the public how 
important this issue was and that we simply could not go forward 
without getting it included.
  Then we are here, and we fight. We are kind of the tip of the stick 
and the spear in the ag community and worked really hard in that 
regard. We simply couldn't get it done without the agriculture groups 
that worked so, so very hard, again, in educating the farmers. They 
understand how important this is, but, again, mobilizing them, 
mobilizing the public so that we could have the great result that we 
did.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I would like to thank the Senator from 
Arkansas again for his diligence and hard work, and our Ag chairman.
  I just want to wrap up with some thank-yous, as well, and it starts 
with our Ag chairman, not only for his leadership on the farm bill but 
then on making sure we fund these farm programs.
  I tell you, it has been something that I know Senator Boozman agrees 
with me on. We have learned a lot from him, and we appreciate it. It 
has made a real difference for farmers and ranchers across this 
country.
  I want to thank, of course, all of the Senators that worked with us 
on this project--I named them earlier--but our House Members too. We 
reached out to Members of the House, whether it was the ranking member 
on the Ag Committee, Representative Conaway, or whether it was 
Representative Fortenberry. There are many others that reached out and 
helped as well.
  I agree. I want to thank our staff, led by Tony Eberhard, my chief, 
and on the Agriculture side, by Morgan Ulmer and her whole crew, 
Shannon Hines, and, of course, Richard Shelby, our leader on the 
Approps side, and somebody whom you worked with for many, many years, 
Mr. Chairman.
  It takes all of these people working together. This was really 
important, not just for the farm bill but for that disaster assistance, 
the coronavirus food assistance funding that we are providing, as well, 
which our farmers and ranchers need so very much as we go through this 
COVID fight.
  So let me just wrap up. This is something that the Ag chairman 
brought up. I thought, as usual, right on. He said we wouldn't have 
been able to get this done without the farm groups and the ranch groups 
stepping up and calling their Member, whether it was their Senator or 
their House Member.
  Our chairman also already introduced this into the Record--the 
letter--which was so important. But I am going to take just a minute 
and read through those ag groups, if I could, as our way of finishing 
up with a thank you.
  I am just going to read through those 47 groups: Agriculture 
Retailers Association, Amcot, American Agri-Women, American Cotton 
Producers, American Cotton Shippers Association, the American Dairy 
Coalition, American Farm Bureau Federation.
  I have got to say that the American Farm Bureau Federation took a 
real leadership role, so a special thanks there.
  But thanks to all of these groups: American Pulse Association, 
American Sheep Industry Association, American Soybean Association, 
American Sugar Alliance, Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Cotton 
Growers Warehouse Association; Cotton Warehouse Association of America, 
Crop Insurance Professionals Association, National Association of Wheat 
Growers, National Barley Growers Association, National Cattlemen's Beef 
Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton 
Council, National Cotton Ginners Association, National Council of 
Farmer Cooperatives, National Farmers Union, National Milk Producers 
Federation, National Sorghum Producers, National Sunflower Association, 
Panhandle Peanut Growers Association, Plains Cotton Growers, Produce 
Marketing Association, Rural & Agriculture Council of America, Society 
of American Florists, Southeast Cotton Ginners Association, Southern 
Cotton Growers, Southwest Council of Agribusiness, U.S. Canola 
Association, U.S. Cattlemen's Association, United Egg Producers, United 
States Peanut Federation, US Rice Producers Association, USA Dry Pea & 
Lentil Council, USA Rice, and Western Peanut Growers Association--all 
representing farmers and ranchers.
  They produce the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the 
world that benefits every single American, every single day.
  With pleasure I yield, for the final words, to our esteemed chairman.
  Mr. ROBERTS. I am not sure this is the final word. In the Senate of 
the United States there is no final word, I would assume.
  But this points out something that is just absolutely 
understandable--common sense. When people ask me how on

[[Page S5803]]

Earth we got 87 votes together for a farm bill, with the tremendous 
help of the ranking member, Senator Stabenow, it was pretty easy.
  We were holding hearings, as both of the Senators know. And people 
asked me: How do you get something like this done?
  It is just a huge undertaking. You have to listen to farmers. You 
have to sit on the wagon tongue and listen.
  Well, this time we didn't have to sit on the wagon tongue and listen. 
United, they said: What on Earth is going on? How did this proposal get 
loose? In other words, keeping us out of the continuing resolution, 
given the problems that we are having, what on Earth is going on?
  And so it wasn't much of a surprise to any of us when farmers--every 
one of them represented by the groups that the distinguished Senator 
has just listed--said: Whoa. Wait a minute. We are getting left out.
  I think the leader in a conference said something about, well, other 
than the fact that we are treating agriculture and farmers like bums--I 
mean, it was pretty clear what was going on, and it was terribly 
counterproductive. I don't know how people come up with these things. 
It is what it is.
  But we listened to farmers. We got the job done. We cooperated. It 
was bipartisan.
  Some of the nutrition programs were addressed. It was a good news 
story. We couldn't have done it, however, without the 47 groups that 
sounded the alarm. And so we have been able to do it over a period of 
about 3 or 4 or 5 days.
  I thank everybody concerned. I think it is a good news story in the 
end result.
  Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. Chairman, I also want to add Terry Van Doren to that 
list, who is here this morning on the floor. He worked tirelessly and 
stood firm in the negotiations. So, Terry, thank you to you as well.
  And, again, the final word, though, has to go--I think Senator 
Boozman would agree with me--to our Ag chairman. Thanks so much
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let me at the outset join in with my 
Republican colleagues. Coming from a farm State, I am glad that we have 
a bipartisan continuing resolution until December 11.
  I am saddened that we don't have the Appropriations Committee working 
through its normal process, nor the Budget Committee. This is the world 
we live in now--continuing resolutions. And this continuing resolution 
does include money for the Commodity Credit Corporation, which is the 
usual source of payments for agriculture programs agreed to in the farm 
bill.
  There was some question as to whether or not there was enough money 
in the CCC account to take care for the months to come. Now there is no 
question that it will be adequately funded. That is a positive thing.
  I also am happy to report that the early press reports that we saw 
suggesting CCC funds were actually going to be diverted to oil 
companies--oil companies--was expressly prohibited as part of this 
negotiation.
  Understand what is behind this. These oil companies have benefited 
from a decision by the Trump administration to give small refineries 
waivers when it came to the blending of ethanol with their product. The 
net result of that decision by the Trump administration was that a 
large number of these small refineries were given waivers for blending, 
and, as a result, the actual production of ethanol declined 
dramatically. It is one of the major reasons that corn is grown and 
sold. It is for that use, and it was diminished dramatically.
  It was one of major reasons why, as the ethanol industry cratered, 
that farm income in many States was cut in half from what it normally 
has been.
  In just the last few days, there has been an attempt to rectify the 
situation, which should have been changed years ago, and rectifying it 
to say that, once again, there will be blending of ethanol with 
gasoline in the United States, which I support. And then someone 
suggested, well, let's give an additional subsidy to the oil companies 
from the Commodity Credit Corporation--a terrible idea from the start. 
I am glad it is not included in this final product.

  Let me mention one other part of this that is included that I think 
bears notice, and that is the fact that there is an extension of the 
school feeding program for the next school year.
  We have an extraordinary situation with the COVID-19 pandemic where 
many schools are not bringing kids into the classroom. Many of these 
kids are being taught online across America. I know it because I know 
my grandkids are going through this. For those who are in lower income-
qualifying categories, we have now extended in this continuing 
resolution the accessibility of these school feeding programs for the 
next school year. That is important. Kids, if they are going to learn, 
have to have nutrition. We don't want them suffering from hunger in the 
process in any way, shape, or form in this great Nation.
  I want to salute not just the CCC, which has been lauded over and 
over again in this last half hour, but this decision that my side of 
the aisle was pushing for to extend school lunch and school feeding 
programs into the next school year. I think it will give some peace of 
mind to administrators who are trying to cope with the current 
situation.