[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 200 (Thursday, December 22, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10078-S10079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have been a member of the Senate 
Agriculture Committee for 48 years, since I was elected in 1974. I have 
helped to write nine farm bills, and I have overseen the creation of 
programs that have helped farmers, food systems, and consumers alike. 
Throughout the years, I have been proud to bring born-in-Vermont ideas 
back to DC.
  I was warned when I first came to the Senate not to get on the 
Agriculture Committee because I would never be able to get off. And 
they were right. But that has been just fine with me because the work 
we have done on this committee and in the farm bills has always been so 
important, and the work has been bipartisan, in the best tradition of 
the Senate.
  I have always worked to make healthy food accessible to everyone. In 
1988, I authored the Hunger Prevention Act, which improved child 
nutrition and SNAP programs and provided other hunger relief. In 1994, 
I worked to provide funding for WIC, provide milk to low-income 
students, fund school breakfast programs, encourage organic foods at 
school lunches, and expand WIC at farmers markets, and promote healthy 
eating habits for children through the better Nutrition and Health for 
Children Act. And in 2010, I authored the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, 
which created the Farm to School Program, which brings locally grown 
food into schools.
  I have been proud to advocate for small- and mid-sized dairy farms,

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which are integral to the history and fabric of Vermont. Family dairies 
have struggled and I have been honored to lead the work in the Senate 
to find the right model to help family dairy farms manage risk. After 
several innovative models, our current one, the Dairy Margin Coverage 
Program, seems to be working, and I hope that it will be renewed and 
improved in the next farm bill.
  In 2018, I advocated to bring one of the Regional Dairy Business 
Innovation Centers to Vermont, which now serves the entire Northeast, 
supporting the development, production, marketing, and distribution of 
dairy products.
  This committee has also been home to some of the most significant 
Federal forest conservation laws. In 1990, I oversaw the creation of 
the Forest Legacy Program, which protects private forests through 
conservation easements or land purchases. Since 1990, the Forest Legacy 
Program has conserved more than 2.8 million acres of forest land across 
all 50 States and U.S. Territories. And in 2008, using the historic 
Vermont town forest system as a model, I led the creation of the 
Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program, which allows 
communities to acquire and conserve forests that provide public access, 
recreation, protect water supplies and wildlife habitat, serve as 
demonstration sites for forest landowners, and provide economic 
benefits from these products.
  One of my proudest achievements was as chairman of the Agriculture 
Committee in 1990, when I authored the Organic Food Production Act, 
which established the USDA Organic program. What was predicted to be a 
``crunchy granola sideshow'' has become a nearly $58 billion industry.
  I have so valued that this is, perhaps, the least partisan of all 
Senate committees. Please be reminded of this if you glance up at my 
portrait in 2023 and beyond. Keep in mind that while we will have our 
differences, farm bills have always been bipartisan, and we have always 
come together to support our farmers and rural communities.

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