[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 43 (Monday, March 11, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H1064-H1065]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       FAMILY FARMS ARE IN CRISIS

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, during President Biden's 
politically charged, factually inaccurate, and often confusing State of 
the Union speech, we heard a lot of excuses about the problems American 
families are facing.
  One line from the President's speech stood out to me: Because of my 
investments, family farms are better able to stay in the family.
  Well, this rosy picture painted by our President doesn't tell the 
whole story, and his own Department of Agriculture's data proves it.
  Under President Biden, rural America and our family farms are in 
crisis. We are in the middle of the largest agricultural trade deficit 
on record. Farm input costs from fuel to fertilizer have skyrocketed. 
Interest rates are sky high. Grocery prices are up 21 percent since 
Biden took office.
  The state of the Union is expensive. Rural America is struggling. Our 
family farms are in dire straits.
  As the New York Post recently said: ``Shrinkflation and many other 
problems are the bitter harvest of Bidenomics.''
  Thankfully, we have the opportunity to course correct, to revitalize 
rural America, and truly get our family farms back on track. We will do 
this

[[Page H1065]]

through the farm bill, one of the few remaining exercises in good 
governance left in Washington, D.C.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will 
join me and truly uplift our family farms.

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