[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6525-6530]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         FARM CRISIS IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 1999, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, as some of our colleagues discussed earlier 
this evening, rural America is in economic depression. Tonight I would 
like to ask the question of: Where is the beef? Where is the bill that 
is supposed to come out of this Congress that meets the needs of 
farmers across this country who are losing equity, increasing debt, and 
many, many of them putting their farms up for sale?
  Recently I stood on this floor and read to my colleagues a letter I 
received from a constituent who comes from a farming family of many 
generations. She called the American farmer an endangered species and 
asked if Congress even cared about saving them.
  I care about saving the independent American farmer, Mr. Speaker. But 
the leadership of this Congress is very, very irresponsible. Where is 
the bill? Where is the beef?
  Some Members of this Congress are doing all they can to get a bill 
out of here that addresses the concerns of farmers across this country. 
But many other Members are unaware or literally are playing politics by 
holding relief to our farmers hostage to other bills, literally putting 
a tourniquet on the credit so essential as life lines to farmers across 
this country.
  It is awful that, while the American economy is at one of the 
strongest points in recent history, the benefits are not flowing to 
every community. In fact, the benefits are flowing out of the pockets 
and the bank accounts of our farmers.
  They are continuing to experience significant declines in prices that 
began over a year ago. In fact, over the last 15 years, one would ask 
oneself the question: Why would one even want to be an independent 
farmer in America?
  The price declines experienced by wheat and cattle producers over the 
last couple of years have now expanded across rural America to include 
the feed grains, oilseed, cotton, pork, rice, and now even the dairy 
sector at 50-year lows.
  In some instances, prices are now lower than during the 1940s. 
Coupled with that is the increasing cost of production and farm 
equipment and fuel. Those prices do not go down, only up.
  For the Record this evening, I want to submit some of these prices. 
Imagine how many bushels of wheat one would have to supply to a local 
grain company when wheat is now selling at $2.66 a bushel. Fifteen 
years ago, it was selling at $3.39. In corn, it is at all time record 
lows, $2 a bushel. In soybeans, $5.05. Those prices had been on a 
continuing decline.
  In cattle and steers, the prices continue to go down. Certainly in 
the hog area were at all time lows at $35.41. It is almost amazing that 
one can buy an entire animal for that amount. Then of course one would 
have to add on the slaughter costs. But across this country, farmers 
are burying their animals. They cannot meet the cost of production.
  These are people who work very, very hard for a living. Farm income 
is expected to fall by next year by an additional 20 percent. That 
means taking 20 percent of one's equity away from one. How would that 
feel for any American family?

                              {time}  1945

  We know that exports are also down, nearly 20 percent in the last 3 
years. Exports of wheat are down 15.4 percent; corn is down 19.2 
percent; soybeans down 8.3 percent; cotton down nearly half.
  Is it any wonder that there is a cry across America in our rural 
communities? Farmers are losing their equity big time. The only 
question remains, how long can they hang on?
  Total farm debt in the last 2 years is rising, over $170 billion, 
nearly a 10 percent increase. Equity down, debt up. The drop in income, 
coupled with declining asset values for many producers, means they 
cannot obtain credit. This Congress should be guaranteeing that credit 
for America's farmers.
  I ask again, where is the bill? Where is the beef?
  Those who do obtain credit will find that they will be using it for 
cash expenses rather than for investment or for improvement. They will 
find themselves squeezed out as they try to repay debt on current 
income.
  And prices for next year do not look any better. Many farmers who 
struggled with cash flow last year resulting from low prices and 
adverse weather will likely see their situation worsen as this year and 
next year move forward. In fact, the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
projects that the greatest financial strain in 1999, this year, will be 
on field crops: Wheat, corn, soybeans, upland cotton, rice. Net income 
will be 17 percent below previous 5-year averages. And this year 
current projections show there will be an additional 27 percent below 
the previous 5-year average.
  My colleagues, this is very, very serious. And I think the political 
problem inside here in some ways reflects America's folly, taking our 
food production system for granted. Because, of course, we were only 
able to create this civilization when the tillers of the soil and those 
who raised our livestock were able to feed more than their own family, 
became more efficient, were able to feed the Nation and so much of the 
world. We came to take them for granted.
  They only comprise 2.8 percent of those who work in America. They 
truly are a minority. And so most of the public does not even see the 
sweat on their brow, the debts that they have had to amass as they try 
to continue in the work that they love.
  While the equity level of farmers is relatively high, farm lenders 
report that farmers are depleting their equity at a faster rate than 
earlier in this decade. And unlike the 1980s, when many of them loaned 
up and they got debt heavy, what this group now is doing,

[[Page 6526]]

and the average age of farmers being about 55 years of age in America, 
they are saying, why take on more debt, why weather more of this 
crisis, let us get out of this business. What a tragedy for our 
country.
  When we think about it, when we walk around the Capitol and we see 
all the statutes and look at the murals on the walls, what do they 
represent? They represent the abundance of this land; the ability of 
the American people to have a stable political unit built on 
independent farmers, independent ownership of land; the ability to 
survive and, in the process, to be able to produce enough to feed one's 
neighbors.
  Most Americans do not pay more than 10 percent of their income for 
food. Most of the world pays over half of their income for food. We owe 
much to our farmers. We are blessed with fertile soil in this country 
and hardworking people. Our country was built on the sweat of their 
labor. In fact, they are so good, unfortunately, that most of the rest 
of the society does not even see them any more.
  We cannot turn our back, Mr. Speaker, on our farmers, because they 
have never turned their back on us. This Congress, the leadership of 
this Congress tomorrow could bring up the emergency farm bill if there 
were the will. We ought to start with credit for planting this spring, 
but that is not sufficient. We have to look at price transparency. We 
have to look at risk management.
  I want to say a word, before I recognize several of my colleagues who 
have joined me here this evening, about why it is so hard for farmers 
to make a living. If we look at the concentration that is continuing to 
afflict this industry and how difficult it is for an independent 
producer to make it in America, our independent farmers are being 
squeezed out.
  If we take a look at pork, most Americans do not know that six 
companies in this country control the processing that brings that pork 
to America's tables, those ribs, that pork sausage. Companies like 
Smithfield, IBP, ConAgra, Cargill, Farmland Industries, and Hormel 
control 75 percent of all pork slaughter in this country.
  If a farmer has animals and he wants to get them to market, he does 
not go to the retail store, he has to go to the processing company, and 
it is the processing company that decides whether his animal will get 
to market. The processing company decides what that farmer will receive 
per pound for that animal, and they decide, generally by deals with the 
retail stores, on which shelves might that farmer's product arrive. The 
independent farmer has nothing to say about all of that.
  In Ohio, the area where I come from, due to a lack of independent 
slaughter facilities and last year's closing of Thornapple's up in 
Michigan, along with the dumping of Canadian hogs on our market, our 
pork farmers in Ohio are suffering greatly. They are lucky if they can 
find companies willing to take their animals.
  And it is not just in pork. In beef, four firms control 83 percent of 
all beef slaughter in this country, four firms control 73 percent of 
all sheep slaughter, and four firms control 62 percent of flour 
milling. And I can tell my colleagues this, at the regional level the 
concentration is even worse when farmers cannot find a way to get their 
products to market.
  Truly, this is a battle between David and Goliath, and Goliath is 
winning.
  I want to recognize some of my colleagues who have joined me this 
evening; certainly the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Bob 
Etheridge), who has been down here every day trying to get a bill out 
of this institution.
  We have a Speaker from Illinois. There are lots of feed grains in 
Illinois. Why is a bill not moving? We have a Whip in this Chamber who 
is from Texas where cotton and cattle are in trouble. Why can we not 
move a bill out of this Chamber?
  I yield to my colleague from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) and thank 
him for his tremendous work and leadership on this issue, not just for 
his own State but for farmers across our country.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Ohio 
(Ms. Kaptur) for putting together this important special order on the 
condition of American farmers at a time when the American farm economy 
is in deep trouble, as she has already stated, and the need for this 
body to stop playing politics and get a supplemental spending bill 
through.
  There is no excuse for what is happening. Our farmers need help now. 
They really needed it last month. We tried to get a supplemental bill 
through, as the gentlewoman well knows, but politics prevailed over 
good sound policy.
  I, as a member of the Committee on Agriculture, had to vote against 
the bill because it was that bad, as did many of the Members of this 
body, and it did not pass. The reason was we were taking money out of 
the international fund, where we were selling our products, to loan to 
farmers to produce, which is the craziest thing I have ever heard of. 
And this body realized it when it got to the floor. It was nothing more 
than a political game.
  I am sorry I had to vote against it, but the point is, as the 
gentlewoman has indicated, farmers are hurting. Farm families are in 
trouble all across this country. The need for American families to have 
us stop playing the partisan games are the greatest they have ever 
been, and the Republican majority has denied any relief to suffering 
farmers. They have denied that relief when we can do something about 
it, as the gentlewoman has indicated. It is in their power to bring it 
to the floor, it is within their power to let us pass it. Because if it 
gets to this floor, it will pass.
  I grew up on a farm. I have a lot of my friends who still farm. It is 
a great life. I own a little piece of land. It is kind of hard for me 
to say I farm. I go out there a lot and check the cows, and my son 
spends a lot of time on the farm, almost every day. But farmers are 
hurting. I have been around farming all my life, and I do not remember 
a time when there has been more uncertainty, more turmoil, more 
economic devastation of such a broad scale in the agricultural 
community as there is today.
  I was at a 4-H lamb show during the break with some friends, and an 
auctioneer came up to me and he said, ``I want to say something.'' He 
did not know me. I had never met him. He said, ``It hurts me to go and 
have farm sales, and I am having more farm sales now than any other 
type of sale I am having.'' And the shame is there is no one there to 
bid. The farmers' assets are going for a pittance.
  In North Carolina almost no farmer has been spared, and I think this 
is true all across the country. Our tobacco farmers are close to facing 
the lowest production quota in the history of the tobacco program. That 
goes back to the mid 1930s.
  Pork farmers, as the gentlewoman has shared, have experienced the 
lowest prices for live hogs in more than 50 years, for a variety of 
reasons. And cotton, peanut, dairy, corn, wheat and soybean farmers are 
being crushed by the low prices. They are being crushed by low prices 
and oversupply and no place to market their goods.
  In these modern times there are an awful lot of people who really 
think they get their groceries at a grocery store, and they do, but 
what they forget is the farmers that produce those goods, that put them 
on the shelves.
  I am here to say to my colleagues that if we want to keep having food 
come from the farm, as the gentlewoman has already indicated, we had 
better be about helping the farmers stay in business. Because if the 
independent farmers go out, and surely they will if we do not give them 
help, and we wind up with just the large mega corporate farms, America 
is going to be in deep trouble and we will pay a heavy price for it.
  Food is a vital part of a country's national security. If we lose our 
ability to produce food, we will not have the underpinnings of a strong 
national security. We have a responsibility, and I think a duty, to 
make sure our farmers survive. And not only survive, they should 
thrive.
  It is absolutely not fair, when so many people in the country are 
deciding whether or not to roll over their

[[Page 6527]]

IRAs and how to do it, and look at the stock dividends and watch the 
stock market, when farmers are watching their stock go to market and 
not even getting paid for it. That is not right.
  We need to make sure our farmers survive and that our families have 
access to a safe and adequate food supply. It needs to be produced in 
the United States if we want to make sure it is a safe food supply.
  The Freedom to Farm Act that passed here in 1996 has been an utter 
failure. There is no question about it. Talk to any farmer, they will 
tell my colleagues that. Promises were made in 1996 of a new and 
expanded market in exchange for an end to price supports and production 
controls. So what happened was the Republican majority in this Congress 
did away with the controls, but we did not fulfill the other part. We 
did not make sure they had markets for their goods. And if they do not 
have an overseas market, they are in trouble. And that is where our 
farmers are.
  We have to be accountable to our farmers for the failure of that 
promise, and the only way we can be accountable is to put a bill on 
this floor that keeps them in business.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Reclaiming my time for just a moment, the gentleman was 
talking about the importance of production in this country. I 
completely agree.
  And also it is important to understand how our farmers are organized 
to produce; whether they become franchisees to some big processing 
company or whether they are allowed to own their own farmstead and make 
their own decisions on what they wish to raise and be able to pledge 
their own assets against borrowing.
  What is happening so often across our country now, in order to 
survive, and I do not think most urban dwellers or suburban dwellers 
understand this, these farmers are oftentimes having to lock themselves 
into economic arrangements where they totally are losing their 
independence. They are no longer independent farmers.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. I thank the gentlewoman for those comments. That is 
absolutely true. If our farmers lose their independence, that is the 
very thing that has made America great.
  Going back all the way to colonial days, as the gentlewoman mentioned 
earlier, is the fact that a person had a piece of ground, and it used 
to be said they had a mule. There are no longer mules in the country 
now. Those that came out of Missouri, we have now put tractors behind 
them and other things.

                              {time}  2000

  But the important thing was that they had their independence. We have 
had a strong vibrant economy because of agriculture. When our 
agricultural economy gets in trouble, pretty soon the rest of us 
follow.
  We started to do something last year to help the farmers when we 
passed the disaster relief bill, but not a dime of that money, not one 
dime of that money, has been sent to the farmers yet because of a whole 
variety of reasons.
  Earlier this year, we passed, and I commend the majority for bringing 
this to the floor, legislation to free up loan reserves within the 
Department so that they can make money available to farmers. But that 
money is also gone, the reason being there is such a big need in the 
farm community, farmers need a lot of money in the spring to buy 
supplies to start the farm operations. They are huge users of credit.
  The problem we have is, as my colleague indicated earlier, the 
commodity prices are so low, the lowest they have been in probably 50 
years, they have very little reserves, they have grain and other 
commodities in the bins where they are stored. Unfortunately, those 
commodities are not worth anywhere near the amount they need to go to 
the bank and borrow money.
  So it is up to us, I think, to step up and make sure they are in 
business and get through these tough times so that all of us can enjoy 
the bounty that we have enjoyed for so long. We have had the food in 
this country. We have been able to share it around the world. If we 
want to keep doing that, we better make sure that we make money 
available through the USDA to get to our farmers. But the money we 
already made available is gone.
  The trouble in the farm economy is often the first step, as I said 
earlier, to a greater problem in the economy in America. And we better 
wake up and we better get a supplemental spending bill on this floor 
and the majority better do it for our farmers or we are all going to 
pay a heavy price.
  And our farmers know who is in charge. Farmers across this country 
find themselves in the situation where they do not watch Wall Street. 
They cannot. They are watching Main Street, and Main Street does not 
look very good these days. The Wall Street bankers may deal with 
stocks, but if the Main Street banker cannot lend money to the farmers, 
a lot of us may not enjoy the kind of bountiful food at the cheap 
prices that we have enjoyed for so long.
  This happened once before in our country in the 1930s. Different 
times. But the farmers got in trouble and we had the dust bowls in the 
Midwest because the farmers were not farming. That can happen again. It 
can very well happen in America. But this Congress can take action, and 
I challenge the Republican leadership to bring that bill to the floor 
so that we can give our farmers the help they need as they start this 
planting season.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, so we can let the 
American people know where this bill is whether it first came through 
the House, it had to then go to the Senate. The Senate has passed a 
bill. Under our rules, we now have to do what we say ``go to 
conference.'' That means to work out the differences between the House 
and Senate bill.
  The problem is the Senate has appointed conferees. But guess what? 
The leadership of this House has not appointed conferees. Therefore, we 
cannot clear a bill because they have not even worked out the 
differences.
  It is now into the fourth month of this Congress, and spring planting 
is now. People have to make life-and-death decisions now. I have had 
seed companies call me from back home saying, ``Marcy, I have debts 
from last year related to credit I extended, and I cannot do it again. 
I got a lot of farmers totally at risk here.'' And yet we are sort of 
fiddling here in this Chamber while rural America burns across this 
country and we cannot even get a conference committee appointed.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman would yield further, 
she is absolutely correct. There is no excuse for it. There is no 
excuse when we have the power to do something about it. The majority 
does. We do not. The majority does.
  We should move tomorrow. We should have a bill on this floor before 
we go home this weekend and we ought to pass it so that the farmers can 
go to work.
  Planting season, as my colleague said, has started. And in the 
Southeast, for some of the crops, we are getting pretty far along 
already. And in my colleague's part of the country, they are going to 
be planting within the next week or so and some are probably getting 
land ready.
  We need to act now, and it does not need to be next month.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina 
(Mr. Etheridge) for joining us and for being a vigilant voice not just 
for farmers in North Carolina but across this country and in trying to 
get the majority here to do what is right for our country.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry), one 
of the most knowledgeable Members of the entire Congress on the subject 
of rural America and agriculture.
  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, I am a bit sad this evening to have to come 
to this floor again to express the concern I have for America's 
farmers. I consider and have always considered myself, since the time I 
have been old enough to understand, privileged to be born a farmer. I 
still am. That is the way most of the members of my family for as far 
back as I know about. That is the way they have made a living. We never 
had a lot but we had enough.
  And it is a sad thing to see the rest of the country prosper, and we 
are

[[Page 6528]]

proud of that, we are happy for them, at a time when America's farmers 
are in the worst situation that they have been in in this century. It 
is almost unbelievable that the same body, the United States Congress 
that passed Freedom to Farm, the same leadership that crammed Freedom 
to Farm down our farmers' throats when they begged not to do it, they 
knew this was a bad idea, for us to have to come to this floor tonight 
and once again ask the leadership of this House to do the right thing.
  We are not asking them for a handout. We are not asking them to do 
anything except what they should do. Because they made a commitment 
when they passed Freedom to Farm. They basically said to America's 
farmers that they produce and we will help them sell it.
  They did not pass fast track. They have not helped open up any new 
markets. They have basically let it go by the wayside and told 
America's farmers, good luck, guys, we hope you make it. It is like 
standing on the bank of the river while they know someone is about to 
drown and saying ``good luck.'' But that is what is happening in this 
Congress right now.
  It is unconscionable that the leadership has not appointed conferees 
and they have not dealt with this and it has already gone to the 
President's desk, and it is hard to believe.
  America's farmers are the most productive people that have ever been 
known in the history of the world. There has never been another nation 
that it cost them so little to eat as it does this country. America's 
farmers have had an average increase in productivity of 3 percent 
annually since 1910. That is unmatched by any other industry anywhere 
in the world at any time in history. And it is unbelievable that the 
House is holding up this progress.
  Our farmers are out there twisting in the wind right now. They need 
the loans that this money will provide. We have an obligation to them 
to see that it happens. All of the things that have been said here this 
evening are quite true. And it is just unbelievable to me that, as a 
branch of the Government, we do not do the right thing and do what we 
know is the right thing to do.
  It is a national security issue. I was amazed a few weeks ago to hear 
leading economists say that agriculture was no longer an important part 
of America's economy, that the stock market had grown so big that it 
was almost insignificant. It is not important unless we happen to eat 
three times a day. Then it becomes pretty important to us.
  America's farmers have done such an incredible job that we do not 
even notice what they do. But they are proud people. They are hard-
working people. They work hard. They play by the rules, and all they 
ask is for an even break. Yet, after passing Freedom to Farm, basically 
doing away with the safety nets and saying, good luck, fellows, the 
leadership and the majority party in this House has turned their back 
on America's farmers.
  It is an amazing thing to me. I cannot imagine why they would want to 
do this. It is just amazing to me. The longer I live and the more I 
see, the more I am convinced that the further we get from our 
Jeffersonian roots, the further we get from an agrarian society, the 
more social problems we have.
  I think there is great value not only in production of food but in 
rural America and what we learn and what we gain by having a strong 
rural America. Yet we are letting things like this, actions by the 
majority leadership, create a situation where rural America is 
threatened, where America's farmers are threatened, and it is something 
that just should not be allowed to happen.
  I certainly hope that our leadership will take the responsibility. 
Let us hold them accountable, ask them to do the right thing, and bring 
this bill to conference, get it done, get it passed, get it on the 
President's desk, and do what we need to do for our farmers.
  Once again, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 
holding this special order and appreciate the opportunity to 
participate.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. 
Berry) for his eloquent remarks this evening, which reflect not just an 
intellectual understanding of what agriculture means to this economy 
but his personal experience and bringing that kind of knowledge to this 
floor when so many of our Members do not know this particular industry 
firsthand, and to thank him for his sincerity and the weight of his 
arguments, which I know will help us as we try to carry the day here. 
He has been so convincing and his passion not just for people in 
Arkansas but across our country is completely demonstrated by his 
participating in this special order, and I want to personally thank him 
and thank the people of Arkansas for sending him here.
  I could not help but think as he was talking about independent 
agriculture what has happened to our country. Farmers work very hard 
and they try to get their product to market, and there are these 
gatekeepers now and some of the big processing companies really do hold 
the leverage and power in the system. It has been my experience in 
dealing with some of those processing companies that they do not care 
whether the meat comes from America or whether it is imported, whether 
the grain comes from America or whether it is imported, whether the 
vegetables come from America or they are imported, because they can 
literally process anything and it really does not matter.
  But I would just plead with my colleagues and plead with the American 
people who are listening this evening, think about the history of our 
country and what the roots of our freedom really are. When any segment 
of our society that has been so very important to us is on the ropes, 
about to lose their independence, we are all connected to that, and 
only because we have had independently-owned agriculture for most of 
our history have we been able to maintain our freedoms and the 
political stability that we have known.
  But if we look at what is happening to the processing of food today, 
if we look at the processing firms who racked up profits last year four 
times higher than in prior years, we have to begin to ask the question 
why, when we can buy an entire hog for $40, the price does not go down 
in the store? When these companies, the processing firms, can buy 
volumes and volumes of product produced by our farmers, and yet the 
price really does not go down in the store, what is happening there to 
consumers?
  Consumers need to be interested in this. We need to be asking our 
local grocer whether there are products on the shelves that come from 
local companies, local farmers. Where does the meat come from? Is it 
labeled? Where do the vegetables come from? Are they labeled? Are we 
eating American grown strawberries or strawberries from somewhere else?
  Only 2 percent of the food that comes onto the tables of America is 
literally inspected at our borders. And last year we imported over $30 
billion worth of commodities into this country. And so, we begin to ask 
ourselves questions about the way this whole agricultural system has 
been transformed in the last 30 years.
  It is a very different America than it was for our forebears. And the 
question for us today is, is this the system? Do we like the system the 
way it is? We have less than a million people in farming production 
agriculture today, and now we are going to wipe out thousands and 
thousands and thousands more. Is that really the America we want?
  Try, if you are listening, call your local farmers, work with your 
local farm bureaus, work with your local associations, church groups, 
see if there is not a way to buy direct.

                              {time}  2015


                Announcement By The Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). The Chair reminds Members that 
they are to direct their remarks to the Chair and not the television 
viewing audience.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I would ask people to visit their farmers' 
market and take advantage of farm fresh produce. Ask your grocer to 
procure locally-grown products, even eggs, poultry. Very interesting to 
see how few

[[Page 6529]]

are able to actually participate in supplying the shelves. That is not 
by accident. It is because of the system that we have today. We need 
local solutions, as well as national solutions, to this problem.
  I would urge the Members, I would say to the Speaker, that the 
American people should call their Members of Congress, particularly 
those in the leadership, and they should be asking for clearance of the 
emergency supplemental farm bill here in this Congress. It would only 
solve part of the problem. The biggest share remains ahead of us. If we 
could release credit for this spring, that would permit some of our 
farmers to remain in business.
  But America must be concerned with the next generation of farmers and 
how she is going to preserve an independent agriculture, if at all, for 
the 21st century.
  Mr. Speaker, I see our fine colleague, the gentlewoman from North 
Carolina (Mrs. Clayton), who has joined us this evening, who has spent 
her life working in rural development and is such an effective voice 
for the economic interests of all people, and I thank her very much for 
joining us and for her. I can tell the other Members and the Speaker 
pro tempore here this evening that she is really effective and 
communicates this message on agriculture every day to the people who 
need to move bills inside this Congress, and I thank her for joining 
us.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Ohio 
(Ms. Kaptur) for holding the special order on the emergency need for 
the farm supplemental appropriation, and I thank her for all her 
leadership for rural America, but I thank her for bringing the 
opportunity that we can talk about in emergency.
  In January of this Congress I was discussing the conditions of our 
farmers and the need to enact emergency legislation. In fact, the 
President also mentioned it in his State of the Union. Now more than a 
quarter of a year has passed, and we have yet to pass that legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, what constitutes emergency? Emergency is a crisis, it is 
an exigent situation that demands urgent attention. We have a crisis in 
farming. We have an exigent situation that demands urgent attention.
  Why then do we not have an emergency supplemental for agriculture? I 
believe we do not have an emergency supplemental bill almost four 
months later, after no Member of this Congress disputes that there is 
indeed an emergency. Everyone will tell you they understand that the 
farmers are suffering, and yet we do not respond to this.
  I cannot imagine, if my colleagues understand what emergency is, and 
yet we have not done it. I think it is simply because we have misplaced 
our priorities. It is farmers are not that important to us. This 
Congress would rather fight for tax cuts for a few than help our 
farmers. We just passed the budget resolution; we took care of that, we 
pushed that. Last night, went to the Committee on Rules. Two o'clock, 
came out with a bill.
  Three and a half months ago we talked about the bill for the 
emergency supplemental, and we do not have one yet. This Congress would 
rather pass a budget amendment that no one has seen than help small 
farmers and ranchers who struggle. Everyone has seen and recognized. It 
is not like we did not know it. We admit, we understand they are 
suffering, but we have not done anything about that.
  Small farmers and ranchers are struggling to survive in America. In 
fact, small farmers and ranchers are a dying breed, and I would say 
when I say small farmers, I mean independent farmers. And some of those 
may not be independent, but they are small in size because they do not 
have a big holding in investment, but they certainly have invested a 
lot of their resources; they are in debt up to their necks. They are a 
dying breed, and because they are dying, because they are diminishing, 
the quality and the affordability of food is at risk for all of us.
  Now whether we understand or not, we are tied to their survival. 
Farmers and ranchers have been able to eke out a living in the past, 
are now finding out they are not able to do that. They are not even 
able to break even. Most are losing money, and they are fighting just 
to stay in farming by borrowing more money. Just to stay in farming 
they have to borrow more money. They are not making anything; they are 
losing. But they love farming so dearly they want to stay, and that is 
their way of life.
  Just consider in 1862, the year that the Department of Agriculture 
was created, 90 percent of the population farmed for a living. Today 
America's producers represent less than 3 percent. By 1992 there were 
only 1.1 million small independent farms left in the United States, a 
45 percent decline since 1959.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, it is amazing to think that a million 
farmers can feed 270 million people in this country and a third more 
abroad.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Yes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Millions and millions, to understand how magnificent the 
work that they do is.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. That just shows us how efficient they are, and the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is right, how we are dependent on 
such a small number of people who are undergirding the support.
  I am reminded, and I just say parenthetically reminded, that our 
former chairman, Democratic chairman of the Committee on Agriculture 
used to say if you wanted to know how important farmers were, he would 
tell the story about the submarine in World War II, and he was saying 
that the other countries would say how did you have such a superior 
submarine, or why were you able to stay there so long? And the answer 
was: We were able to be superior and hold our place as long as the food 
would last.
  Now please understand that is symbolic of a military strength, but 
food is also symbolic of our national strength. It was important for 
our military, and it also is an important need for all of our citizens. 
And so if those small farmers go out of existence, we just do not 
exist, we just do not exist. Farmers and farm families deserve a 
chance.
  Before we had the Freedom of Farm bill of 1996, the farm price safety 
net was a shield against uncertain fluctuations in commodity prices. 
When the bill was considered, we referred to it as Freedom to Fail. I 
am sad to report that our ammunition has been far too accurate in that 
situation in North Carolina. According to a recent news report, the 
State's top farm commodities, hogs have experienced 50 percent drop in 
prices, 1996. Wheat is down in that State 42 percent, soybeans down 36 
percent, corn 31 percent, peanuts 28 percent; turkey and cotton prices 
are down 23 percent since 1996. In fact, Mr. Speaker, there is no 
commodity in my State of North Carolina that makes money for farmers.
  We must act now. If we do nothing about the real problem facing these 
hard-working citizens, they may not be there later at a later time. 
This is a time, if we are talking about saving them, we do not save 
them after they go out of business; we need to do it now. Congress must 
act now to relieve the pressure by providing the emergency supplemental 
funding.
  I want to say that does not take care of all the problems, but at 
least that relieves the pressure that they need right now just to get 
in the field and just to start their whole production crop season 
again.
  The emergency supplemental appropriation farm loan was the result of 
the unprecedented demand for agriculture credit due to the persistently 
low commodity prices across our Nation. The Department of Agriculture 
Farm Service Agency needs an additional $152 million in additional 
money in 1999 to provide credit and to deliver the services that 
farmers and ranchers need because of both the low prices and the 
weather.
  On March 26 of this year USDA advised Congress and we passed a law to 
allow it to have the extraordinary emergency transfer action, which 
they took money out of their staffing of FSA to allow it to go into the 
credit insurance fund. Now that is a temporary provision. This transfer 
allows USDA to meet its urgent credit needs

[[Page 6530]]

for farmers who maybe are planting now, but all that money is being 
spent. We are robbing Peter to pay Paul. This transfer obviously was a 
stopgap measure, but that has now ceased, so we really have run out of 
time.
  The transfer of these funds also places FSA salaries and expense 
accounts in a deficit basis. My State, FSA work flow has experienced 
dramatic increases for a wide range of programs having considerable 
producer activity. While staff levels have been reduced by 25 percent 
from the 1993 levels, with the increased responsibility they simply 
cannot offer the service that our North Carolina farmers expect and 
deserve.
  According to an official count, North Carolina is the most 
understaffed State in the Nation based on FSA work load criteria. At 
present we are under staffed by 56 employees. When I spoke with my 
State director earlier this afternoon, he said he could hire 25 
additional people now, had he had the money for the salary. He also 
told me that his employees cannot go out in the field because there is 
not extra money for travel. We cannot tolerate that.
  As my colleagues know, one has said that silence gives consent. We 
need to speak out against this. We need to speak to the leadership, 
that the leadership of this House must act now.
  So I call on all my colleagues to call on our leader, for him to call 
on the appropriate people, to appoint the persons to the conference 
committee and to make sure that indeed we have an opportunity to move 
this forward, if not tomorrow, at least by Monday. We need to begin at 
least working out the differences between the Senate version and the 
House version.
  Finally, as our farmers indeed survive, we will survive; and as rural 
America is hurting, they are tied to their farmers. Obviously all of us 
do not farm in rural America, but I can tell you we are tied to the 
farms' survival. As the farm indeed fails, much of Main Street, and 
much of infrastructure and school taxes, or rather the ability for the 
banks to survive also suffer, and this Nation, whether they understand 
it or not. Maybe only 25 percent of us may live in rural areas, and 
maybe only 1 percent or 1.1 million farmers farming, but they are 
undergirding us with the very basic of good food, quality food and 
fiber, that if they were not existing, we would not have that 
opportunity for that very basic.
  And I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for her leadership 
in this role and her persistence, willingness, to come here and to urge 
our colleagues to do the right thing, and I just want to stay with her 
and break the silence, that we should not be giving consent that we 
understand there is a crisis and refuse to do anything about it.
  I thank the gentlewoman for allowing me to participate.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from North 
Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) for being here late this evening on behalf of 
America's farmers who need a voice in this Chamber. We must be their 
voice, we must get the leadership of this institution to move a bill. I 
wish we could move it this week because it could be done. We can work 
out these differences.
  As the gentlewoman says, you can go up to the Committee on the 
Budget, they work until 2 a.m., and they get it done. A lot of our 
farmers are plowing their fields at 2 a.m. in the morning also. It is 
not a 9 to 5 job.
  And as I was listening to the gentlewoman's remarks, I was thinking 
about the song America the Beautiful, where we talk about the fruited 
plains, about the amber waves of grain, and how different America would 
look if we were to lose this tremendous productive capacity that we 
have. And most Americans probably say, ``Well, gosh, we've, you know, 
had attrition of farmers over the whole century, so what makes this 
different?'' What makes this different is the structure of the industry 
at the end of the 20th century and that, in fact, the people who are in 
farming today are what we would call the diehards. They are the ones 
that have survived downturns in the economy, the current depression in 
rural America, all kinds of drought, all kinds of disease. These are 
the best farmers. They have had to survive everything, and now we risk 
losing them because of the current economy and the inability of this 
Congress to clear a bill that will keep rural America functioning for 
the sake of the Nation.
  And as the prior gentleman talked about the stock market and the 
gentlewoman talked about what is happening in the rest of the economy, 
as one of our former chairmen of our committee used to say, there is a 
difference between money and wealth. And Wall Street can generate a lot 
of dollars, but those really are rather representative; they are a 
mirror of what is happening elsewhere in the economy.
  When you talk about rural America and the ability of independent 
farming to survive, you are talking about the real wealth of America 
spread among many owners, not a few, and what is really at stake today 
is the ability of that group of people to survive and prosper, or are 
they going to be franchisees of large processing firms if they are even 
allowed to remain in business at all? The situation in America today, 
at the end of the 20th century, is as serious as it has ever been.
  And so I want to thank the gentlewoman for being down here tonight. 
Along with her, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton), the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) and also the gentleman 
from Arkansas (Mr. Berry). We again make a plea to the leadership of 
this Chamber that delay is not an option.
  The Speaker of this House and the other body, the other body's 
leadership, are fiddling while rural America burns. America needs our 
independent farmers, Mr. Speaker, and they need us. They need this 
Congress.
  And so I ask the leadership: Where is the emergency farm bill? Where 
is the beef?

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