[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12790-12791]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED AGENCIES

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I am aware that an amendment or amendments 
relating to dairy policy may be offered during full committee mark-up 
on the fiscal year 2000 appropriations bill for Agriculture, Rural 
Development and Related agencies. I serve as ranking member for the 
Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies Subcommittee and I 
am proud of the work I have done with Senator Cochran, Chairman of the 
Subcommittee, in preparing the bill for fiscal year 2000 and having it 
approved unanimously by the entire Subcommittee. I am, therefore, very 
distressed to learn of possible amendments that are authorizing in 
nature, and that would result in setting dairy policy with disastrous 
consequences for my State and region.
  Due to my very strong commitment to keep the fiscal year 2000 
appropriations bill clean of amendments of the nature suggested, I am 
prepared to take whatever steps possible to prevent inclusion of these 
amendments during consideration of the bill by the Senate 
Appropriations Committee. I strongly believe that the issues 
surrounding these amendments are of such an important nature that 
deliberation by the full Senate is imperative. If proponents of these 
amendments wish to bring them to the floor to offer and debate them, I 
welcome the opportunity for the discussion. However, I will do all I 
can to ensure that these matters are not decided by the smaller number 
of Senators that comprise the Appropriations Committee.
  In the event an amendment or amendments relating to dairy policy, 
such as one establishing or extending interstate compacts, are offered 
for adoption by the full Appropriations Committee, I am prepared to 
offer, and will offer, a number of second degree amendments to 
eliminate the harmful policy that amendment proponents apparently seek 
to impose on farmers and consumers. Also, in an attempt to keep this 
sort of anti-consumer, anti-farmer amendment from ending up on the 
bill, I am prepared to offer, either as first or second degree 
amendments, a number of other amendments--some related to the bill and 
some not. If the committee chooses to enter into controversial debates 
that belong in authorizing committees, I too have several non-
Appropriations issues that I would like considered.
  I do not relish holding up the work of my Committee, and I will not 
if these sort of dairy amendments are not offered. But I feel it is 
only fair to my fellow Committee members and to the Senate to let them 
know how very seriously I take attempts to harm the dairy industry in 
the State of Wisconsin.
  The amendments I may offer that are relevant to the Agriculture 
Appropriations bill, include, but are not limited to:
  An amendment to provide additional funds for the President's Food 
Safety Initiative.
  An amendment to provide additional funds for the WIC program.
  An amendment to provide additional funds for the President's Human 
Nutrition Initiative.

[[Page 12791]]

  An amendment to provide additional funds for the Wetlands Reserve 
Program.
  An amendment to provide additional funds for the Conservation Farm 
Option Program.
  An amendment to provide additional funds for the TEFAP program.
  An amendment to provide additional funds relating to the Food Quality 
Protection Act.
  An amendment to provide additional funds for the National Research 
Initiative.
  An amendment to provide additional funds for the NET program.
  An amendment to provide additional funds for the Food and Drug 
Administration.
  An amendment to provide additional funds for the EQIP program.
  An amendment to provide additional funds for the Fund for Rural 
America.
  An amendment to express the sense of the Senate on the history of 
dairy policy.
  An amendment to express the sense of the Senate on diary compacts and 
their harmful effects on consumers.
  An amendment to express the sense of the Senate on dairy compacts and 
their fundamental conflict with the principles of free trade.
  An amendment to express the sense of the Senate on dairy compacts and 
their harmful effect on the Midwestern dairy industry.
  An amendment to express a sense of the Senate on the economic policy 
problems with dairy compacts.
  In addition to these, I have at least 40 other amendments funding 
changes to the bill that will require votes by the full Committee.
  I also have many amendments not relevant to the bill and more in the 
nature of authorizing legislation. However, as I said before, if the 
Committee is going to consider dairy legislation of an authorizing 
nature--legislation with a very real impact on my State--I would insist 
on also considering other authorizing issues of importance to my 
constituents. These would include:
  The Patient Abuse Prevention Act: This amendment is based on my bill 
that establishes a national registry of abusive long-term care workers, 
and requires nursing homes, home health agencies and hospices to check 
the registry and do criminal background checks on potential employees 
before hiring them.
  Folic Acid Promotion and Birth Defects Prevention Act: This amendment 
is based on a bill I will be introducing with Bond and Abraham next 
week. It would authorize $20 million per year to provide education and 
training to health care providers and the public on the need for women 
to take folic acid to reduce birth defects.
  Sense of the Senate on the nursing home bill: This amendment is based 
on an amendment that passed two years ago on the Budget Resolution. It 
is a Sense of the Senate that Congress should create a national 
registry system so long-term care facilities may conduct background 
checks on potential employees.
  Organ distribution amendment: This amendment would nullify the HHS 
proposed rule that changes the way organs are distributed across the 
nation.
  Class size fix: This would amend the Class Size Reduction program to 
ensure that smaller school districts have access to their class size 
funds without having to form a consortium with other districts.
  National Family Caregiver Support program: This would provide support 
services, including respite services, to persons caring for a disabled 
or elderly relative.
  Sodas in Schools: This is based on a bill introduced by Leahy, 
Jeffords, Kohl, and Feingold last month) This would prohibit the 
giveaways of free sodas during the school lunch program.
  The Child Care Infrastructure Act: This amendment would establish a 
tax credit for employers who provided child care benefit to their 
employees.
  Child Support Pass Through: This amendment would reform the child 
support collection system to provide more income support for low-income 
families.
  Income Averaging for Farmers: This, and another amendment creating 
Farmer IRAs would establish more fairness for farmers.
  Several foreign policy Sense of the Senates including: A sense of the 
Senate resolution calling for a United States effort to end 
restrictions on the freedoms and human rights of the enclaved people in 
the occupied area of Cyprus; a sense of the Senate resolution 
condemning Palestinian efforts to revive the original Palestine 
partition plan of November 29, 1947, and condemning the United Nations 
Commission on Human Rights for its April 27, 1999, resolution endorsing 
Palestinian self-determination on the basis of the original Palestine 
partition plan; a sense of the Senate regarding a peaceful process of 
self-determination in East Timor, and for other purposes.
  Apostle Islands: An amendment to direct the Secretary of the Interior 
to study whether the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore should be 
protected as a wilderness area.
  Zachary Baumel: An amendment to locate and secure the return of 
Zachary Baumel, a citizen of the United States, and other Israeli 
soldiers missing in action.
  Women's Business center: A bill to amend the Small Business Act with 
respect to the women's business center program.
  Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: A bill to designate a portion of the 
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness.
  Military Reservists: An amendment to authorize the Small Business 
Administration to provide financial and business development assistance 
to military reservists' small business, and for other purposes.
  Menominee: An amendment to provide for the settlement of claims of 
the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.

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