[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18782]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 TODAY CONGRESS CAN FUNDAMENTALLY REFORM AGRICULTURE POLICY TO BENEFIT 
                              ALL FARMERS

  (Mr. KIND asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KIND. Madam Speaker, today we have a chance to fundamentally 
reform agriculture policy so all farmers in all regions of the country 
will benefit under the next farm bill.

                              {time}  1015

  I, along with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert), the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest) and the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Dingell) will offer an amendment that takes a little bit of the 
increase of the subsidy payments that the largest commodity producers 
will receive, and instead move those resources into voluntary and 
incentive-based land and water conservation programs that our farmers 
want and are calling for.
  As the Bush administration made clear in their statement on the farm 
bill released yesterday, even they cannot support the committee bill 
because, and I quote, ``It misses the opportunity to modernize the 
Nation's farm programs through market oriented tools, innovative 
environmental programs, including extending benefits to working lands 
and aid programs that are consistent with our trade agenda.''
  Our amendment, Madam Speaker, accomplishes these objectives, and I 
urge my colleagues to support the Boehlert-Kind-Gilchrest-Dingell 
amendment.

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