[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12121-12122]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO HONORABLE LARRY COMBEST ON HIS RETIREMENT FROM CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cole). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Chairman Larry 
Combest on a long and successful congressional career. I was privileged 
to serve on the Committee on Agriculture under Larry. We were certainly 
at opposite ends of the spectrum. My first 2 years on the committee 
were Larry's last 2. I was without status. He was the chairman. 
Regardless of seniority, each person had access to Larry and his staff 
on an equal basis. I have always felt that the true measure of a 
person's character was how he treated those who could do nothing for 
him. In that respect, I thought that Larry was really exemplary and I 
really appreciated the way I was received.
  The most significant accomplishment of the Committee on Agriculture 
the last 2 years was reauthorization of the farm bill. This was a very 
exhaustive process. It went on over 2 years, involving roughly 50 
hearings, 25 of those in various parts of the country and 25 here in 
Washington. Input was received from such diverse groups as the Farm 
Bureau, Farmers Union, corn and soybean, rice and cotton, fruits and 
vegetables, Ducks Unlimited, Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club. 
Everybody had a chance.
  What the chairman did was ask each group to write the farm bill as 
they

[[Page 12122]]

saw it needing to be written and also to score it, to come up with what 
it was going to cost; and so this was kind of a unique approach because 
I think everybody that tried began to realize how complex this was.
  Again, he took input from every group. The bill was written in full 
committee, which I appreciated. Everybody had a chance to speak their 
piece. It was truly bipartisan. We hear the term bipartisan around here 
all the time, but this was a case where I can really, honestly say that 
I do not believe either side was given any advantage and that each side 
felt they had equal ownership, and as a result the farm bill was passed 
almost unanimously out of the Committee on Agriculture.
  Larry was under a great deal of pressure to delay the writing of the 
farm bill until 2003. Yet he realized that agriculture was in trouble, 
that we were surviving each year on roughly a 7, $7.5 billion emergency 
payment and this simply could not go on, so he pressed forward and got 
the bill done in 2002 in the face of a fair amount of criticism. I 
thought that he showed great tenacity in doing so, and I really 
appreciated his efforts.
  I visited South America with Larry and other members of the Committee 
on Agriculture a little bit more than a year ago, and I can recall one 
meeting in Brazil with their agriculture leadership in which they were 
very critical of U.S. farm policy. They thought they were poised to 
take over the soybean market of the world, and I remember Larry's 
response. He said, ``My responsibility is to protect the interests of 
American farmers and ranchers.'' That is what he did. Our farmers and 
ranchers really comprise only 1 percent roughly of our population. At 
one time they were a very significant part of our population. Now they 
are about 1 percent, and so they certainly need advocates. I really 
appreciate the fact that Chairman Combest truly did all that he could 
to represent a very important and often unappreciated part of our 
Nation.
  I would like to thank the chairman for his contribution and for his 
career here and for the way that he worked with other people to bring 
agriculture to the forefront during the farm bill.

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