[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 20231-20232]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  GREAT AMERICAN RICE TRADE IN TROUBLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to praise September as National 
Rice Month and honor those who grow it, process it, transport it, and 
all those who bring it to the dinner tables of America and the rest of 
the world.
  National Rice Month was established in 1991 when both Houses of 
Congress

[[Page 20232]]

agreed and the President of the United States sought to increase 
awareness of rice and recognize the contribution made by the U.S. rice 
industry to America's economy. National Rice Month celebrations will 
take place all across America this month in grocery stores, 
restaurants, schools, in festivals in many rice-growing communities, 
including the 36th Annual Texas Rice Festival just outside my district 
in Winnie, Texas.
  Rice is an important part of American history and heritage. It has 
been grown in North America since 1696, when an improved variety of 
rice, reportedly from Madagascar, was grown on the Carolina coast. 
Early Americans recognized the promise of this crop throughout the 
world; and by 1726 the port of Charleston, South Carolina, was a major 
rice port in the United States.
  As America earned independence, rice was growing as one of our 
largest exports. Over the years, rice became less and less important to 
the Carolinas as crops such as cotton and tobacco were better suited 
for that climate. But it was not until the war between the States, as 
advancing Union armies in the 1860s put the great rice plantations to 
the torch, that farmers picked up and moved west to the rich, fertile 
land of the Mississippi Delta and the lowlands off the gulf coast of 
Texas and Louisiana.
  Today, there are only six States that have land and climate suitable 
to produce rice. As a $2 billion cash crop, rice is the fifth most 
valuable food crop grown in the United States. Ninety percent of the 
rice consumed in the United States is grown here.
  The people of the United States consume approximately 18 pounds of 
rice per person per year. That amount continues to increase.
  Until recently, the combined acreage of rice farms in the State of 
Texas was over the size of the State of Rhode Island.
  Rice is vital to agriculture producers through exports, too, as the 
United States is one of only two or three major players in the world 
rice market. We export rice to more than 120 countries and supply 14 
percent of all the rice in the world trade. It is one of the world's 
most important foods. It is a primary staple for more than half the 
world's population.
  The U.S. rice industry has a long, successful past. However, Mr. 
Speaker, its future is much in jeopardy. These are tense and troubling 
times. The American rice farmer is becoming an endangered species.
  Ray Stoesser, a constituent and friend of mine down in Liberty 
County, Texas, is struggling like many other rice farmers. Ray, like 
most farmers, simply wants a market to sell their product. They want a 
sanction-free world.
  American political policies keep prices of rice depressed while 
increasing costs to American farmers. World markets are being lost to 
others. While farmers like Ray are doing the most to improve their 
yields, they have nowhere to sell their rice. Rice farmers do not want 
more government subsidies. They want markets for the rice that they 
sell.
  The three largest foreign markets of United States rice producers has 
historically been Iran, Iraq and Cuba, countries in which the United 
States has heavily sanctioned against. Those sanctions do not hurt 
those countries. They hurt American rice farmers. We need to have free 
rice trade with these countries. The people of these nations are going 
to eat and buy rice. They should buy rice from America, because that is 
where they want to buy their rice. But in the name of politically 
correct sanctions, American rice farmers are hurt because the 
government does not allow complete free trade with these nations.
  The Cuban market and its $64 million in sales last year has been lost 
to more government sanction, red tape, regulation and lack of common 
sense. Mr. Speaker, however, this resolution, H.R. 3058, the 
Transportation, Treasury appropriations bill, contains a very important 
provision to keep rice sales thriving. So as we recover from the stress 
of the hurricane and fuel price increases, it makes sense that we would 
want to ship rice to generally a close country such as Cuba who wants 
to buy it. If we get rice moving to Cuba, it would solve many problems.
  We need to make it easier to sell rice to Iraq. We need to drop the 
agricultural sanctions to that nation.
  As we celebrate National Rice Month and look back on its historical 
importance to America, we must ensure our government gives our rice 
producers the opportunity to keep the tradition long and strong and end 
those stupid sanctions. We need to keep the great American rice farmer 
like Mr. Ray Stoesser on his combine harvesting rice in Southeast 
Texas.

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