[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 5943]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         BRAZILIAN COTTON ISSUE

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, April 6, 2010, marks the date that our farm 
subsidies--these are programs that, on a good day, are out of step with 
reality--took an unprecedented leap into the absurd. On that day the 
administration hatched an agreement on Brazil trade litigation that 
includes the U.S. paying Brazil $143.7 million a year for ``technical 
assistance and capacity building.'' Because our subsidies violate WTO 
rules, we're now paying millions to subsidize Brazilian agriculture.
  Let's think about that for a minute. Our subsidies for U.S. farmers 
are out of step with the WTO. So what do we do in response? We 
subsidize our trade partners elsewhere in the world. So your tax 
dollars are not only going to pay subsidies for U.S. agriculture, but 
now to pay subsidies for our trade partners in other countries.
  We have got to stop this, Mr. Speaker. It's Congress' responsibility 
to reform our cotton program and our agriculture subsidies.

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