[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3358-3359]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-196. A resolution adopted by the House of 
     Representatives of the Legislature of the State of Iowa 
     requesting the United States Congress to immediately enact a 
     new federal food, farm, and jobs bill; to the Committee on 
     Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

                        House Resolution No. 102

       Whereas, the United States Congress regularly establishes 
     agricultural and food policy in an omnibus farm bill in a 
     bipartisan spirit of cooperation, exemplified by the federal 
     Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-
     246 which originally was to expire in 2012, but was extended 
     by the 112th Congress in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 
     2012, Pub. L. No. 112-240; and
       Whereas, a new food, farm, and jobs bill is critical to 
     maintaining a strong agricultural economy and an abundant 
     food supply that benefits all Americans, including by 
     providing programs relating to farm commodity support, 
     horticulture, livestock, conservation, nutrition assistance, 
     trade, and international food aid, agricultural research, 
     farm credit, rural development, bioenergy, forestry, and 
     innovative strategies to revitalize this nation's rural 
     economy by creating jobs in small towns and rural 
     communities; and
       Whereas, in Iowa, agricultural producers have faced a 
     multitude of disasters, including drought, flood, and 
     blizzard conditions which have been alleviated by disaster 
     assistance under farm bill programs; and
       Whereas, during 2013, the United States Senate and House of 
     Representatives have been engaged in prolonged negotiations 
     to enact a new food, farm, and jobs bill that is now in 
     conference committee which is considering differences between 
     the Senate version, titled the Agriculture Reform, Food, and 
     Jobs Act of 2013 (S. 954), and the House version, titled the 
     Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act of 
     2013 (H.R. 2642); and
       Whereas, without the passage of a new food, farm, and jobs 
     bill the United States will be subject to previously enacted 
     permanent law, including commodity price support statutes 
     effective in 1949; and
       Whereas, the prolonged delay in passing a new food, farm, 
     and jobs bill has created uncertainty for agricultural 
     producers and will negatively impact the nation's overseas 
     trade; and
       Whereas, without the immediate passage of a new food, farm, 
     and jobs bill consumers will increasingly suffer economic 
     consequences: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives, That with the 
     reconvening of the United States Congress after its holiday 
     recess, the United States House of Representatives and the 
     United States Senate should enact a new food, farm, and jobs 
     bill with all possible speed but no later than January 31, 
     2014; and be it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this resolution shall be 
     transmitted to the President of the United States Senate and 
     the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; 
     and be it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this resolution shall be 
     transmitted to the Honorable Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of 
     the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the 
     United States Senate, and the Honorable Frank Lucas, Chairman 
     of the Committee on Agriculture of the United States House of 
     Representatives; and be it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this resolution shall be 
     transmitted to each member of the Iowa congressional 
     delegation; and be it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this resolution shall be 
     transmitted to the Honorable Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the 
     United States Department of Agriculture.
                                  ____

       POM-197. A joint resolution adopted by the General Assembly 
     of the State of Ohio urging the Congress of the United States 
     to propose a balanced budget amendment to the United States 
     Constitution and applying to the Congress, pursuant to 
     Article V of the United States Constitution, to call a 
     convention for proposing a balanced budget amendment; to the 
     Committee on the Judiciary.

                         Joint Resolution No. 5

       Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of 
     Ohio:
       The General Assembly of the State of Ohio urges the 
     Congress of the United States to propose a balanced budget 
     amendment to the United States Constitution and hereby 
     applies to the Congress, under the provisions of Article V of 
     the United States Constitution, for the calling of a 
     convention of the states limited to proposing an amendment to 
     the United States Constitution requiring that in the absence 
     of a national emergency the total of all federal 
     appropriations made by the Congress for any fiscal year may 
     not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenues for 
     that fiscal year, together with any related and appropriate 
     Fiscal restraints; and
       It is the intention of the General Assembly that matters 
     shall not be considered at the convention that do not pertain 
     to an amendment requiring that, in the absence of a national 
     emergency, the total of all federal appropriations made by 
     the Congress for any fiscal year may not exceed the total of 
     all estimated federal revenues for that fiscal year, together 
     with any related and appropriate fiscal restraints; and be it 
     further
       Resolved, The Secretary of State is hereby directed to 
     transmit copies of this application to the President and 
     Secretary of the Senate and to the Speaker and Clerk of the 
     House of Representatives of the Congress, and copies to the 
     members of the Senate and House of Representatives from the 
     State of Ohio; also to transmit copies of this application to 
     the presiding officers of each of the legislative houses of 
     the several states, requesting their cooperation; and be it 
     further
       Resolved, This application is to be considered as covering 
     the balanced budget amendment language of the presently 
     outstanding balanced budget applications from other states, 
     including previously adopted applications from Alabama, 
     Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, 
     Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, 
     New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and 
     Texas. This application shall be aggregated with those other 
     applications for the purpose of attaining the two-thirds of 
     states necessary to require the calling of a convention for 
     proposing a balanced budget amendment, but shall not be 
     aggregated with any applications on any other subject; and be 
     it further
       Resolved, If the convention called by the Congress is not 
     limited to considering a balanced budget amendment, then any 
     delegates, representatives, or participants from the State of 
     Ohio asked to participate in the convention are authorized to 
     debate and vote only on a proposed amendment or amendments to 
     the United States, Constitution requiring that in the absence 
     of a national emergency the total of all federal 
     appropriations made by the Congress for any fiscal year may 
     not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenues for 
     that fiscal year, together with any related and appropriate 
     fiscal restraints; and be it further
       Resolved, This application constitutes a continuing 
     application in accordance with Article V of the United States 
     Constitution

[[Page 3359]]

     until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several 
     states have made applications on the same subject or the 
     Congress has proposed an amendment to the United States 
     Constitution equivalent to the amendment proposed in this 
     resolution. This application supersedes all previous 
     applications by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio on 
     the same subject.

                          ____________________