H5866 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE September 12, 2012 

this country and across the world. 

Farming’s risky, but because growing 

our food is in the interest of our national security, we provide a safety net 

that keeps our farmers on the land in 

good times and in bad times. 

As you can see from these maps that 

I have here with me today, we are suffering through one of those tough 

times right now. Farmers can’t control 

Mother Nature. Our farmers are facing 

one of the worst droughts that we’ve 

seen in decades. You just have to talk 

to a veteran farmer today to say that 

they haven’t seen an instance like this 

since probably the thirties where we 

had such widespread, long-standing 

drought that they are suffering 

through. It has a real impact on folks 

in rural America, and the rest of America relies on that food to feed their 

families. 

I want my colleagues to get a picture 

of just how important the farm bill is 

to this country and to people in the 

real world. While it may be easy to ignore the drought if you’re in Washington, D.C. or in other parts of the 

country, when I go home every weekend, and when I was home and traveling all across our State throughout 

August, it was everywhere around me. 

Just yesterday I had the chance to 

sit down with a couple of producers 

from South Dakota. Brent and Barb 

were here from Houghton, South Dakota, and it was evident to me that 

when I visited with them that their 

concern was more for the next generation than for getting through a couple 

of tough days right now. 

They spoke of their sons, the love 

they have for their land, and the responsibility that they feel in feeding 

this country and making sure that we 

have a future where the United States 

can grow its own food to provide for its 

own people. 

They wrote me a letter about what 

the farm bill means to them, and I 

wanted to read part of that letter to 

you: 

I know you share our feelings on the importance of the bill. It is not only necessary 

to us now, but also for our three sons who 

want to continue our farming operation 

which has been in our family for four generations. We are so thankful and proud that 

they want to return to the farm and we want 

to do all we can to provide them with the 

same opportunities we have had. The crop insurance portion of the farm bill has truly 

helped us in the past as we have struggled 

with wet conditions over parts of the last 20 

years. Because of excess moisture, there 

have been years when we farmed less than 

half of our total cropland. Now, the tables 

have turned and we are experiencing drought 

conditions in some areas of South Dakota 

and we will again be relying on crop insurance. It is so important to our family farming operation as a business. It has allowed us 

to stay in business through the tough years. 

The safety net this farm bill would provide 

is crucial to not only rural farmers like us, 

but our State and country as a whole. 

Brent and Barb and other producers 

across America are in town this week. 

They were asking this House to take 

action on a farm bill to give them the 

certainty that they need to have confidence to plant next year’s crop. It 

will support both rural America but 

also every single family that’s out 

there buying groceries today. 

Later this morning, I’m going to be 

joining them at a rally that’s called 

the Farm Bill Now rally. And I’ll be 

asking my colleagues to take action to 

pass a farm bill. We need to get that 

farm bill done to know what the policies are going to be in the next 5 years. 

It’s right for our producers, it’s right 

for our ranchers and farmers, it’s right 

for this country, and for every family 

out there who’s wanting to put food on 

the table that they can afford through 

these tough times. 

f 

b 1030 

LIBYA 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

California (Mr. DREIER) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, back 

in 2009, my good friend and the cochair 

of the House Democracy Partnership, 

DAVID PRICE of North Carolina, and I 

had the opportunity to visit former 

General—and at that time, U.S. Ambassador—Karl Eikenberry, Ambassador to Afghanistan. 

We were at the Ambassador’s residence in Kabul, and I was struck with 

a statement that was made by General 

Ambassador Eikenberry. He said we 

have a tendency, as Americans, to express appreciation to men and women 

in uniform, those men and women who 

served in our Nation’s Armed Forces 

around the world, but too rarely do we 

extend our appreciation to the men and 

women who represent the United 

States of America in the Foreign Service as diplomats around the world, and 

General Eikenberry encouraged us to 

do that. And Mr. PRICE and I have consistently done that in the visits of the 

House Democracy Partnership to the 17 

countries with which we’ve partnered 

over the past 7 years. 

I have to say that 3 years later, just 

a few months ago, Mr. PRICE and I were 

leading a delegation to Afghanistan 

and we recounted that story to our 

great diplomat, Ryan Crocker, the U.S. 

Ambassador to Afghanistan. Ambassador Crocker, when we shared the 

story with him, reminded us that more 

U.S. Ambassadors have been killed 

since the Vietnam War than generals 

or admirals. We know that down at the 

Harry S. Truman Building, there is a 

plaque that lists the names of the 231 

U.S. diplomats who have been killed 

since the first death in 1780. And, 

Madam Speaker, I have to say that the 

news that we have of the tragic death 

of Ambassador Chris Stevens in 

Benghazi, the U.S. consulate in Libya, 

is very sad news for all of us. 

Now, the upheaval in the Arab world 

has brought about many great things. 

For the first time in millennia, there 

are individuals who have been able to 

participate in elections and make decisions. But then we get the sad and 

tragic news that Ambassador Stevens 

and, according to the early reports, 

two marines, maybe another Foreign 

Service officer, were killed in this tragic attack. 

I would like to say that we have 

spent time there. We were just in 

Libya, Mr. PRICE and I, just a few 

weeks before Ambassador Stevens arrived, and Libya is a place that has 

held out great promise. I am determined, as I know Mr. PRICE is, to ensure that the promise that we saw several weeks ago in Libya will not be 

shattered by the tragic death of Ambassador Stevens. 

Madam Speaker, I’m pleased to be 

joined by my dear friend and colleague, 

Mr. PRICE, and would like to yield to 

him at this point. 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I 

thank my colleague for yielding. 

Mr. DREIER and I have partnered for 

many years in the work of the House 

Democracy Partnership, which we and 

many others in this body believe in 

very deeply—that we need to be good 

colleagues, not just nationally, but 

internationally. And we need to reach 

out in ways that can strengthen democracy, strengthen representative institutions, in countries that are friends 

of our country. We can help encourage 

and strengthen those parliaments. 

That’s exactly why we visited Libya 

back in the spring, a delegation led by 

Mr. DREIER. We were there a few weeks 

before Ambassador Stevens arrived. 

We were struck by the promise of 

Libya. Of course they’ve had 42 years of 

dictatorial rule. The country has been 

liberated through the efforts of NATO 

allies. There are still major challenges—obviously, security challenges, 

as we are learning in a tragic way 

today—but the country is gradually 

being secured. Constituent assembly 

elections have been held and parliamentary elections are on the way. 

So we have great hope for Libya. We 

have been and we will be a friend to 

Libya in helping to realize the promise 

of the Arab Spring. 

Our solemn purpose here today is to 

mark this tragic loss, the eighth Ambassador in U.S. history to be killed in 

the line of duty. Our personnel in 

Libya are dedicated personnel, the best 

that the U.S. has to offer. The work 

that they’re doing there is challenging 

and dangerous. The work promotes our 

national interest and is very, very valuable to Libya and to us. This horrible 

tragedy is one that we want to mark in 

this House here today, as we honor the 

victims of this attack and those who 

continue to serve. 

Mr. DREIER. I thank my friend for 

his contribution. 

Madam Speaker, if I may simply extend condolences to the loved ones of 

Ambassador Stevens and to say that we 

need to ensure that those who are responsible for this tragic death are 

brought to justice. And we need to do 

everything that we can to continue to 

encourage the development of the rule 


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September 12, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H5867 

of law, self-determination, political 

pluralism, and, as Mr. PRICE has just 

said, the development of democratic institutions around the world. It’s a universal right, and the United States of 

America is the single best model for 

that. 

So our thoughts and prayers, again, 

are with the loved ones of Ambassador 

Stevens. 

f 

WE FIDDLE WHILE THE FISCAL 

FIRES BURN 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Maryland (Mr. HOYER) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, first I 

want to, of course, associate myself 

with the remarks from Mr. DREIER and 

Mr. PRICE, who have done such terrific 

work on the spread of democracy, but 

also to lament the tragic loss of life 

and the courage displayed by our men 

and women in our Foreign Service who 

are deployed abroad to represent the 

United States, its democracy, and its 

principles. 

Madam Speaker, I regretfully rise, 

however, to talk about another unhappy subject. Our fiscal house is burning, and in Washington we continue to 

play and fiddle. We have another 8, perhaps 13, days left, or less than that. I 

don’t know whether we’re going to be 

here in October, but I do know that 

we’re going to be here for a very short 

time—this week, frankly, doing message bills. 

The middle class tax cut which 

passed the Senate lays fallow somewhere, not brought to this floor, to assure that our middle class citizens 

would understand that they weren’t 

going to get a tax increase on January 

1, give them confidence, give our economy confidence, to help grow our economy. 

We have not assured our doctors that 

the payments for Medicare services to 

patients will in fact be available. We 

have not taken substantive action to 

set aside the sequester with a balanced 

plan. 

There will be a bill on sequester. 

That will be largely opposed on our 

side of the aisle because it does not 

provide for balance. It simply says set 

aside the sequester, which is the direct 

result of Republican policies. In fact, 

the Republicans have offered two bills 

on the floor which say that sequester is 

the option of choice if you don’t meet 

certain numbers. They did that in their 

Cut, Cap and Balance bill, which was 

enforced how? Through sequestration. 

We understand that sequestration is 

an irrational act. Why is it an irrational act? Because it is as if you have 

a food budget and a movie budget at 

home and you have tight finances that 

week, that month, that year. You don’t 

cut your food budget exactly the same 

as you cut your movie budget. You say, 

We’re going to forego a movie and 

make sure we have healthy food on the 

table. That’s what we ought to do. 

We ought to have a strategic way and 

a balanced way to get this deficit that 

is out of control and needs to be handled under control, and the best way to 

turn off the sequester is a balanced 

plan. But what we will see offered on 

this floor is not a balanced plan, but a 

plan which says, Do it our way or no 

way. 

Now, very frankly, that’s been the 

history of this Congress. I’ve served in 

16 Congresses. This is the least productive Congress in which I’ve served. 

Now, that view is shared by two scholars, Thomas Mann and Norman 

Ornstein, who wrote in a book and 

wrote in an op-ed: 

We’ve been studying Washington politics 

in Congress for more than 40 years and never 

have we seen them—meaning the Congress of 

the United States—as dysfunctional. 

The American public share that view, 

of course, and our poll numbers reflect 

it; properly so. 

Mr. Mann and Mr. Ornstein go on: 

In our past writings, we have criticized 

both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice 

but to acknowledge that the core of the 

problem lies with the Republican Party. 

They went on to say: 

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier 

in American politics. It is ideologically extreme, scornful of compromise, unmoved by 

conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science, and dismissive of the legitimacy of the political opposition and, 

therefore, unwilling to compromise. 

That’s what our gridlock is caused 

by, an unwillingness to compromise. 

The Senate has passed a farm bill. 

The Senate has passed a farm bill 

which would help farmers threatened 

by drought. As a matter of fact, their 

own committee has reported out a farm 

bill, but that farm bill has not been 

brought to the floor because, apparently, the majority of Republicans 

aren’t for a farm bill. So even their 

own bill is not brought to the floor, 

much less a bipartisan-passed farm bill 

in the United States Senate which 

could be passed and would get a significant number of Democratic votes—not 

because we believe it’s exactly what we 

want, but because we believe it is a 

compromise that will work for America 

and America’s farmers. 

b 1040 

Ladies and gentlemen, Madam 

Speaker, the American public ought to 

know that in the next few days we’re 

not going to be doing much of anything; not on jobs for Americans, not 

on the fiscal cliff that confronts us, not 

on farm bills, not on the Violence 

Against Women Act, which also passed 

the United States Senate in a bipartisan, overwhelming fashion. No, we 

fiddle. We fiddle while the fiscal fires 

burn. 

I would urge my colleagues on both 

sides of the aisle, my Democratic colleagues and my Republican colleagues—I don’t think we’re going to 

get anything done before November 6. I 

think it’s going to be politics, politics 

as usual. The American public and 

America will suffer for that. But I 

think that’s what’s going to happen. 

But I urge my colleagues on both 

sides of the aisle, and Madam Speaker, 

I would urge the American people to 

demand of us that we not perceive the 

lame duck session as simply a time to 

further fiddle. It ought to be a time, 

my colleagues, when we act, we come 

together, we adopt a balanced, fair plan 

to get the fiscal house of America in 

order, to put ourselves on a fiscally 

sustainable path that is credible, that 

people believe in, so that the rating 

agencies, which are now talking about 

perhaps downgrading the United States 

of America, the most creditworthy Nation on Earth—why? Not because we 

don’t have the resources to solve our 

fiscal problems but because they do not 

perceive that we have the political will 

and willingness to do so or the courage. 

My colleagues, Americans expect 

more of us. We ought to expect more of 

ourselves. We have an obligation, a responsibility. We swore an oath to protect and defend not only the Constitution but the welfare of this country. 

Putting our country on a fiscally sustainable path is absolutely essential. I 

don’t think we’re going to do it before 

November 6, but I would hope every 

one of us, every one of us who comes 

back here the second week in November, or the end of the second week of 

November, will pledge ourselves to 

work together, as Americans, not as 

Democrats, not as Republicans, not as 

conservatives, not as liberals or moderates, but as Americans, understanding that the only way every commission that’s reported has said we’re 

going to get our house in order is to 

come together and do so in a balanced 

way. 

And yes, ladies and gentlemen, that 

means making sure that we deal with 

revenues. We pay for what we buy. 

That’s what revenues are about. We 

pay for what we buy. And then we deal 

with the spiraling cost of health care. 

Everybody’s talked about that. We 

have to do it. President Clinton talked 

about that. PAUL RYAN talks about 

that. We have to do it. 

But we can keep the guarantee of 

Medicare, we can keep the guarantee of 

Social Security in the process, while 

getting our fiscal house in order on the 

entitlement side. 

Ladies and gentlemen of this House, 

we owe it to the American people. The 

American people expect us to act responsibly. We are fiddling while the fiscal house of America burns. 

Let us summon the courage, the 

judgment, and the personal responsibility each one of us has, that when we 

return here after the election and, 

hopefully, the politics are behind us, 

those 30-second, 60-second ads which 

misinterpret, misinform, and dissemble 

are behind us, and we say to all of our 

citizens who we represent, we are prepared to exercise the courage and judgment to put our country on a fiscally 

sustainable path that is credible. Not 

only will rating agencies believe in it, 

our citizens will believe in it, our businesses will believe in it, and the international community will as well. 


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