Date: 1996-02-28
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the remainder of my time. Mr. Chairman. let me at this point thank the Democratic leadership in the House. for they have in no way. in any way negative. interfered with the process. They have allowed us to make the decisions. they have allowed us to work toward setting the policy. The unfortunate part is that we have not been allowed by the majority. but we have had a free hand from our leadership to do what we as a committee. members of the Committee on Agriculture. saw best for American agriculture. And it is not only American agriculture. It is out there. the infrastructure. roads. water. housing. electricity. all of those areas that encompass living in rural America. We have the same right as urban and as other areas to expect as-. sistance in areas where there is need. The farm family has the same right to have a light out there in the countryside. to have telephones out there in the countryside. to have roads out there in the countryside. to have assistance for their children at the schools. We have not discussed this. this has not been a part. This has come down. down. down. and we find ourselves here frustrated to the end. After 32 years here. this is a first time that -I have had to direct input through the committee process on the final version that we are discussing. Mr. Chairman. I would say to the chairman of the committee. he may share some of his frustration because he might have been on that side of it. but not because of the leadership of the Committee on Agriculture. Always. every ranking member that I had when I was chairman was consulted. Everything was done together. Our leadership did not interiere. If I made a deal with. God rest his soul. Mr. Madigan as ranking member. our leadership agreed and supported us in those agreements. Unfortunately. the willingness of this committee chairman personally has not in any way helped us in that respect because he has not had that freedom and that ability. I do not know if this will.make problems for him or not. but this is a fact. that he has been most willing to cooperate at all times. but the guidance and the substance has come from other directions. The timing has come from another direction. We have not been part. The only experience I have had this session with a conference committee was when we were told by the senior Senator. chairman of the conference: "We are not going to give you any time to speak. I am going to have my say. I am walking out of here. You can stay if you want to. We do not care. We are going to treat you like you treated us." We never treated them in the Committee on Agriculture in that respect. I say again. I thank the chairman for his interest in communicating with us. but I am in despair about the process that has been forced on us and has been forced on him. Unless there is an ability to change to make this bill better. I do not see how I can support it. However. I am here to try. and even though the process is limited. the time is limited. the amendments that we can discuss are limited. how some of the amendments got here. because we were still trying to get more funds for rural America. We were not able to. They have been allotted to someone else through another process. not with our participation. For now. I am hoping we can make this a better bill. If not. I will be reluctantly forced to vote against it.