Date: 1988-07-28
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I would like to inform the Members that we find ourselves in the worst drought situation possibly in this century. and the Government. from the President to the Secretary of Agriculture. and every other official of the Government. feeling for the people. the producers. the consumer and everyone that can be affected on account of the drought. all agree that compassion and assistance to the best we can do under our budgetary constraints should be afforded to the producers. farmers. and ranchers in rural America. Mr. Chairman. the task of designing the vehicle has fallen on the shoulders of the Committee on Agriculture. We bring the Members a bill that is not perfect. We bring the Members a bill that does not take care of every Members problems. concerns. or needs. The committee considered over 60 amendments encompassing the spectrum of needs by areas. by crop. by commodity. and this is the end result of our labors. This has the compassion. this has the guidance to the Department. this has necessary assistance within the limitations Imposed upon us by the budget. I would hope that the Members. my colleagues. support the package that we. from the Committee on Agriculture. have brought before them. There are several amendments which will be offered to round out the consideration of the bill. and I would hope that the Members listen carefully to the debate. and it would be my hope that the House make the decision on those amendments. hopefully in support of the position of the Committee on Agriculture. I would like to thank all of the members. the ranking member on the committee. members on both sides. because this has been a bipartisan Issue. It has not been a regional or provincial Issue but. rather. it has been an attempt to fufill our responsibility in this moment of need. I would just like to make one clalification. There seems to be the impression or the perception that moneys dispensed under this legislation would go into a farmers bank account or into a ranchers savings account or into his hip pocket to go off on a vacation someplace. I want to make it perfectly clear that this is not the case. The money goes to the seed man. to the feed man. to the fertilizer man. to the hardware store. to the implement dealer. to the tax collector. county. school. State. to the U.S. tax collector. That is where the- money goes. It does not go to the farmer. He is but the conduit through which that money is sent out into rural America and throughout the United States. Mr. Chairman. some of this money will wind up in innercity Detroit. That is where the money goes when the farmer buys a pickup or a truck. Some of this money will go to Indianapolis. That is where the money goes when the farmer buys a tractor and pays the monthly installment thereon to the dealer. That is where the money is going to go. Another perception or misconception or erroneous perception is that this is a farmer bailout. It is not. The main reason for this legislation is to try. in a small way. to keep the farmer on the ground. on the land. In a stable condition. Why? So that the consumers of America. who are the best fed in the world for the least amount of disposable income per family of any country in the world. can remain there notwithstanding the drought and/or hail and/or flood. D 1145 That is the reason. the security and the integrity of this Nation. the greatest nation in the world. by providing stability that benefits the consumer. that person who is fed by the few farmers who will be helped by this bill. So having made those clarifications. I again thank all who have helped along the way and send the word out. hopefully before the afternoon is over. to the producers of rural America to hold on. that help is coming. in a compassionate. sensible. responsible way. That will be our attempt. and I hope that is the message that goes out before the afternoon is over. Mr. Chairman. the drought of 1988 will long be remembered by Americas farmers and ranchers as the worst drought to strike Amedcas heatland In over 50 years. Not since the DustBowl days of the 1830s have drought conditions across the Nation been so extreme. While we have gotten some relief in widespread rains In the last few days. the drought has already stunted young crops in the Midwest. prevented the planting of millions of acres of normally productive farmland in the South. and caused livestock producers throughout the West to bring large numbers of cattle to slaughter. The impacts of this terrible drought are staggering. Five entire StatesAlabama. Indiana. Ohio. Missouri. and Wisconsinhave already been declared disaster areas due to drought. Requests from five other States are pending. Projected ending stocks of wheat. corn. barley. oats. and sorghum are down dramatically from previous years. Prcduction of oats. for examp:9. is expected to be the lowest since 1874. Corn production could be down 2530 percent by yoars end. As I mentioned before. the effects of the drought extend far beyond the farmer and rancher. Rural communities dependent upon agriculture have been hard hit. With no fields to plant and no crops to sell. the entire ..ifrastructure of agriculturefeed stores. fertilizer distributors. implement dealers--are all hit hard. And others in the small towns and communitieslocal shopkeepers. small businessmen. and the corner marketare impacted as well. The effects of the drought will be felt by consumers. The Department of Agriculture has estimated that food prices may rise 3 to 5 percent next year. The commodity markets have responded to the drought with increased grain prices of as much as 3540 percent since May. Though the markets are down as of late with recent rains in the Midwest. any substantial rise in prices will eventually be felt by all Americans. Mr. Chairman. the committee bill is emergency legislation Intended to provide immediate relief to agricultural producers and rural communities suffering from the drought. The committee. in its consideration of the bill. sought to address all aspects of the drought and its effects. We purposely sought. however. to focus our efforts on the immediate crisis and not to reopen debate on basic farm policy issues. H.R. 5015 was drafted with three basic goals in mind: First. to assure American consumeis that the drought of 1988 would not disrupt the continued adequate supply of food that we all enjoy. second. to provide some income protection to farmers and ranchers affected by the drought in an efficient and equitable manner. and third. to ensure that the integrity of droughtstricken rural communities and their economies is preserved. I believe that we have succeeded in achieving these goals in an open and bipartisan manner. Title I of the bill improves the efficiency of emergency livestock feed assistance programs already administered by the Department of Agriculture. Nearly 1.500 counties In 37 States are already receiving feed assistance due to the drought Our bill would simply improve the efficient delivery of this assistance in the future. I should note that there was considerable debate in the committee over whether the feed assistance programs should be expanded beyond their current scope. The administration opposed this action. and. after much deliberation. the committee decided to maintain the narrower focus in assisting livestock prooucers. Title I also provides for an increase in the support price for dairy producers who have been hard hit by rising feed prices. There remains some division within the committee over th.s provision and I know that some of our other colleagues have strong views on this Issue. We will hear more of this when amendments to the bill are considered. Title II would aid those who suffered crop yield losses by providing emergency payments to those who suffered more than a 35percent loss of production. Payments would amount to 65 percent of the target price or price support level for the commodity affected or the market price if It Is a nonprogram crop. In addition. we would provide some minimum protection to producers who have suffered total or near total losses due to drought. through a supplemental payment of 30 percent of the normal disaster payment. The committee also agreed that any producer who chooses to accept a disaster payment. should be required to purchase crop insurance for the next 2 crop years. We believe that the required purchase of crop insurance could help to stave off the need for similar disaster program payments in the future. Title III of the bill authorizes commodity stock adjustments to provide the Secretary with flexibility to adjust the amount of farm acreage planted for certain crops to reflect changes in yearend stocks. In this way. any shortages of specific crops that may result from the drought can be made up in a more market responsive manner. Title IV of the bill deals with matters of water shortages and would provide assistance for water projects and water delivery systems in both the Eastern and Western States. Title V would seek to improve the Department of Agricultures ability to provide weather information to agricultural producers in an attempt to improve their ability to better respond to future weather problems. Mr. Chairman. H.R. 5015 is not a budget busting bill. CBOs current estimate of the cost of the bill is $6.1 billion. At this level. the programs authorized will cost less than the preliminary estimates of reduced spending for farm program for this fiscal yearabout $7.5 billion according to CBO. Included at the end of my remarks is a copy of the CBO estimate. In addition. I will offer an amendment to the bill to provide that the outlays attributable to this bill not exceed a certain level to ensure that the actual spending from drought relief programs would not trigger sequestration under the GrammRudmanHollings law. Mr. Chairman I believe that H.R. 5015. as reported by the Committee on Agriculture. is an efficient. effective. and fiscally responsible reaction to the drought crisis affecting the Nation. This bill will help the farmer and the rancher in midAmerica. the implement dealer and the local barber In rural America. and consumers throughout America. I urge my col. leagues to support the bill.