Date: 1990-08-01
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank my colleague. We have been through the debate. and there are philosophical differences. no question about that. But what we have done is good. An independent study shows that the 1985 act will have the potential to save about $40 billion because of the drought of 1988. and had those reserves not been in place. So you see. you cannot say it is one big thing. It is getting out of hand here. the big farmer. the big farmer. the big farmer. And then they bring in the family farmer. the family farmer. I told you. the family farmer. if he buys a combine. it costs $150.000. a pickup costs $15.000. a tractor costs $150.000. And the thinking. our minds are wandering to the family . farmer of long ago with a coal oil lamp in the house. a mule in the back and a couple of dogs. and maybe a cow in the backyard. Those days are gone forever. Those are the good old days that I do not want to go back to. In the good old days that people are talking about I had to go about 30 yards outside the house to go to the bathroom. I do not want the good old days if that is it means going back to. That is what we are talking about. The means tests. they are talking about means tests. We do not have means tests that landlords avail themselves of in housing programs. slum landlords. We do not have means tests for them. We do not have means tests for defense contractors. We do not have means tests for people who supply things to the Government. We do not have means tests for anyone. but somehow there is an exercise about the farmer. the farmer. the farmer. the farmer. The farmer is what is feeding all of Gods children. and we are the only ones bringing money back from abroad. They are not buying what we manufacture. They are not buying our cars. our television sets. They are not buying that. The only thing they are buying is what we produce. That is what we are talking about here. I read Members the other day that a nation that loses its manufacturing. and we have. a nation that loses its technology. and we have. a nation that loses it academic superiority. and we have. if we then turn out the farmers. it is a nation. and I quote this gentleman. "either ruled by fools or enemies." Fools or enemies. That is what this gentleman said and I would not call any of my colleagues either one of those. But I would say that you are wrong. wrong. wrong. Do you know it is painful for me as chairman of this committee. and our members. we were accused of being like the Al Capone days in Chicago. that we sat there and we said. "You get prostitution. you get the liquor. you get this. you get that." This is what we were accused of by one of the authors of one of the amendments here. We went out and had 30 hearings outside in the country. We asked everyone who wanted to come. We had our hearings. We did it all. and we did it above the table. To be accused that we are sitting there in the committee saying. "You get this. you get that." my goodness. And also. it is like the greedy. every farmer is greedy. And loopholes. We have no loopholes. We legislate. If someone abuses it he goes to jail. I told you about the Indiana farmer that got caught. and well he should go to jail. But the saddest part about all of this. my friends. is that we are in a fratercidal endeavor here. We are bashing ourselves. We should not be. We are the best fed people in the world for the least amount of disposable income in the world. We feed all our poor. It was just mentioned that the program. half of the Department of Agriculture is nutrition programs. But yet my point is. OK. here we go again. Are we making an impact on the budget in a negative manner? Look at the little line. That is what we do to the budget. How more can I explain it? That is the impact we make on the budget with this program. To hear it on this floor. you would think we are going to balance it today. More money than this got lost during the lunch hour at HUD. and in defense they call it cost overruns. Oh. but if it happens in agriculture. we have to sock it to that farmer. Lets dont do that. my colleagues. Support the committee. Across the seas they are probably applauding when they see what is happening here. Do you know why we have the programs? We started them way back in the Depression because of need. We continued because the other countries in the world have forced us. We do not want to spend the taxpayers money for export enhancement. We have to because the other side is doing it. We do not want to use targeted exports. We have to. because the other side is doing it. They are watching us now and saying. oh. they are bashing each other. Look at them. They are going to give us a loophole. That is what the other side is saying. Stand for American agriculture. We are talking about jobs. We are talking about our farmers. We are talking about keeping them on the land. If someone gets out of line. we will send them to jail. Let us not talk about loopholes. Let us not talk about we are going to balance the budget. There it is. My friends. support the committee. Vote against the Conte amendment. Vote yes on the Huckaby substitute and then let us give Mr. CONTE the support and vote on his amendment as substituted by Mr. HUCKABY. That way we will make everybody happy. So support the committee. But the most important things. my friends. is that philosophically. I say to my friend from Texas. Mr. ARMEY. if we lived in a world where you can make all of the decisions in a laboratory. from a textbook. fine. But this is the real world. and reality here. perception sometimes is reality. and we have yielded to that perception. We have come down. As a matter of fact. the Huckaby substitute is $200.000. and Conte is $250.000. But the main thing is are we going to stand for America. not bashing each other here. pointing the finger. you did this. you did that. you got a little more money than the other? There is the impact it does on the budget. Support the committee. Vote no on Conte. yes on Huckaby. and then yes on Conte. and I think we would have done American agriculture. and you my colleagues. and your constituentssomebody at noon said to me. "Hey. I dont have any." I say if you eat. you are involved in agriculture. And we provide you good. quality food at reasonable prices. and part of it is this program. You cannot get around it. Part of It is this program.