Date: 1987-03-17
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 1157. the Farm Disaster Assistance Act of 1987. Simply put. this legislation is needed to fulfill the commitment Congress made in the continuing appropriations act for fiscal year 1987 to assist those of our Nations farmers who were victims of catastrophic natural disasters in 1986. H.R. 1157 will ensure that all farmers who suffered severe losses in 1986 will be treated equitably and that farmers will obtain assistance at the levels intended by Congress in the appropriations act. At the same time. the bill will have the effect of taking substantial amounts of wheat acreage out of production in 1987. thereby reducing wheat program costs. The bill does contain an authorization for additional appropriations to cover costs involved in fully implementing the 1986 disaster assistance program. but I would point out the Committee on Agriculture has made clear. in its report. that the additional appropriations should be forthcoming only if funds can be found within the constraints imposed by the budget process. The bill is innovative and costsaving with respect to the winter wheat problem. it is compassionate within the constraints of the budget with regard to the 1986 disaster assistance program. It is worthy of approval by the House today. As to the specifics of the bill. I first note that the 1986 Disaster Assistance Program established in the fiscal year 1987 appropriations -act inadvertently excluded producers of 1987crop winter wheat. although the intent of the legislation was to cover all farmers adversely affected by natural disasters in 1986. To be eligible for the 1986 Disaster Program. a producer has to have sustained an economic loss caused by natural disaster in 1986. This was the case with 1987crop winter wheat producers throughout the Midwest who were prevented from planting because of the unusually severe flooding and rainfall during the fall of 1986. The problem lies in that the program terms also specify that assistance will be provided only to producers whose crop is harvested in 1986. This does not account for the normal crop cycle of winter wheat. which is sowed in the fall of 1 year and harvested in the spring and summer of the following calendar year. and causes these winter wheat producers to be excluded from assistance under the program. However. the economic losses the winter wheat farmers suffered as a rsult of 1986 flooding were no less damaging to them than the disaster losses suffered by other farmers in The bill will overcome this omission in order to preserve the intent of the appropriation legislation. and. at the same time. will result in a net savings to the Federal Treasury. The bill will accomplish these goals by authorizing a land setaside option this spring to winter wheat producers who were victims of the floodingapproximately 4 million acres in Kansas. Oklahoma. and Missouri primarily. This option will allow the winter wheat producer to elect to set aside his entire wheat acreage and still collect 92 percent of the Federal wheat program deficiency payments. This will provide needed disaster relief to these producers. many of whom have suffered at least two successive crop failure Including 1986. In addition. it is projected to result In a new savings of approximately $30 million In farm program costs in fiscal year 1988. The savings result because the outlays for these deficiency payments are $30 million less than the projected outlays for Commodity Credit Corporation loans and storage costs involved if these farmers produced alternative crops. The bill contains a feedgrain provision provision somewhat similar to the winter wheat provision. The feedgrain provision is designed to address a localized problem affecting relatively few feedgrain producers. Some producers with land adjacent to the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers suffered damage to private levees as a result of the severe weather in 1986. Some of these levees will not provide flood protection in 1987. and these producers face the high probability of flooding during the 1987 crop year. The bill contains a provision to provide these producers the option to put all of their 1987 feedgrain acreage into conserving uses under the same sort of program the bill will provide for winter wheat farmers. With respect to the authorization in the bill for the 1986 Disaster Assistance Program. I note that the program was intended to respond to catastrophic weather conditions in 1986 that severely damaged several rural areas of the United States. While farmers in some of the larger agricultural producing areas were unaffected. thousands of other farmers were devastated by drought. hot weather. or flooding. For example. the drought and heat wave last summer devastated agriculture across the South and the Middle Atlantic States. According to the Department of Agriculture. the drought that afflicted the Southeast was the worst since recordkeeping was initiated over 100 years ago. As another example. in 1986. Michigan suffered its worst natural disaster when floods ravaged nearly the entire State in September. That flooding destroyed thousands of acres of crops that were maturing in the fields and ready for harvest. Crop losses in Michigan were in excess of $300 million. Congress responded to the disasters with the Inclusion of the program In the continuing appropriations act. This muchneeded assistance allocated $400 million to cover the costs involved in providing paymentinkind certificatesredeemable in surplus commodities owned by the Commodity Credit Corporationto hardpressed farmers in disaster areas. Further. the conferees on the legislation noted in the conference report that should "the $400.000.000 made available for payments be insufficient to carry out the program a request for a supplemental appropriation should be submitted to the Congress or additional funds transferred from the disaster loan account." Notwithstanding the substantial limitation on benefitsfarmers receive payments on onehalf their lossesthe $400 million allocated for the program in the appropriation act has proved simply to be insufficient to cover applications for assistance. So as it stands now. farmers who are eligible for aid will receive approximately only 34 cents worth of commodities on the dollar for their losses as opposed to the 50 cents that Congress indicated it would make available. Therefore. H.R. 1157 contains a provision to authorize additional funding to cover costs of continuing the program until all applications for assistance are met. The bill does not make the additional outlays. but will pave the way for additional appropriations to meet the programs needs if funds can be found within the constraints imposed by the budget process. The bill also will revise the terms of the 1986 Disaster Program to clarify the eligibility of certain hay and straw producers. Any funds for hay and straw producers must be made available through further appropriations. The bill also contains a provision not in the bill. as reported. to ensure that apple producers who lost their 1986 crop to a late freeze in the spring last year are covered by the program. Without the authority for additional funding for the 1986 Disaster Assistance Program provided by H.R. 1157. the commitment of support made to our Nations farmers last year cannot be fulfilled. To be sure. further action by Congress to appropriate the funds authorizedif the budget will permitwill be necessary to complete the job. But. H.R. 1157 is an important preliminary step toward meeting our commitment. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from. Kansas . the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee which approved this legislation.