Date: 1986-08-05
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. all of us have heard of the terrible impact of the abnormal weather conditions in the Southeast 1l 5393 and Middle Atlantic -States are going through and the possibility that it may continue. The drought has been of such magnitude that it has caused tremendous devastation throughout the area. I would like. before proceeding. to commend all who have offered their assistance. From practically all of the States of the Nation hay. ice. and other things have been sent. From prayers .to hay and everything in between that could help has been sent by volunteers. the railroads. and the trucking industry. The administration has offered some assistance administratively. What we have today is an initiative of the Committe on Agriculture and of the House of Representatives to add to what we feel would be the Federal involvement in this endeavor. We know the constraints that we have on the budget. There was a cost attached to the assistance rendered by CBO. some of which is involved in what the administration has done with existing law through the Department of Agriculture. The balance. which would accrue to what we do today. we provide In the amendment. the necessary amount to offset the possible cost. and that will be done through the budget process. Therefore. the cost would not be an added burden on the budget. it would not exceed the 302 function. but rather we have provided the necessary amount to transfer to cover the expenditure that could possibly be reached if we fulfill the requirements of this legislation. Basically what we try to do. Mr. Speaker. is to utilize some of the surplus commodities which we have on hand that are already causing a problem from another direction in that we do not have enough storage for the new crop coming in. We felt that some of this could be moved into the droughtstricken areas. It will be moved. Apparently. though. I have some basic disagreement with It personally. but I accept the CBOs position that this will in part displace some that could have been sold. That would entail some of It going into the loan. and this is where the cost comes from. My south Texas. Main Street opinion is that if it is there. it is bought and paid for. it is costing money to store. then we might as well move it out and do some good with it and utilize it to help those that are in very difficult circumstances. We have a provision for the crop insurance. because we have a crop insurance program. and we do not want to in fact tamper with that because we want it to expand and to grow. and hopefully someday to get away from disaster payment as such. but rather work it through the crop insurance. and let the farmer protect himself. This is an extraordinary situation. and we are not at the stage yet where everyone has crop insurance. but we do not want this to be a precedent. It is not intended for this to be a precedent. These are extraordinary rimes. and this is an extraordinary mealsure. and hopefully we will go back to the crop insurance as it is intended by the law on the books. and I mention that because part of the amendment deals with that. You cannot say enough about what has been done by the private sector. Then you might add. "VWell. why then Federal involvement?" The private sector can only do so much. Voluntarism can only go so far. This is what we are concerned with. thai the drought will be beyond the time that the trucking industry can contribute. longer than the railroads can ccntribute. than individuals can contribute hay. for example. Soon you will run out. and therefore you have to have in hand so that it is a very difficult situation for the farmers that were a:ready in very dire straits without the drought. you now have an added problem. I would like to mention that from throughout the United States help has come. but if I might be forgiven for a provincial mention. I think that this is exemplary. In my congressional district. two young men. Dean and Don Kennemer. who are. I think. 14 and 16 years old. raised hay for a 4H project. Working with their father. they donated all the hay from that project that is coming into South Carolina into the district of our colleague. Mr. BUTLER DERRICK. This is the kind of activity that I applaud here and that we are so grateful and thankful for like these two young men from outside Alice. TX. who took it on their own initiative to volunteer. Then it was moved by railroad. I do not want to single out any railroads. but the one that comes from Laredo to Corpus Christi. and then from Corpus Christi up on another railroad. With that. Mr. Speaker. this is really an attempt within the constraints of the budget. within the limitations that we have as far as new legislation. utilizing the existing legislation to the fullest. availing ourselves of what the P esident and the Department of Agriculture have already done. we feel that we need this added measure to really complement the needs of those that are suffering through the Southeast and the Middle Atlantic. I would hope that our colleagues support this endeavor and imprint the knowledge and the interst of the Congress on what we do for those that are suffering at this time. I am sure that there is not a Member of this Congress or an American citizen that is not aware of the devastating drought that has caused an estimated $2 billion in damage to crops and livestock across the Southeast and Middle Atlantic States. The farmers of these regions and the Amer.can people owe a great debt of gra:itude to inose citizens. businesses. and Government employees who have given freely of their time. talent. and energy to deliver thousands of tons of hay oo drougitstricken livestock producers in these regions. One shining example o this voluntarsm can be found in my Congressional de...trict in Texas. where Dean and Don Kennemcr. two 4H Club members. donated 50 tons of hay that as we speak is en route to fz.ners in South Carolina. The contributions that individual citizens like the Kennemers have mtde to minimize the damage from the drougt exmplify the bcat that is America. But the disaster is too large for volunteers to handle on their own. Volunteers in hay distribution centers in droughtstricken States cannot continue to work 18hour days. 6 days a week without pay for very long. Railroads. airlines. and trucking firms cannot be expectod to provide free transportation indefinitely. It is time for the Federal Government to respond quickly. decisively. and compassionately to assit the victims of the worst drought in the Southeast in over a century. In response to the many requests the Committee on Agriculture received from farm families. State officials. and Members of Congress to assist those that live in the areas hardest hit by the drougt. the committee reported H.R. 5288. H.R. 5288. as reported. will require the Federal Government to make emergency disaster assistance available to farmers and ranchers adversely affected by natural disasters in For the most part. the bill uses the authorities of existing law to provide emergency feed and other assistance to livestock. dairy. and poultry producers. and to make disaster payments to the producers of wheat. feed grains. upland cotton. rice. soybeans. and peanuts in The bill provides for payments in kind for cost sharing of soil conservation measures and for the reseeding of timber stands lost due to 1986 drought conditions. In addition. the bill expresses the sense of the Congress encouraging lenders not to foreclose on farmers. and instructing the Federal Government to streamline its current disaster assistance efforts. Finally. the bill makes a permanent change in the law to improve the operation of emergency feed programs for livestock and poultry producers. The Congressional Budget Office projects the cost of the programs in H.R. 5288 to total $530 million in fiscal year 1987. However. because some of these pograms have already been initiated by the Department of Agriculture. the bill will result in additional costs to the Federal Government of only $230 million. This is a small price to pay to alleviate the more than $2 billion in losses caused by the drought. Yet. the substitute we are considering will even offset the additional costs. The House has before it a substitute for the committee substitute. The substitute before the House does not delete any provision from the committeereported bill. It singly adds three important new provisions as follows: First. it adds a new section 12 to provide for the sale of certain FmHA loan assets to cover the $230 million in additional outlays connected with the bill. Second. it adds a new subsection (e) to section 5 to clarify that holders of cropinsurance policies will not be penalized. under the bills disaster payments program. for buying crop insurance. Third. it adds a new section 7 to the bill to provide more flexibility in the operation of the Federal peanut and tobacco programs. in view of the adverse effects of this years drought on many pearut and tobacco areas. The floor substitute also makes several technical and conforming changes. The assistance this legislation provides to producers who have suffered from drought or floods in 1986 will not only help these farm families. but will also help small businesses. rural communities. and the economies of these States as a whole. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the swift approval of H.R. 5288.