FOOD CONSERVATION, AND ENERGY ACT OF 2008--CONFERENCE REPORT -- (Senate - May 14, 2008)
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Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I rise today to add my support as well to the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. It has been a very long and arduous process, but I think those of us who have been extremely engaged in this process are proud. We are proud of the hard, bipartisan work that has gone into this bill, and we are proud of the product. Although many of us know that none of us could get everything we wanted in this bill, we worked hard in a bipartisan way and in a way that was respectful to the diversity of this country to come up with a product we could all rally around and be supportive of on behalf of this country and the hard-working farmers out there who support this country as well as those of us who enjoy their bounty, not to mention the many other good components of this bill we worked hard together on, again, in a bipartisan way to come up with a good result.
However, the finish line being in sight, it is still not quite over yet. That is why I wish to first of all encourage my colleagues to send a strong message to President Bush to sign this bill that supports rural America and sets a long-term strategy for investing in those communities across this land that provide us with the unbelievable bounty this great Nation affords us.
This is only my third farm bill, so I have not been engaged in this process quite as long as many of my colleagues who have already spoken. But I have to tell my colleagues, as Senator Conrad mentioned, I feel quite passionate about this bill because I feel quite passionate about the farm families in this country.
I myself come from a seventh-generation Arkansas farm family, and I have watched, as I have grown up--not just in my own family but in families across our State--the hard-working communities that take such a sense of pride in being Americans but, more importantly, providing for this country and the world the safest, most abundant and affordable supply of food and fiber anybody could.
Yes, I am sure my colleagues will be delighted when I sit down and quiet up because I have been extremely passionate about this bill because I believe in those people of my State. I believe in the passion and the pride they have in who they are as Arkansans and, more importantly, who they are as Americans.
I am proud of the work we have done, and I am proud to have fought hard for their needs and their concerns, for the diversity they represent in the infinite number of business operations and farm operations that exist in this great country, enabling us as a nation to be able to say that we can provide the most efficient and effective production of food and fiber for the world, particularly at a time when, as my colleague from Iowa mentioned, in places across the globe people are fighting over food and the need for food. We have the hard-working farm families of this country to thank for the incredible effort of making sure we don't go through that, that we don't experience those things.
I wish to first start by thanking the chairman of our Agriculture Committee, Chairman Harkin, and his hard-working staff. I wish to thank the chairman for his leadership throughout this process and, again, although none of us got everything we wanted in this bill, his willingness and the willingness of his staff to be consistently there for us and to listen to the concerns we have expressed. I appreciate all of the hard work and the many hours they have put into this.
I wish to thank not just his staff but the staff of all of the other Members who have worked so diligently with me and my staff through this process. We do have many perspectives in this bill from many different regions of this country, but we do know at the end of the day how to be respectful of one another.
I especially wish to thank the ranking member, Senator Chambliss, and without a doubt his incredible staff, Martha Scott Poindexter and Vernie Hubert, who have been tremendous and have put incredibly hard work into this bill. They have been not only a great asset in the putting together of this bill, but they have been good friends, and I am enormously grateful.
I wish to thank Chairman Baucus for his work and the excellent work of his staff on this very important tax title, along with his ranking member Senator Grassley and his staff. Their efforts to secure funding for this bill have been tremendous.
I also wish to say a special thanks to Senator Conrad and his staff. They
have sought to find the common ground and to bring people to the table. They have been thoughtful. They have been understanding. They have been tireless at making sure there was a reasonableness about our discussions and that the facts and the figures were clear as we debated all of these issues.
So many of the other members of the committee as well as Members of the body who have engaged in all of these discussions have done a tremendous job in bringing this all together.
Of course, on the House side, Chairman Peterson and Ranking Member Goodlatte as well as Chairman Rangel have done an incredible job in working with us, and we appreciate so much their hard work.
I would also like to add my special thanks to my own staff, Ted Serafini and Anna Taylor, who have been an incredible support for me and made a tremendous effort in making sure our voice from Arkansas and the voices of the people we represent were so passionately heard with such great expertise, as well as my former staffer Robert Holifield, who worked very hard on this bill before he left our staff.
Those of us on the conference committee have worked hard to come up with this bill, and we wanted it to be practical. We wanted it to be realistic and exhibit the reforms that so many people have been asking for. A lot of time and energy was put into the final bill, and it is a good compromise. While it doesn't contain everything, as I said, that I want to see or anybody else on the committee wanted to see, it does ensure that we maintain the blessings we have here in this great country of American agriculture.
I often say to people at home that what we should be doing up here is not looking for legislation to be a work of art but to be a work in progress. As many of us who have worked on many farm bills know, it is a work in progress and continues to be--not just in what we do with this farm bill, but, as the Senator from Iowa mentioned, we look for making sure that the actions we have taken do not have unintended consequences and that we pay close attention to ensure that the things we have done do not disproportionately harm our great efforts of production agriculture.
From day one, there was a lot of give-and-take. In the end, I think Members and their staffs have produced a good compromise and a compromise that respects and appreciates the diversity of our country and certainly the great wealth and bounty of what our Nation has.
There are so many good things in this bill to be proud of, and I am. Several of my colleagues have already touched on the increased investment in nutrition, renewable energy, conservation, and rural development. All of these will benefit our country greatly.
As one of the cochairs and cofounders of the Senate Hunger Caucus, I am very proud that nutrition was a priority in this bill. This bill commits $10.36 billion--nearly 73 percent of the bill--for nutrition to continue the fight against hunger. Hunger is a disease we can cure. We know how to cure it. We simply have to set it as a priority, and this bill does.
It represents the largest amount of funding for nutrition programs in our Nation's history. At a time when 20 million Americans are living in poverty, it should represent certainly no less. One billion of that is allocated for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program which provides free fresh fruits and vegetables to low-income children in our schools nationwide. It also expands the Senior Farmers Market Program by $50 million to help them purchase fresh fruits at places like farmers markets and roadside stands throughout the country. I am proud that the bill aims to reduce food insecurity among our children and our elderly, among our low income and those who are in need. This is a good part of our bill.
This bill also provides farm families, ranchers, and small businesses throughout the greater part of rural America with the opportunities and the incentives to develop renewable energy sources and continue the drive toward greater energy efficiency in this country. As we have seen with the huge rise in gas prices this year, reducing our dependence on foreign oil is an absolute necessity for our Nation's future security. I see the passion in my Arkansas farmers and entrepreneurs in rural Arkansas and across this great country for producing alternative and renewable energy sources. They stand ready. They stand ready to take advantage of the incentives and the call we have in this bill to lessen our dependence on foreign oil and empower our own selves, our own country with renewable fuels that will not only create jobs but provide a better environment for future generations. In this bill, we have the beginnings particularly of making sure we not only lessen our dependence on foreign oil but we do so in a way that is good for our environment.
I am also grateful that an important provision in this bill that I supported will bring tax parity to the timber industry which is so important to my State. This change will help our timber farmers and millers remain competitive globally during tough economic times. Last year, the downturn in the forestry industry resulted in the loss of more than 3,000 jobs and nearly $14 million in State and local revenues in my State of Arkansas.
Conservation is also a big part of this package. It does a tremendous amount. As a farmer's daughter, I saw no greater conservationist than my own father, as a farmer who took great pride in not only the land of our farm and the future generations who would get to use that land but also in the conservation that surrounded our farm and in our county, because not only was it important to his livelihood and for future generations of our family, for the expertise and his productivity on our farm, but it also was an enhancement and an unbelievable endowment to future generations for the wonderful pastime that so many Arkansans enjoy. Whether it is fishing in our rivers and streams, whether it is hunting in our forests, all of the many things we see in our State that my children and other Arkansans enjoy, it is a true blessing to see that conservation, and certainly it is important to our agriculture producers and others.
The chairman, Chairman Harkin, has been a tireless advocate for conservation programs, and we appreciate that. I am pleased that once again he has produced a bill that is progressive in this area.
It includes a $4 billion increase in conservation programs, including a $1.3 billion investment in the Wetlands Reserve Program, which is very popular and productive in my State. We have the largest timber wetlands in North America, with the White River Waterfowl Refuge, along with the incredible lands--mostly nonproductive farmlands--that have been put into the wetlands reserve and the wetlands program and have contributed greatly to the environment. We have not only spotted the ivory-billed woodpecker, but we have tremendous migratory birds--not only the waterfowl but some of the largest areas for neotropical migratory birds, songbirds. It is a wonderful asset for this country and for future generations.
It ensures we are the best stewards of the land that we possibly can be and, above all, it helps us to leave our children with the environment they deserve.
It also includes a tax deduction to reduce the costs of implementing recovery plans under the Endangered Species Act. I see Senator Crapo, whom I have worked a lot with on this issue.
The current Endangered Species Act plays a crucial role in protecting threatened endangered species and habitats and in promoting species recovery. However, on private lands, which are relied upon by the majority of threatened species for their survival and recovery, the current law doesn't provide all the necessary tools we need.
This provision in the farm bill ensures that our private landowners are given the incentives they need to protect our endangered and threatened species and engage with State governments and the Federal Government to protect them by making sure they can work on their land and give the needed protections that are needed in order to protect the habitats so we never even see these species going on the endangered species list to begin with.
This bill also provides an additional $150 million to promote economic growth, improve infrastructure, and create jobs in rural America through the rural development title.
This investment will help improve access to broadband in rural America,
as well as provide loans for rural hospitals, so they can provide the best care for patients living in those rural areas.
Oftentimes, I think many of us who grow up in rural America, and who go home regularly to rural America, wonder if inside the beltway there are enough people still here who understand the importance of infrastructure needs and investing in rural America--whether it is broadband and making sure folks in rural America have an on-ramp to the information highway that exists or whether it is just that they have clean drinking water in those communities. It is something we can never forget because those precious rural areas of this country will remain out there and those people will remain out there and we have to stand up for them.
The bill also provides serious reform while maintaining the safety net for our family farmers so they can compete in the global marketplace.
Throughout this process, we have heard time and time again that there must be reform. So many of us started early in this process to see where we could bring about the kind of reforms that were being demanded. We have provided in this bill the most significant reform in our Nation's history in this farm bill. The bill lowers the overall cap on program payments from $360,000 to $105,000.
We have seen the need to address the loopholes that allow producers to avoid the caps. So we have eliminated those loopholes most frequently--the three-entity rule and generic certificates.
I also heard of the need for transparency, so the committee bill added direct attribution, which will track payments directly to a living, breathing individual producer, a farmer out there who is putting their hard-earned time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears into producing these agricultural products.
I advocated for reform and transparency from the very beginning because I knew it was something people wanted to see. But I also think we must be careful that we understand what the possible consequences of these reforms might be.
The 2002 farm bill established a solid safety net program when yields and prices were low.
While we have maintained the integrity of that program, the $2.5 million means testing on income limits established in that bill in 2002 were never fully enforced by this administration. The Senator from Iowa brought up that point. It is hard to know where to go from those caps in the 2002 bill and today's bill to increase that transparency and increase those reforms, if we don't even know what the first limit actually did.
That is why it does create some concern in me to hear that the administration is saying this bill doesn't go far enough in regard to these reforms. How do we know if it doesn't go far enough if we have never enforced what has been on the books to begin with?
Prior to the 2002 farm bill, no means test existed for farm programs. Now, I have to say I have concerns that all of a sudden we are going to begin means testing farmers and producers across this country, but we shy away and shiver in this body when means testing is talked about for anything else.
We knew it was important to eliminate loopholes that nonfarmers used to receive program payments, and during the 2002 farm debate, we instituted the $2.5 million test.
In the bill that passed the Senate in December, we lowered the means-testing cap to $750,000, which respected our regional differences and avoided the unintended consequences that might arise in this compromise.
Let's not forget that we also significantly reformed individual program pay limits on top of that, which should sharply reduce benefits to producers who remain eligible, as long as they are below that means-testing level we have imposed. I thought the Senate bill did a good job on that compromise and have remained hopeful that those limits, and certainly something close to those limits, is where we can be.
During conference, we agreed to add an additional component that factors in nonfarm income.
However, it is not enough for this administration, and they continue to threaten a veto of this incredibly hard-fought, bipartisan compromise. As I mentioned, I do have some concerns about means testing because we are means testing the most efficient and effective producers of agricultural products in the world, at a time when we are experiencing a world food crisis, and we want to ensure that not only will we maintain the kind of production that we have consistently but also that we do it by setting an example in respect to clean water and clean air and, certainly, in respect to all the other unbelievable demands and restrictions that are placed on our farmers with respect to the environment.
We don't know what those consequences might be, and I hope we will keep in mind--as the Senator from Iowa mentioned--that as we move forward in looking at this bill, thinking about how those effects may have unbelievably unintended consequences. Again, there have been an awful lot of fights for the means testing on our agricultural producers, while there are so many other benefits in this country that are not means tested. I noticed my colleagues earlier mentioning the fact that farm income is up. But I also noticed that nobody hardly mentioned the fact that reflects the reality of what farmers in this country are going through in terms of the environment of skyrocketing production costs and restrictive trade laws, which in our region of the country are much more restrictive. Trade laws are much more restrictive to the commodities we grow, and certainly production costs that are much higher for capital-intensive crops.
I hope the unintended consequences of establishing payment limits and means testing would not shift the landlord-tenant relations to cash rent and place producers, who are working hard each day to shoulder that risk solely of restrictive trade rules, bad weather, and unbelievably skyrocketing input costs--I hope that is not one of the unintended consequences that we see.
In the end, this bill is about ensuring that our family farmers can continue to produce the world's safest, most abundant supply of food and fiber.
Our farmers also produce their commodities the most efficiently and effectively in the world, and they do it by keeping the cost of our food and fiber per capita the lowest of any developed country, as Senator Conrad mentioned.
Moreover, they do it with respect to our environment, so our children and future generations can enjoy this unbelievable country of bounty and beauty. They do it by following the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and so many other restrictions that we place on them in order to ensure they are setting the example and doing the best job possible regarding our environment.
They are excellent conservationists and stewards of the land because they understand that if they care for the land, it will take care of them. It is something we should never lose sight of.
I am proud of the work we have done on this bill, and I encourage my colleagues to support the final version. No bill is ever perfect. This one gives our family farmers the certainty they need to continue to compete effectively in the global marketplace. It focuses on the unbelievable needs throughout this country in nutrition, energy, conservation, and rural development.
Again, I am proud to have worked in a bipartisan way with so many colleagues on the Senate Ag Committee, as well as others in this body and in the other body across the Capitol dome.
My last plea before I yield the floor is to my colleagues. It is that we will never allow ourselves or the people of this country to take for granted what we have been blessed with in this country. This is a great country, and we have a lot of incredibly hard-working people. Many of them are spread out over the rural areas. I hope we will never allow the American people to take for granted what this bounty means to them and, more importantly, that we in this body will never take for granted the hard work that goes on beyond this beltway to make us the richest country in the whole world. I hope we can continue in that same bipartisan fashion, recognizing and respecting the incredible diversity across this country that has blessed us for so many years.
I encourage my colleagues to support the great bipartisan product we brought to the floor.
I yield the floor.