Agriculture

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHER. I want to thank my colleague from North Dakota.

It is so appropriate, Madam President, that you are in the chair right now presiding because you are a cattle farmer from the great State of Mississippi, and we have many, many discussions on the importance of livestock and on the importance of agriculture to our States.

Nebraska is an ag State. In 2018, Nebraska generated around $21.3 billion in agricultural cash receipts. Agriculture and ag processing accounts for 9.4 percent of the State's GDP. The agriculture production complex accounts for approximately one-quarter of our GDP workforce. By these measures, agriculture plays a greater role in my State of Nebraska than it does in the economy of any other State in the United States. When agriculture suffers, Nebraska suffers.

Over the last several years, our farmers and ranchers have done their fair share of suffering. As my colleague mentioned, USDA's most recent farm income projections forecast that cash receipts will be at their lowest level in more than a decade. As a rancher, I know it is difficult to plan for the future when you are facing so many factors that are outside of your control, whether it is low commodity prices or retaliatory tariffs or natural disasters that we have gone through and also a global pandemic.

Nebraska's farmers and ranchers have maintained their patience in these tough times, but they deserve to know without any kind of doubt that amidst all of this unpredictability they are experiencing, we here in Congress are going to hold up our end of the bargain.

For decades, the Commodity Credit Corporation has been routinely replenished to fund the programs that the Senator from North Dakota spoke about--those programs that are so important to the farm safety net. Producers count on programs like the agriculture risk coverage, price loss coverage, marketing assistance loans, the important conservation programs, and so many more.

For PLC alone, U.S. farmers are expected to receive $4.7 billion in October. Out of that total, Nebraska farmers are anticipating $180 million in program payments. Without that immediate CCC reimbursement, these payments and these programs are going to be significantly delayed. That will jeopardize the nearly 46,000 farms and ranches in my State of Nebraska.

We have seen more than 40 agriculture and commodity groups who have stepped forward and written congressional leadership this week with a very, very clear message: Blocking the inclusion of that CCC reimbursement in a CR will hurt farmers and ranchers, no question.

We need to come together. We need to come together and fund the programs that we, Republicans and Democrats alike, have voted on in countless farm bills. Our farmers and ranchers rely on them, and they rely on them now more than ever. Congress must keep its commitment to these hard-working men and women.

I urge my colleagues in the House and here in the Senate not to allow politics to stand in the way of upholding our commitment to those hard- working men and women who get up every morning and work tirelessly day in and day out to put food on our tables. Our producers aren't thinking of just themselves; they are planning for future generations that will proudly carry on their life's work and continue feeding our world. Let's make sure we continue to fund these programs so that we can ensure that they can do that.

My thanks to my fellow ag State colleagues who know the importance of agriculture, not just to the States we represent but to this country as a whole. Thank you to the Senator from North Dakota for organizing us to come to the floor so that we as a group can stress that importance

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