Agriculture

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, we are here to talk about agriculture. We are here to talk about those great farmers and ranchers who feed this country and feed the world.

You know, when we talk about good farm policy, we are talking about something that benefits every single American every single day because our farmers and ranchers produce the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the history of the world that benefits every single American every single day. That is just how important it is. How could we be reminded even more so right now than during this COVID pandemic of that abundant, safe, wonderful food supply that we have every day thanks to our farmers and ranchers, and there is so much that goes into it.

As the Presiding Officer well knows, with Nebraska as his State and its being a big part of the incredible ag production in this country-- as a matter of fact, there could be a little rivalry here with his contiguous State to the north in terms of cattle production or something like that--this is something that touches everybody every day and is so important.

It is not just those farmers and ranchers who produce that food every day; it is the whole supply chain that has to work. Remember, that food supply has to be safe every day, not only tasty and affordable and abundant, and that is what we are talking about. This has become a big, big issue in the continuing resolution that we are working on right now in that the way we are funding the coronavirus food assistance programs, in part, is with the direct funding that we secured in the CARES Act and also from what they call the CCC, the Commodity Credit Corporation. With regard to the farm bill--the bipartisan farm bill that has incredibly strong support on both sides of the aisle in this body and the House--many of its very key programs are funded by the Commodity Credit Corporation. We put about $30 billion a year into that fund every year to make sure that those programs are funded to support our farmers and ranchers.

That was not in the original House version that was going to be filed, so a group of Senators from ag States came together last week and had a colloquy in this body. They immediately went to work with our friends in the House who are also strong supporters of agriculture and now the continuing resolution that has passed the House overwhelmingly, which we will be taking up, has that key funding in it.

So we are really here to, once again, emphasize the importance of making sure we fund these farm programs, to make sure that we fund them in a timely way, and, again, to point out very clearly that this is funding that is being used expressly the way it was authorized to be used both in the overwhelmingly bipartisan farm bill we passed--the 5- year farm bill--but also in the CARES Act, in which we secured additional funding. Now the funding that is included in the continuing resolution is exactly that funding that we put out there every year to make sure this farm bill is provided on time.

It could not be more important than this year, when not only are our farmers and ranchers fighting COVID but when they are fighting low commodity prices, challenges in the world of trade in their being targeted by China, fighting challenges of tough weather, and on top of that, COVID. So, again, we have to be there for them.

I thank the Members of the Senate and the House who worked very hard on this and the farm group, and I am going to kind of run through this whole roster here in a minute.

Before I do that, I turn to the senior Senator from South Dakota--our whip here in the Senate and somebody who has worked on behalf of agriculture his whole life--and ask him for a few of his comments.

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Mr. HOEVEN. I thank the Senate's majority whip for all of the work he has done.

Again, he works for farmers day in and day out. He comes from South Dakota, which is a strong farming and big ranching State. He was instrumental in this effort, not only by his joining us last week in the colloquy but then by engaging in the negotiations as part of our leadership time, along with our majority leader, who held fast on this.

I have to tell you that, as we negotiated back and forth with the House, our leadership--Senator McConnell, Senator Thune, and others-- held strong in saying: No, this is something that must be in the continuing resolution. Also, the administration--the President and the White House--was involved in this negotiation and held fast on this as well.

This is one of the last pieces of the puzzle to come into place, but it is so very important that we have gotten it. As I say, we had seven Senators down on the floor last week who were talking about it, and those seven Senators were led by our Ag chairman, and I will I ask him to make a few comments as well.

Again, let me thank those other Senators who have joined and will join us--Senator Thune, from whom you just heard; Senator Boozman, from whom you will hear in just a minute; Senator Ernst, of Iowa; Senator Fischer, of Nebraska; and Senator Hyde-Smith, of Mississippi. All have strong ag backgrounds. I mean, they are people who not only work on behalf of agriculture but who are involved in agriculture. They are not just here, advocating for it--they live it. It is a great group.

They have also reached out to so many in the House, to the farm groups, to the commodity groups, and to the ag groups, which I will talk a little bit more about later.

Let me turn to our Ag chairman, who, though still a relatively young man, has been in the House and the Senate for many years and has always been a tireless advocate for agriculture. He is a marine--once a marine always a marine. Semper Fi. He brings that attitude--that marine, you know, ``never turn back and never let up'' attitude--and makes sure that he does everything he can on behalf of our farmers and ranchers.

I yield to the chairman.

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Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I would like to thank the Senator from Arkansas again for his diligence and hard work, and our Ag chairman.

I just want to wrap up with some thank-yous, as well, and it starts with our Ag chairman, not only for his leadership on the farm bill but then on making sure we fund these farm programs.

I tell you, it has been something that I know Senator Boozman agrees with me on. We have learned a lot from him, and we appreciate it. It has made a real difference for farmers and ranchers across this country.

I want to thank, of course, all of the Senators that worked with us on this project--I named them earlier--but our House Members too. We reached out to Members of the House, whether it was the ranking member on the Ag Committee, Representative Conaway, or whether it was Representative Fortenberry. There are many others that reached out and helped as well.

I agree. I want to thank our staff, led by Tony Eberhard, my chief, and on the Agriculture side, by Morgan Ulmer and her whole crew, Shannon Hines, and, of course, Richard Shelby, our leader on the Approps side, and somebody whom you worked with for many, many years, Mr. Chairman.

It takes all of these people working together. This was really important, not just for the farm bill but for that disaster assistance, the coronavirus food assistance funding that we are providing, as well, which our farmers and ranchers need so very much as we go through this COVID fight.

So let me just wrap up. This is something that the Ag chairman brought up. I thought, as usual, right on. He said we wouldn't have been able to get this done without the farm groups and the ranch groups stepping up and calling their Member, whether it was their Senator or their House Member.

Our chairman also already introduced this into the Record--the letter--which was so important. But I am going to take just a minute and read through those ag groups, if I could, as our way of finishing up with a thank you.

I am just going to read through those 47 groups: Agriculture Retailers Association, Amcot, American Agri-Women, American Cotton Producers, American Cotton Shippers Association, the American Dairy Coalition, American Farm Bureau Federation.

I have got to say that the American Farm Bureau Federation took a real leadership role, so a special thanks there.

But thanks to all of these groups: American Pulse Association, American Sheep Industry Association, American Soybean Association, American Sugar Alliance, Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Cotton Growers Warehouse Association; Cotton Warehouse Association of America, Crop Insurance Professionals Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Barley Growers Association, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council, National Cotton Ginners Association, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Farmers Union, National Milk Producers Federation, National Sorghum Producers, National Sunflower Association, Panhandle Peanut Growers Association, Plains Cotton Growers, Produce Marketing Association, Rural & Agriculture Council of America, Society of American Florists, Southeast Cotton Ginners Association, Southern Cotton Growers, Southwest Council of Agribusiness, U.S. Canola Association, U.S. Cattlemen's Association, United Egg Producers, United States Peanut Federation, US Rice Producers Association, USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, USA Rice, and Western Peanut Growers Association--all representing farmers and ranchers.

They produce the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the world that benefits every single American, every single day.

With pleasure I yield, for the final words, to our esteemed chairman.

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Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. Chairman, I also want to add Terry Van Doren to that list, who is here this morning on the floor. He worked tirelessly and stood firm in the negotiations. So, Terry, thank you to you as well.

And, again, the final word, though, has to go--I think Senator Boozman would agree with me--to our Ag chairman. Thanks so much

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