Agriculture, Rural Development, Food And Drug Administration, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 - Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I will take a few minutes while we are waiting until procedures get lined up to say a few words about an amendment I am offering which is going to come up for a vote fairly soon. This is an amendment which addresses the crisis in dairy all over this country. It is an amendment that is supported by Senator Snowe, Senator Udall of New Mexico, Senator Schumer, Senator Bennet of Colorado, Senator Specter, Senator McCaskill, Senator Gillibrand, Senator Klobuchar, Senator Shaheen, and Senator Casey. As you will note, these are people from all over the country. What we are not talking about here is a regional issue, we are talking about a national issue.

I want to pick up on a point for a moment that Senator McCaskill made earlier this morning. I think it is important. All of us know that today our country is in a major economic crisis, the deepest recession since the Great Depression. But sometimes what media does, and maybe what we do here in Congress, is focus on that crisis in the areas where there is, if you like, concentrated misery, such as Detroit, which has undergone terrible problems, thousands of people on a given day have lost their jobs, and sometimes, in the midst of the economic crisis facing our country, we forget what is happening in rural areas, in small towns all over this country. Sometimes when farms go out of business, farms that have been owned by a family for generations, when rural communities go into, literally, an economic depression, we don't pay quite as much attention to that. It is not on the front pages of the New York Times. The fact is, right now rural America is in the midst of a very serious economic crisis. Unemployment is extremely high.

One of the particular areas where we are seeing not just a deep recession but, in fact, a depression is within the dairy industry. In the last year, if you can believe it, the price dairy farmers--many of them small, family-based dairy farmers--have received for their milk has plummeted by 41 percent. In the last year, it has gone down by 41 percent. The reality of what that means is that farmers today, for every gallon of milk they are producing, are losing money. It is not that they are making a little bit, they are losing money. What we are seeing, not just in the Northeast, not just in the Midwest, not just in the Southeast, not just in the West, but all over this country, are family farmers going out of business, plunging their rural economies and their communities into depression-type economics.

Let me quote, if I might, from people from different parts of the country.

A Minnesota dairy farmer writes:

This situation is unlike any experienced in the past and the width and depth cannot continue to be ignored. It has not discriminated based on herd size or geographic location. Dairy farmers of all sizes and across all regions of the country are enduring an unprecedented disaster.

That is from Minnesota.

The President of the California Farmers Union--when we talk about dairy, sometimes California is in another world from the rest of the country because their herds are much larger.

By the way, I should say the National Farmers Union is supporting this amendment, and 11 agricultural commissioners and secretaries from States are supporting this amendment as well, as is the DFA, the Dairy Farmers of America, which is the largest dairy farm cooperative in America.

This is what the fellow who is the head of the California Farmer's Union says. His name is Joaquin Contente. He testified:

[I]n my lifetime history as a dairy farmer, I have never seen our prices remain this far below our costs this long and I have never seen so many dairy producers so desperate for relief. In my county alone 25 dairies have either filed or are in the process of filing for bankruptcy and many more are closer to bankruptcy each day.

From Texas, the executive director of the Texas Association of Dairymen said:

This is the worst situation I have seen since 1970. Some say it is the worst since the Depression.

From Wisconsin, a dairy farmer states:

In my area farmers are burning up the equity accumulated over their lifetimes. One farmer in my area had to cash out his wife's IRA just to get his crops planted this spring. My parish priest in my small town has had to counsel one or more dairy farmers a week to prevent their suicides.

Those are just a few examples from Wisconsin, California, and Texas. Trust me, I could tell you many similar stories from the State of Vermont.

Once again, as we attempt to revitalize our economy, let's not forget about rural America. Let's not forget about dairy farmers. Let's support this legislation which will provide $350 million to increase dairy support prices. I look forward to the support of my colleagues.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, I move to waive the applicable sections of this act for purposes of the pending amendment.

This amendment is supported by a number of Senators, not just from the east coast or Midwest or Southwest or the West but from all over the country--among others, Senators SNOWE, UDALL of New Mexico, SCHUMER, BENNETT, COLLINS, FRANKEN, CASEY, UDALL of Colorado, SPECTER, MCCASKILL, GILLIBRAND, KLOBUCHAR, and SHAHEEN.

We are united from every section of the country to make the point that when we talk about the deep recession we are facing, this is a recession that is impacting rural America very severely, and we cannot forget about rural America.

Right now, at this moment, dairy farmers across the country are suffering from the lowest milk prices in four decades. In the last year, the price farmers received for milk has plummeted 41 percent. I ask for support on the amendment.

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