Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2642, Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in opposition to the farm bill rule and the underlying bill because, Mr. Speaker, there is a five-decade symbiosis between urban America and the farm community.

I rarely come to this well for a lot of reasons--most of them are negative--because I didn't come to Congress to make an enemy. I came here to make a difference.

I'm not here, Mr. Speaker, trying to put politics above productive policy; ideology above the injured. I'm not here to form a division, but inclusion. I'm not here because I believe in capitulation, but in compromise.

I believe that this bill is doing enormous damage not only to the body politic, but to this Nation, and we, the elected leaders of the United States Congress--this is not some little club. We are the Congress of the United States of America, the most powerful Nation on this planet. We can take care of all of the people.

There are poor children in rural areas that I represent, and I will never turn my back on them and I will never turn my back on children in the urban core.

Mr. Speaker, I object to this bill because this bill is not just going to create tension among us but the people of this country who depend on us. They depend on us. It is not like they can go to an alternative body to redress their concerns. If we are about anything, it is about trying to take care of these people. That's why we're here.

I suffer from vertigo. The only way I can stop from wiggling around and fainting when I get dizzy with vertigo is to keep my eyes on something that doesn't move. I get frustrated and dizzy being in this body, and the only way I can stand up is to keep my eyes on something that doesn't move. And the thing that does not move are the people of the United States, particularly those who are hurting. They don't move. My mind is going to stay right there on people who don't move: the hurt, the wounded--even the will to be an American. We've got to make sure that we take care of everybody in this country, Mr. Speaker.

I will not, I shall not, I cannot be silent as we continue to divide the Nation, and then we think we're doing something good because we're able to say something nasty to somebody. The people of this country deserve better. We deserve better.

I've never attacked people on the basis of their party or their ideology, and I won't do it. I will not do it. But I will not abandon what's right. I will not abandon the things that I keep my eyes on. I will not support this bill.

There are people in rural counties that I represent where Saline County, Missouri, a rural county, has greater poverty than Jackson County, where Kansas City sits.

This is not about trying to destroy some kind of system that we put in place to protect the rural areas. I'm concerned about the rural areas. I was born in Waxahachie, Texas.

My daddy sent my mother to college when I was in the eighth grade. I had never lived in a house with indoor plumbing until I was almost 8 years old. I lived in public housing. My daddy struggled. With a little help, my daddy sent four children through college. We moved out of public housing. My daddy lives in his own house right now in Wichita Falls, Texas.

All people are asking for, in some cases, is just a little help. Who can they turn to? I hope, I actually even pray, that it's the United States Congress.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Missouri?

There was no objection.

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