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

Floor Speech

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Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I would have preferred to focus my time in the general debate, and that's still my intention. The rule debate historically, as we all know in this body, is more of a partisan discussion, generally less focused on the details of the bill than the intensity of the process or the perspective by which the next action takes place. I understand that.

But I would say to my friends, and I will go into greater detail on this in just a little bit, remember what you are about to vote on, a rule to enable us to proceed to a vote entails, is consideration of a bill that took two markups over 2 years in committee, where 100 amendments were considered in both markups, a process by which a bill to the floor a couple of weeks ago subject to another 100 amendments, tremendous debate, tremendous discussion, yet a bill that could not quite get the muster of both the left and the right.

So we wound up a little short in the middle. What you're voting on today is the farm bill farm bill. It's what a lot of the folks back home have said for years they want: consider every issue on its own merit. Well, now, we're about to vote for a rule that will make that possible.

But in the farm bill farm bill, we achieve savings in the commodity title, do away with the direct payments, that thing that's caused such great angst--people getting money for not doing anything. That's gone, a substantial number of billions of dollars in savings.

Now, the committee had the spirit to believe that every part of the existing farm bill policy shoul Mr. LUCAS. Sometimes you have to have reform. Sometimes you have to do things differently. But at least the Ag Committee chose to make the reforms across our jurisdiction, to make everybody have a stake in the savings.

I know that's contrary to how the place works; but for one time, maybe, this session, or this day, or this year, or this decade, let's try it the old way. Let's try and look at the issue. Let's try to be fair and equitable to everyone, and let's do the legislative work to get, ultimately, to where we need to be.

d save resources, so we save money in the conservation title, $6 billion. We consolidate programs. We refocus.

I would say to all my friends on the floor, vote for the rule. Give us a chance to proceed to the bill so that we can consider a farm bill farm bill.

I can assure all of you that I have given my word to the members of the Rules Committee, to Members on each side of this Chamber that the committee will work hard to achieve a consensus on a nutrition bill. I don't know what kind of a consensus that will be yet. It probably won't satisfy both of my friends on each side of the room to the extreme.

But we, in good faith, did our work. Give us a chance to consider the merits of our reform-minded bill. Give us a chance, then, to address the nutrition title. Let the place work. Let the place work.

I thank the chairman of the Rules Committee for yielding some time to me. I ask my colleagues to vote for this.

I would tell you, if anything, part of the biggest problem with the bill 2 weeks ago was we saved money everywhere; and for some reason, no one ever wants to give anything up in this place.

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Mr. LUCAS. Sometimes you have to have reform. Sometimes you have to do things differently. But at least the Ag Committee chose to make the reforms across our jurisdiction, to make everybody have a stake in the savings.

I know that's contrary to how the place works; but for one time, maybe, this session, or this day, or this year, or this decade, let's try it the old way. Let's try and look at the issue. Let's try to be fair and equitable to everyone, and let's do the legislative work to get, ultimately, to where we need to be.

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