Let's Get This Farm Bill Passed Now
Letter to the editor
October 18, 2001
In North Dakota, we are working to build and diversify our economy, and we're making gains in value-added agriculture, advanced manufacturing and technology-based business services industries. We are also moving forward with our energy initiatives and tourism. But agriculture will continue to be fundamental to our economy. We need the right kind of farm policy for North Dakota and the nation - a long-term policy with a safety net for our farmers -- and we need it now.
Currently, we have a window of opportunity. The Combest-Stenholm farm bill, known as the Farm Security Act of 2001, has passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Now we must get the Senate to pass it. The legislation will help provide a foundation so that our farmers and ranchers can plan and invest in their future. They will also be better able to make investments in value-added agriculture, which will ultimately reduce our dependence on federal farm policy and create more jobs in rural America.
The Combest-Stenholm agriculture plan has North Dakota roots. In 1999, the North Dakota Grain Growers Association developed a farm policy with a price safety net. The plan captured the endorsement of the National Association of Wheat Growers, and eventually, Reps. Larry Combest, R-Texas, and Charles Stenholm, D-Texas. The Congressmen used the plan as a blueprint for the bipartisan Farm Security Act of 2001, adding enhanced conservation and wildlife-protection measures, and vital provisions for trade and rural economic development.
As an early supporter of the North Dakota Grain Grower's approach, I committed to working with Rep. Combest and the Administration, as well as with the nation's governors, to promote passage of this bill. Since then, I have spoken personally with 16 governors, and my staff has contacted the offices of all 49 other governors to urge support of the Farm Security Act of 2001. In addition, my staff and I communicated regularly with the Administration through Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman's office.
Earlier this month, the Combest-Stenholm bill passed the House by a healthy two-to-one margin. Clearly, there is wide support for the concepts embodied in the Farm Security Act of 2001. Now, when we need a similar success in the U.S. Senate, several different proposals have been advanced, none of which come close to the solid provisions of Combest-Stenholm.
At least two Senate farm bills are being drafted, one by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and a second by Ranking Member Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind. Both are merely a shadow of the comprehensive and balanced Farm Security Act of 2001, and should be soundly rejected.
The Harkin version would reportedly phase out direct commodity payments within five years and it shifts support away from North Dakota farmers. The Lugar version would leave all traditional forms of subsidy behind and adopt an unproven system of farm-revenue insurance, a concept that has failed badly in North Dakota.
We can't afford a flawed farm bill; we can't afford costly year-to-year emergency aid packages; and we certainly can't afford a depressed agriculture industry in North Dakota, the Midwest or America. Our farmers need, and deserve, reliable farm policy so that they can invest and plan for the future.
To that end, I recently contacted both Sens. Conrad and Dorgan to encourage their support of Combest-Stenholm in the Senate, and to urge their opposition to any new Senate farm bill that would diminish the provisions of the farm bill passed by the House.
I have also offered my assistance by continuing to work with the Administration and with governors around the nation to encourage support for a Senate version of the Farm Security Act of 2001.
Let's get this farm bill passed now.
