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“DO NOT FORGET AGRICULTURE OR OIL BEFORE WE GO HOME” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H10808 on Oct. 13, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
DO NOT FORGET AGRICULTURE OR OIL BEFORE WE GO HOME
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, last night, I rose on a similar occasion to plead that, before we go home at this late hour, that we not forget our agricultural sector in this country, that we have many problems due to disease, due to weather, and most importantly due to the low price that we face in all commodities in the agriculture sector.
I am glad to learn, throughout the day, as we tried to negotiate agreements, not only with the Senate but also with the White House, that progress seems to be being made in the issue that we care about when it comes to preserving our family farms and protecting our farmers and ranchers across America.
Clearly we have lots of problems when we see the price of wheat, cattle, and corn, what they are today, what they have been in the past, and recognize that this Congress should not adjourn. The final gavel should not hit the table before we make certain that those issues are addressed.
Again, I ask just briefly tonight that our conferees and our negotiators with the White House continue to pursue tax assistance, reductions in taxes as they affect the family farmer, disaster relief due to the problems we face in price as well as natural disaster; that we clearly do something about the issues of embargoes and sanctions placed against many countries around the world.
Our inability to export agricultural products around the world has a dramatic impact upon the income of the farmers and ranchers across this country. This House has passed relief as regard to sanctions and embargoes, and I hope that the Senate and certainly our negotiators will insist that those provisions remain in the version of the final omnibus bill that I hope we pass before we go home.
Clearly, the farmers of Kansas, the ranchers of Kansas understand that trade is important, that exports matter, and our inability to export to all countries at a time when we have told agriculture to go out and farm the markets is an important factor in their ability to succeed in doing that.
Tonight, having really addressed the issue of agriculture last night and to again plead that it not be forgotten in these last hours, I also wish to point out the difficulties we face in the domestic oil industry.
We have significant production of oil in this country and particularly in my home district in Kansas. Forty million barrels annually is produced in our State, representing about 15,000 jobs, very important jobs to the economy.
Again, when agricultural prices are what they are, usually something is good in Kansas. But wheat, cattle, and corn are all low. On top of that, the price of oil is the same. It is low, and there is little hope for the future.
As that happens in Kansas, our small producers, those wells that produce less than 10 barrels a day, are being shut down and abandoned. When we lose them, we lose our ability to have production in the future. We became more reliant upon foreign sources of oil.
So, again, as I asked last night with regards to agriculture, I ask that our negotiators continue to pursue relief for a beleaguered oil and gas industry in this country, particularly for the small producer and for those producers that produce marginal wells whose costs of production are very high to maintain.
I said on the House floor not too many months ago that it is disturbing when we learn how much money we spend trying to protect foreign supplies of oil but virtually nothing to protect a domestic oil and gas industry, a fact that we will pay a huge price for, I am afraid, someday.
So tonight let me remind our negotiators that we have a marginal tax well credit that matters, that it would allow a tax credit for our producers who have lost money year after year to go back and receive a tax credit for the years in which they actually had an income.
Several months ago, we were successful in defeating the effort by the Department of Energy on a crazy idea to actually sell oil out of the strategic petroleum reserve at a time when prices were so low we bought oil at a high price and we were willing to sell it at a low price and dump more oil on the domestic market.
Tonight I hope we do not forget about the provision that is included in the Senate bill that allows for the purchase of oil at a low price for the strategic petroleum reserve which can be a security matter for us as well as a benefit to the very depressed domestic oil and gas industry.
This matters to the communities and to the families across Kansas and across the country. It is important that we do not forget what the domestic oil and gas industry represents. Again, before we adjourn and go home to our constituents, something I desperately want to do is to return to Kansas and to my family, but let us make sure that the oil and gas industry as well as agriculture is not forgotten.
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