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“CONGRESS NOT BEING KIND TO SMALL FAMILY FARMERS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H5497-H5498 on July 22, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CONGRESS NOT BEING KIND TO SMALL FAMILY FARMERS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 21, 1997, the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
Mrs. CLAYTON. Madam Speaker, this Congress has not been very kind to small family farmers this year as the Agriculture Appropriation bill cuts funding by $3.7 billion over last year's bill. That cut is on top of a $10.3 billion cut last year, and an additional $5.8 billion less than the year before.
In addition, we will face an amendment later that, if it passes, small tobacco farmers could be the sole category of farmers effectively barred from obtaining Federal crop insurance, even though the purchase of crop insurance is mandatory for all farmers through the passage of the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act of 1994.
Later today, we will also face an amendment that targets peanut farmers. That amendment will help large corporations with moneys earned at the expense of small family farmers.
But inattention to a situation that has plagued small family farmers for more than four decades is one of the biggest acts of omission of this Congress. The farmers and ranchers of America, including minority and limited resource farmers, through their labor and hard work sustain each and every one of us and maintain the lifeblood of our Nation and the world. These people do not discriminate; their products are for all of us. Therefore, it is important that we do all within our powers to ensure that each and every producer is able to farm without the additional burden of institutional racism rearing its ugly head.
Madam Speaker, it has greatly concerned me that in my home State of North Carolina, there has been a 64-percent decline in minority farmers just over the last 15 years, from 6,696 farmers in 1978 to 2,498 farmers in 1992.
There are several reasons as to why the number of minority and limited resource farmers are declining so rapidly, but the one that has been documented time and time again is the discriminatory environment present in the Department of Agriculture, which was the very agency established by the U.S. Government to accommodate and assist the special needs of all farmers and ranchers.
On February 28, 1997, the Civil Rights Action Team [CRAT] report was issued, a report entitled ``Civil Rights at the United States Department of Agriculture.'' It was done by the Civil Rights Implementation Team at USDA under the direction of Secretary Don Glickman, which documents the decades of discrimination against minorities and women within the Department. Ninety-two recommendations for change were made in the report, 13 of which required legislative action.
I have introduced a bill which seeks to implement most of the legislative recommendations within the CRAT report. This is a beginning, not complete.
My bill achieves this goal by first, changing the structure of county committees; second, changing the status of county employees from non-
Federal to Federal; third, making sure that socially disadvantaged farmers can obtain credit and other assistance to maintain their farms as other farmers are able to do; and, fourth, making sure USDA has sufficient funds to carry out its loans, technical assistance, and outreach programs. The bill is H.R. 2185 and is entitled the USDA Accountability and Equity Act of 1997. I urge all of my colleagues to join in support of this bill.
Farmers and ranchers are an invaluable resource to all of us. American producers, who now represent less than 3 percent of the population, provide more than enough food and fiber to meet the needs of our Nation and most nations overseas. Twenty-two million Americans are employed in the processing, selling, trading of our national foods and fiber. Seventy-five million Americans are recipients of USDA benefits. Crops are produced, the soil and water are cared for, and the most available, highest quality and the least expensive food supply in the world is provided through agriculture and related programs.
The Food Stamp Program, the School Breakfast and Lunch Program, meat and poultry inspections and the world's greatest quantity of agricultural exports as well as the world's largest donations of foreign food aid also result from agriculture programs.
In rural communities, agriculture programs dispense loans and grants for housing, utilities, and economic development. Forest protection and preservation is another important product of such programs.
And so, Madam Speaker, I would ask my colleagues that, as we consider the Agriculture appropriations bill, think of small farmers, their families, and the communities they serve.
As debate continues on peanuts and tobacco, bear in mind the burden small farmers have carried in recent years in budget matters.
When we vote on the tobacco amendments and peanut amendment, do not be blind to who we are helping and who we are hurting.
And, finally, I urge each of my colleagues to consider cosponsoring H.R. 2185, the USDA Accountability and Equity Act of 1997.
Small family farmers, particularly socially disadvantaged and minority farmers deserve a chance.
This bill, H.R. 2185 begins to give them that chance.
Madam Speaker, I would urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2185, the USDA an accountability act, and remember that all of our farmers, minority and disadvantaged farmers, deserve the protection of the U.S. Constitution and of this Congress.
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