FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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December 5, 2001

Miller Calls on Senate to Pass Farm Bill This Year
Bill Would Boost Rural Economy, Bring Stability to Farmers

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) today urged his Senate colleagues to help Georgia farmers and all of rural America by passing a new Farm Bill before adjourning for the year. Miller delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor this afternoon:

"Mr. President, I rise in support of the committee-passed farm bill and to express my hope that we can complete action on it quickly. First, let me commend Chairman Harkin and the Majority Leader for their fine work in meeting the needs of Senators on the committee from different regions of the country. We all have unique needs and it is not easy to address all of them. I thank the Chairman for his efforts to do so.

"I think we have come up with a good bill. This legislation provides a critical income safety net for America's farmers. It includes an unprecedented $20 billion dollar increase in conservation spending. It substantially increases allocations for nutrition, rural development, and forestry programs. This bill meets the needs of our rural communities while remaining within the budget authority.

"I am also pleased that the Chairman has included an energy title in the legislation that provides incentives for alternative fuel technologies. The energy debate over the past few days only solidifies the need for further advancements in alternative fuels.

"Let me take a moment to focus on the major reform of the peanut program that is in this bill. In a place like Washington, where talk of eliminating a program is as rare as spotting a whooping crane, we're now ready to eliminate the Depression-era peanut quota program from our nation's $4 billion dollar peanut industry. For decades this system served the South well. It provided economic security to some of our country's poorest areas while at the same time guaranteeing the domestic market a safe, high-quality source of peanuts.

"But all that changed when NAFTA and GATT were passed. These agreements effectively ended the peanut program as we knew it. Trade protections for peanuts were ratcheted down, imports gradually increased, and farmers' quotas reduced.

"In the 1996 Farm Bill, Congress had decided to require farmers to cover peanut program losses, making it no-net-cost to the government. This sounded good politically, but it failed to make peanuts more competitive on the world market, nor did it quell imports. Peanut producers have faced up to this competitive reality. The vast majority are willing to finally give up a program that has served them well for 60 years.

"Yes, it's going to will cost money to compensate quota holders for their losses. But, it would be unthinkable for the government not to compensate farm families for their property. There has to be a bridge between the old system and the new, and this bill gives us one. It makes that necessary transition.

"And at a time when we are searching for the best ways to stimulate our economy, this farm bill is the greatest stimulus we could provide for rural America. It will give the economy an instant boost.

"If we don't act, I can tell you what the scenario will be in Georgia and in other parts of the country. If we don't pass a farm bill now, local banks will make a fraction of
their traditional farm loans. Farmers without financing will either get out of farming or declare bankruptcy.

"Who will suffer then? I'll tell you who. Those families in fragile rural areas where the economy is driven by the small car dealership, the feed store and the family restaurant. With many textile plants and other industries leaving the rural South, these farmers have fewer and fewer places to turn.

"In rural Georgia, the challenge today is just to stay afloat, and it's becoming tougher by the day. Our nation's great prosperity over the past decade has not always filtered down to these rural areas. We have failed to bring many of these communities along economically and it shows. Mr. President, how is it that we can so easily protect Wall Street, but forget about Main Street in places like Moultrie, Georgia, or Driver, Arkansas, or Seagraves, Texas? It's time these places got their due.

"Our nation is focused on the September 11 attacks, and rightly so. But let's not forget that agriculture has been mired in a five-year disaster, devastated by bad weather and bad prices. Almost every year in this body, we've have had to provide supplemental appropriations. We need this new farm bill to stop this cycle.

"Mr. President, the time is now for a new farm bill. We must act before adjourning for the year. We cannot go home for Christmas with generous, bountiful gifts for certain segments of our economy but only ashes and switches for our farmers."

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