WASHINGTON, DC – Recent action taken by members
of Texas’ Congressional delegation drew the full support of the
National Cotton Council.
The delegation registered its
opposition to the controversial Grassley-Dorgan amendment that would
limit benefits to farmers as the House and Senate conference
committee began debating new farm legislation.
"We urge you
and your fellow conferees to eliminate the Grassley-Dorgan payment
limitations amendment," the Texas Senate delegation stated in a
letter to Senate conferees Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Senate
Agriculture Committee, and the committee’s ranking member, Richard
Lugar (R-IN).
Signed by Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Tim
Hutchison (R-AR), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Mary
Landrieu (D-LA), John Breaux (D-LA) Bill Nelson (D-FL), Bob Graham
(D-FL), Max Cleland (D-GA), Zell Miller (D-GA), Christopher Bond
(R-MO), Jean Carnhan (D-MO), Ernest Hollings (D-SC), Strom Thurmond
(R-SC) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the letter stated that the
Grassley-Dorgan amendment would hit hardest the growers of highly
capital-intensive crops such as rice, cotton and peanuts.
Introduced by Senators Charles Grassley of Iowa and Byron
Dorgan of North Dakota, the amendment, part of the Senate-passed
farm bill, would cripple the marketing loan program - the
cornerstone of farm policy for two decades - "by rendering generic
commodity certificates useless and undermining the safety net for
all crops."
The letter noted that one reason every major
commodity organization opposed the Grassley-Dorgan amendment was
that farmers would be discouraged from planting any land in rice,
cotton or peanuts, instead dedicating that land to lower value crops
such as corn, soybeans or specialty crops. That, the letter stated,
would result in a price plummet for these crops and would mean that
corn and wheat farmers would hit their own marketing loan
limitations that much sooner.
The conference committee is
racing to complete its report before Congress adjourns March 23 for
the Easter
recess.