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Floor Speech
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Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, this is the 250th anniversary year of the founding of the United States of America--the greatest Nation the world has ever seen. Agriculture has been a part of this country since our founding, and agriculture is the heart and soul of what we do in Nebraska. We must always work to support our farmers and ranchers. It is a privilege for me to be able to do so as a Senator from the great State of Nebraska.
However, these are tough times in our industry of agriculture. We have seen widespread drought and wildfires. We have seen commodity prices in corn and soybeans be depressed and input prices be high. This puts a lot of pressure on our farming families.
We, also, as recently as in the last day or so, have seen more wildfires in the State of Nebraska, in the northwest portion of our State, around Chadron and Fort Robinson. Our Governor is taking the appropriate action to be able to help fight these fires. But it is in very rugged terrain, and it is going to be difficult for our firefighters there. So I ask that all Nebraskans and Americans keep the firefighters and all of those who have been impacted by these fires in their thoughts and prayers as we go through it.
One of the other challenges we are now facing in agriculture has to do with one of the bright spots in our industry, and that is the beef industry. Now, the beef industry is the No. 1 industry in the State of Nebraska--we are the beef State--but this industry is being threatened by the New World screwworm. This is a parasite that we had wiped out back in the 1960s and that is now making a reappearance. In fact, we have had six confirmed cases--five in Texas and one in New Mexico. They are in livestock, but in the case in New Mexico, it actually involves a dog. This is why Mexico is taking the steps to prevent all livestock from coming across the border, including pet dogs. It is to prevent the spread of the New World screwworm.
Today, I am sending a letter to our Ag Secretary, Brooke Rollins, to encourage her to continue to expedite the steps we are taking to combat the New World screwworm. The way we do that is by producing sterile flies that ultimately then wipe out the population here in this country, like we did before.
Panama has the only facility in North America right now that is capable of producing these sterile flies, while Mexico is set to have a facility come online later this summer. Panama is producing about 100 million screwworm sterile flies right now, and Mexico is distributing those. The USDA is distributing about 8 million a week in the affected areas of Texas right now. So we are trying to combat that right now. The USDA is also investing another $750 million in a facility at Moore Air Force Base, near Edinburg, TX, so that, when it comes along, it will be able to produce about 300 million screwworm flies a week to be able to help combat this.
With the roughly 100 million a week that are being distributed right now, we are working on it. But to get there, we need to have more. This is where the USDA's investment is so critical to be able to help combat this. I appreciate the work that Secretary Rollins and the USDA are doing. I encourage them to continue to expedite this so we can combat this disease.
I would also point out that all of these investments are in addition to what the Senate Republicans did in the Working Families Tax Cut last year, wherein we added to the programs with regard to animal biosecurity and parasite mitigation. We actually were able to add about $233 million a year to the USDA's budget in three different programs, which is seven times the level of funding that was being done before-- again, all of this to help make sure we continue to protect our strong agricultural industry in the United States. Of course, as I always remind people, food security is national security.
In addition, one of the things that we have been able to do is to have Secretary Rollins and Under Secretary Fordyce come to Nebraska to see the damage that was done by the previous wildfires. The previous wildfires burned about a million acres in Nebraska and displaced tens of thousands of cattle--sadly, costing the life of one Nebraskan who was caught in that fire.
One of the things farmers and ranchers have told us is that they need to have flexibility and not regulatory redtape when it comes to this recovery. I am happy to report that the USDA is working with farmers and ranchers to provide that flexibility. One of the areas, for example, is that a lot of fencing was destroyed, and the USDA is giving us the flexibility to be able to replace that fencing with different sizes of fences.
As for the regulations, again, somebody had some reason for them in the past, but they required that you had to replace the fencing with the exact same post fence. And that is not all available, given the widespread damage. So we are getting some flexibility to replace it with different sized fencing.
I also introduced, this week, the FENCE Act--the Fencing Eligibility for New Conservation Equipment Act--for our farmers and ranchers to be able to replace the fencing that they have lost with electronic fencing. We have collars, for example, to fit cattle with so that they can have virtual fencing. The FENCE Act would be able to get dollars from the Emergency Conservation Program so that another tool will be available for our farmers and ranchers to be able to recover from these fires.
In addition, I also want to credit Fish and Wildlife and the USDA for working to open up the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge for grazing, as well to be able to help our ranchers out from that standpoint.
So there is a lot of work going on to help our farmers and ranchers recover from these terrible fires.
In addition, in the Working Families Tax Cut, I mentioned the money that we are putting toward biosecurity. We also made a number of great improvements for agriculture.
We were able to make the death tax exemption permanent. That is important to allow for farmers and ranchers to be able to pass on the family farm and ranch to the next generation. It is one of the reasons I say that our farmers and ranchers are the original conservationists. It is because they want to pass along that family farm or ranch to the next generation so that they will take care of their land and their animals. But the death tax could get in the way of being able to do that. By making that death tax exemption permanent, we are assisting farmers and ranchers in being able to pass along that ranch. About $200 billion in farm and ranch assets will now go to the next generation of farmers and ranchers and not to the government. This will assist them, and that was all done in the Working Families Tax Cut.
We were also able to update reference pricing for things like corn and soybeans, especially given the tough time. For our row crops there, this is especially important. But we were able to update that reference pricing for the first time in 11 years. That was an important thing we got done in the Working Families Tax Cut.
We were able to renew the 45Z renewable fuel tax credit. Renewable fuels are a win-win-win situation. Consumers save money at the pump. The last time I filled up, it was with a 10-percent blend of ethanol at my local grocery store, and I saved 55 cents a gallon. It helps clean up the environment, and it is also good for our farmers and ranchers. So promoting renewable fuels is something we want to continue to do, and we were able to renew that 45Z tax credit to be able to encourage companies to invest in renewable fuels.
We were also able to double the amount of money for trade promotion. In Nebraska, about a third of everything that we grow and we raise goes overseas. We are the largest beef exporting State, for example. So we want to have more trade relationships. We doubled the amount of money for programs like our Foreign Market Development and the Market Access Programs with an initial $285 million to be able to open up those trade opportunities in markets around the world to be able to help our farmers and ranchers.
We also doubled the program for our new farmer and rancher program, from 5 years to 10 years, to be able to help out those new producers coming into the industry to be able to take advantage of some of the benefits in that program and to give them a leg up as they start their careers in agriculture.
These were all great things that we did in the Working Families Tax Cut, and there are actually many, many more things that we did for agriculture in there.
Having said that, we still need to get a 5-year farm bill. Our current farm bill authorizations run out on September 30. We have been living on extensions. Our farmers and ranchers deserve the certainty of a 5-year farm bill. I am pleased to report that the House has passed their version of the farm bill. It includes some of my priorities-- priorities around things such as rural microentrepreneurship and flood resiliency. There is my AFIDA Improvements Act, which would help us deter communist China from buying farmland around our sensitive military installations, like at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota and Fort Bragg in North Carolina. So we need to get a 5-year farm bill done.
My esteemed colleague from Arkansas, who is the chair of the Ag Committee, has been in Nebraska to hear directly from farmers and ranchers about our priorities for the farm bill, and I know he is working diligently to be able to get that farm bill passed, as I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do. We must work to find common ground and get this passed.
Again, this is not only about making sure that our farmers and ranchers have that certainty of a 5-year farm bill. It is that food security is national security. This is a national security issue as well. So it is very important that we get that done.
Also, in the farm bill, I would like to see one of my priorities with regard to fair labels. One of the things that we have seen is that products are being put on the market that market themselves as one thing but are not really. My FAIR Labels Act would address this specifically with regard to meat. We don't want something that is grown in a petri dish or something that is actually a plant to be labeled as meat or beef. Consumers should know exactly what they are consuming, and so my FAIR Labels Act would require that if you are real beef or real pork or real chicken, you can say that on the label. But if you are not, if you are a plant-based product, if you were cultured in a lab, you cannot claim that title of being meat.
This is one of the priorities that would make sure that not only would we be properly representing agriculture but consumers would know exactly what they are purchasing.
Also, one of the things that I did when I was Governor of Nebraska is have the SNAP Next Step, which is encouraging our families on SNAP to be able to get better paying jobs by helping with job coaching, with resume writing, things like that. This would be another thing that we could add into the farm bill since a lot of the farm bill--most of the spending in it, like 80 percent of it--actually has to do with the Food Stamp Program, the SNAP program. This would be a great way to be able to help those families be able to reduce their dependency.
When I was Governor, of the families that participated in that, 60 percent were able to end their need for food stamps and the other 40 percent reduced their need for food stamps. So that is a great way to be able to do it.
And then, finally, another thing that we can do to be able to help agriculture is pass E15 all year-round. Again, Adrian Smith, one of my esteemed Congressmen from the State of Nebraska, helped pass this in the House. It is now for us in the Senate to be able to pass this.
And I would point out that we have actually had E15 all year-round through emergency waivers from the EPA for the last 8 years. The refineries that were worried about this--again, the sky has not fallen. I believe that there is an opportunity for us to find common ground to be able to get this passed in the Senate.
This is important, again, for our farmers who would like to have that certainty. It would help create demand for our corn, for example. What it would do is, by passing a law that says you can use E15 all year- round, it would give consumers a choice to be able to choose that, and we would not have to go to the EPA for that emergency waiver every summer.
It would then give certainty to our marketers to invest in the infrastructure to distribute E15. And, once again, this is something that can help mitigate high gas prices. I saved 55 cents a gallon just on E10; you can save more on E15.
So I encourage my Senate colleagues to take a look at this to be able to work with my colleagues like my senior Senator from the State of Nebraska to be able to find common ground to get this passed.
We have been doing it by emergency waiver for the last 8 years. It is something we continue to do. Let's make it permanent so we get more investment in the infrastructure to help give consumers more choice and help them reduce their fuel costs at the pump.
All of this would also help out our farmers and ranchers. Our farmers and ranchers are the backbone of Nebraska, and they have been the backbone of our country since its founding. We need to continue to support our farmers and ranchers. This is very important not only for our industry of agriculture but so that we can continue to feed our Nation and, indeed, the rest of the world.
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