Agricultural Disaster Assistance and Western States Emergency Unfinished Business Appropriations Act, 2007
Floor Speech
AGRICULTURAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE AND WESTERN STATES EMERGENCY UNFINISHED BUSINESS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 10, 2007)
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Mr. MORAN of Kansas. I thank the distinguished gentleman from California for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in support, strong support, of the legislation that is before us this evening. In fact, my number one agriculture priority for 2007 is the passage of legislation similar to what we are addressing this evening.
We are going to deal with the farm bill later this year, but the reality is that many farmers in America and certainly the farmers I know in Kansas will not be around to take advantage of the provisions of the 2007 farm bill, absent some kind of assistance, due to no fault of their own.
In Kansas, we have struggled through five and six years of drought followed by this year's December 31, 2006, winter storms that caused 44 of Kansas' 105 counties to be declared natural disasters, followed by a winter freeze, three nights in April in which the temperatures were in the teens and much of what we thought was going to be a wonderful wheat harvest is now destroyed due to the cold weather. And as you have all seen most recently here just a few nights ago, tornadoes, hail and floods have now affected this part as well as the rest of the State of Kansas.
So, Mr. Speaker, if we care about an agricultural economy, this disaster assistance is so important. The average age of a farmer today in Kansas is 59 years old. There is almost no next generation. If we want young family farmers, we have got to make certain that the economic opportunities are there.
People will look to crop insurance. It doesn't work in the circumstances that we are talking about, multiyear disasters. Many crops, including livestock, are not covered. And we look to the farm bill. It is there for purposes of when the price of the commodity that the farmer sells is lower than the cost of production. So it is only through this type of agricultural assistance that we can see our farmers through from day to day.
If you care about life in rural America, if you care about the future of farmers, if you care about the future of the communities they live in, this is an important piece of legislation. In fact, you don't have to be a farmer to gain benefits from agriculture disaster. This is about whether or not in rural America we have people who shop on our Main Streets, whether or not we have kids in our schools.
So, Mr. Speaker, this is an important piece of legislation, and I ask my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, to support this legislation.
I thank the majority for allowing it to be brought to the floor tonight.
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