Mike Levin: “our growers have invested heavily in their efforts to reverse their economic plight. They are not seeking the…”

“our growers have invested heavily in their efforts to reverse their economic plight. They are not seeking the establishment of a permanent direct assistance program. However, unless we take some interim action here, as many as 30 percent of American apple growers are going to lose their farms. So this ad hoc assistance which we are struggling to achieve is essential if we are going to avoid that calamity. The fiscal year 2001 agricultural supplemental appropriations bill that emerged from the committee included funding of $150 million for our Nation's apple growers. That provision, which came out of the committee, had to be dropped at the last minute if we were going to get a bill passed at all. So the Senate version of the bill had to be dropped, which included that assistance. Instead, the House bill was adopted which at that time did not include the assistance. What has happened subsequently is the following. The House bill now has $150 million for our Nation's apple growers, and it will go to conference whether we adopt this amendment or not. We have had discussions among ourselves, the sponsors of this amendment, as to what would be the best approach to take. I will yield the floor at this time, but I simply want to say this-- and I want to speak to my good friend from Wisconsin in a moment. Our goal is to achieve this assistance one way or the other--either on this floor or in conference--by our giving the House provision the final say in this matter.”