Tom Harkin: “first I thank our leader, Senator Daschle, for really taking the bit here and moving ahead aggressively to answer a real…”

“first I thank our leader, Senator Daschle, for really taking the bit here and moving ahead aggressively to answer a real concern and a real need that we have in rural America. Well, I would go beyond that--a crisis in rural America. Senator Daschle has always been the leader in recognizing and understanding what is happening in our farm economy. This time is no exception, so I thank Senator Daschle personally for his leadership in this effort. I thank the managers of the bill, both Senator Cochran and Senator Bumpers, for working with us on the language. I understand that we have the language worked out in an agreed form on the sense-of-the-Senate resolution. I am happy that we can come to a good resolution on that, and I guess that is what we will be voting on here at 5:15. I hope it gets an overwhelming vote because it will send a strong signal, I think, to rural America that we do, indeed, recognize there is a crisis, a crisis of immense proportions, as it does say the total farm debt for 1998 is expected to reach $172 billion, the highest level since 1985.”