Tom Harkin: “World grain reserves right now, as a percentage of consumption, are at historically low levels. I believe the American…”

“World grain reserves right now, as a percentage of consumption, are at historically low levels. I believe the American people would be appalled to learn that our Government holds virtually no food in reserve to help us out if we ever have a widespread crop failure. The chairman suggests that if the Government holds this grain, it stays over the market and depresses prices. Not if you have a government reserve withheld from the market--absolutely not true. But this concept of having a modest reserve is not a new idea. Someone said it began with the Roosevelt administration. This is a Roosevelt New Deal idea, to have a grain reserve, and, as such, we had to do away with it because it was a New Deal idea and we don't need all that stuff around anymore. The concept of a grain reserve is as old as the Book of Genesis. Surely my colleagues remember the story of Joseph interpreting the dream of the pharaoh, that there would be 7 good years followed by 7 lean years and that food should be stored during the 7 good years to feed the people when the bad years came. It was true at the time of Genesis and it is true today that we need some food set aside in this country and around the world to meet exigencies. For the life of me, I can't understand why people want to ignore history. We ignore it at our own peril.”