Tom Harkin

We can close our eyes to it. We can try to ignore what is going on, but the fact is, there is a crisis of immense proportions happening all over rural America. In our sense-of-the-Senate resolution, we pointed out that net farm income for…

Farmers are price takers. In other words, a farmer has a lot of fixed costs over which that farmer has no control--land, seed, fertilizer, chemicals. The farmer who goes down to get his seed can't say, well, my prices went down last year…

I thank my friend, because we hear a lot about that: ``Wouldn't it be better to have a few large farmers out there rather than all these family farmers?'' There are a lot of ways to answer that question. First, a strong, healthy rural…

I said a couple of years ago, when that so-called Freedom to Farm bill passed, it was a triumph of ideology over experience--the experience of thousands of years; the experience we have had in our own country since the 1930s. Yet there was…

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…

The amendment I just sent to the desk really can be called the Tax Reduction for College Students Amendment, because that is exactly what it is. So all Senators who are interested in cutting taxes, I say listen up because this is your…

My amendment cuts the tax on subsidized student loans by 25 percent--from 4 percent to 3 percent. So it puts more actual money into the pockets of students so they can buy textbooks. It also continues to pay guaranty agencies over the next…

I have several letters here--one from the Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, in support of this amendment; one from the American Council on Education in support of the amendment; one from a consortium including U.S. PIRG, United States…

I can't help but be somewhat amused by all this talk about the private sector--the private sector involved in these students loans. We want this private sector to keep going --this private sector. Let me point out, Mr. President, that the…

Not only do they get the 16-percent guarantee, they get a $7.5 billion subsidy from the taxpayers of this country. So I think the Senator is absolutely right. If they want to be private sector, let's put it out for bid. Some years ago, as…

And I understand that. I want to make a couple points, I hope, clear, and that is, the Federal Government is the ultimate guarantor, not the guaranty agency.

I think the Senator makes a good point. As I pointed out, even with this modest cut of 25 percent, that leaves, over the next 5 years, $4.58 billion for these guaranty agencies. I haven't seen any evidence that this would be at all…

Those six countries purchased only about 2 percent of the total world ag imports in 1996. When India and Pakistan were added, the result was only 3.2 percent of the total world ag trade subject to U.S. sanctions. That is simply not enough…

I submit to my friend from Arkansas that one of the greatest myths about the guaranteed loan program is that the agencies are the real guarantors of the loans. I think, contrary to popular belief, the Federal Government is the guarantor…

Lastly, I just say to my friend from Arkansas, who now has assumed the chair, that there was some mention made that this amendment was a direct threat to the Guaranteed Loan Program and a way of tilting it toward the Direct Loan Program…

Again, Madam President, I just want to point out, again, I do happen to have these figures available. For the State of Arkansas right now, the reserve fund is $7.9 million--$7.9 million that Arkansas has in its reserve fund. Even under my…

In the State of Arkansas, the Harkin amendment would continue to give $3.8 million over the next 5 years. That is hardly going insolvent.

I say at the outset that a vote for the Bumpers amendment is a vote for space exploration. A vote against Bumpers is a vote for the status quo. It is a vote for the myopic approach to space exploration and it is a vote for wasteful…

The microgravity kind of research that has been talked about can be done on the shuttle. We don't need a space station to do that. Or it can be done other ways. In 1994, Mr. President, I read an article that was in Discover magazine and…

Under last year's VA/HUD appropriations act, the Congress created a program called ``mark-to-market'' to reduce overmarket section 8 contract rents on FHA-insured multifamily properties. Section 514(g)(2)(A) of the mark-to-market program…

This amendment I offered basically transfers $329 million from the Department of Defense to the Veterans Affairs' medical account. The veterans' needs are very clear. We have a declining population, they say, of veterans, so why do they…

I rise to offer an amendment important to Persian Gulf War veterans. My amendment increases Department of Defense spending on research to determine the causes and possible treatments of those suffering from Gulf War illnesses by $10…

This amendment, pure and simple, is to take some money from the Department of Defense and put it into the medical account of the Department of Veterans Affairs. This amendment would transfer $329 million specifically from the Department of…

It is my understanding, I say to my very good friend--I want to make this clear at the outset that I have the highest regard and respect for the Senator from Virginia and his devotion to this country and his devotion to the readiness of…

I do not like the way the budget priorities shortchange our veterans' medical benefits. But, again, I also say to my friend, I really believe in what the Vietnam Veterans of America said in their letter, that veterans' medical benefits…