Dick Lugar: “I rise to support the Agricultural Market Transition Act of 1996. This legislation is identical to Title I of the…”

“I rise to support the Agricultural Market Transition Act of 1996. This legislation is identical to Title I of the Balanced Budget Act, with two changes which I shall mention shortly. Congress passed the Balanced Budget Act and the President, most unfortunately for the country, vetoed it. We hope that some spending cuts can be added to legislation raising the Federal debt limit. However, the veto creates a problem for U.S. agriculture. The problem is that commodity support programs for the next 7 years were part of the BBA. Existing authority for these programs has now expired. All that remain are outdated statutes from 1938 and 1949. The Clinton administration confirms that implementing these statues could add $10 to $12 billion to the cost of running farm programs for 1996 crops alone. That is intolerable for taxpayers. Farmers do not support such an irresponsible policy. The solution is to enact a new farm bill. Farmers need to know what farm policies will be--not just for the next 12 months but for the next several years. We owe it to U.S. agriculture to enact a long-term plan, not a stopgap measure.”