Steve Watkins: “I would like to speak to my colleagues and also to the American people today from the heart, to have an emotional…”

“I would like to speak to my colleagues and also to the American people today from the heart, to have an emotional concern, not a political concern. There is an emergency on the family farm in America. Forty years ago I served as State FFA president, the Future Farmers of America, in Oklahoma. I stated at that time there are 16 percent of us in the production of agriculture. Four years later when I was selected the outstanding agriculture student at OSU, I talked about the fact that there were only 12.5 percent of us in the production of agriculture. Today as I stand on this floor of the United States Congress, I have to say there are only 1.2 percent of us in the production of agriculture. And, Mr. Speaker, I saw figures just less than two months ago where we are probably going to lose 25 percent more of our farmers and our cattle people this year if something doesn't happen to assist them through this crisis. Why? Because we have seen markets close down. We see droughts. The gentleman from Oklahoma referred to Asia. Mr. Speaker, Asia normally buys 45 percent of our agriculture exports. But they have had a downturn in their economy and they cannot buy. Second, the European Union is using 75 percent of their budget to subsidize the agriculture in Europe, to subsidize the internal production but also grabbing export markets around the world. Third, because we see sanctions in countries that should be buying our agriculture products.”