Eva M. Clayton: “Again, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's leadership in this area and for providing this forum for us to urge the…”

“Again, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's leadership in this area and for providing this forum for us to urge the House and the leadership of the House to act. I think we all recognize that there is an emergency. We all acknowledge that our farmers are very important to us. We all acknowledge that they provide the basics for life, food and fiber, and we know they are suffering. In fact, there is a farm resource center which is a national crisis line for farmers where they call to get help. However, when the farmers call, the line is busy because so many farmers are calling for help. And this Congress also shows a busy signal. We are not listening to our farmers. I share the observations of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) who said there is a level of frustration and a belief that we are insensitive to their plight. I urge this Congress, I cannot beg any more severely than I know how, that our farmers are hurting, they are hurting. It will be too late to wait until they go out of business to help them. We want to help them to be viable farmers, vigorous, profitable people who can make a contribution. Farmers do not want to be dependent on the United States; however, they would like to think that the government understands their value in this economy. They would like to think that their government has not turned their back on them. They would like to think that they can prosper in this robust economy, which they are not.”