Chuck Hagel: “Over the weekend in Nebraska, I met with a number of agricultural producers about the current prices in American…”

“Over the weekend in Nebraska, I met with a number of agricultural producers about the current prices in American agriculture. Over the last 3 weeks, my staff and I have spoken to over 100 agricultural producers in the State of Nebraska--hog producers, cattle producers, grain producers; and then the second rim, the outer rim representing the agricultural community--bankers, implement dealers, automobile dealers. All had a consistent theme as to what we must do to direct our attention and our effort to dealing with this crisis in America. As we begin debate today on the fiscal year 2000 Agriculture appropriations bill and on the emergency appropriation for agriculture, we should keep in mind some important dynamics about American agriculture. Leaders of both parties in the Senate committed last week to including in the fiscal year 2000 Agriculture appropriations bill an emergency funding measure to provide the short-term assistance needed for our agricultural producers, and that assistance should include increasing the market transition payments--I am confident we will see legislation to do that--lifting the caps on loan deficiency payments, and additional funding for crop insurance.”