Jeff Bingaman: “I call on the Secretary of Agriculture to give that resolution very serious consideration. The resolution simply states…”

“I call on the Secretary of Agriculture to give that resolution very serious consideration. The resolution simply states that it is the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of Agriculture should use the disaster reserve of grain, which is under his authority, to alleviate the distress of livestock producers. This should be done in the most efficient manner practicable, including cash payments from the sale of commodities that are in the disaster reserve. The disaster reserve currently has about 44 million bushels of grain. The Secretary of Agriculture has two choices, essentially, as to how to proceed in compliance with the resolution. He can transport the grain from the Midwest, where it is currently stored, to the southwest, where that grain is needed. Of course, this kind of an option would be time consuming; it would be inefficient. The other alternative, and that is what we urge in our resolution, is that he could sell the grain on the open market and use the proceeds from the sale as cash payments to livestock producers who are in the most distress.”