Wes Watkins: “I salute the gentleman from Texas (Chairman Combest) and the ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm)…”

“I salute the gentleman from Texas (Chairman Combest) and the ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), for the job they have done in putting together this tough piece of legislation. Mr. Chairman, I have a strong commitment to agriculture. I know that it is a very difficult issue to work through. It is a very important program for this great country and for the economy that we have which extends around the world. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment; and I offer this amendment to the farm bill which is vitally important to many family farmers across the country. My amendment would temporarily suspend the collection schedule, the foreclosures, until December 31, 2002, about 14 months, on certain real property owned by, and recovery of certain payments from farmer-borrowers with shared appreciation agreements. Beginning in 1989, over 12,000 family farmers enrolled in shared appreciation agreement. These agreements allowed farmers and ranchers that so desperately need it to restructure their debt. After 10 years, many of these farmers have been shocked and find themselves in conflict with their own government about the repayment and the type of schedule they must go through, and also how these new payments have been calculated. My amendment is important to many of our family farmers, especially a lot of our elderly farmers in America.”