Charles W. Stenholm: “I am often reminded but never more so than this afternoon on this amendment of the late Will Rogers' quote when he said…”

“I am often reminded but never more so than this afternoon on this amendment of the late Will Rogers' quote when he said, ``It ain't people's ignorance that bothers me so much, it's them knowing so much that ain't so is the problem.'' That is the problem with this amendment. The gentleman from New York and the gentleman from California are still attacking a program that was eliminated in 1994. They keep referring and all of these letters that we get from various groups keep talking about the wool and mohair program like it is still here. It was eliminated in 1994. Even the money the gentleman is talking about for striking is not even in the bill we are discussing today. It is in the emergency bill that passed the House Committee on Agriculture and this body to provide assistance to wool and mohair producers. Now, this gentleman stood on this floor in 1994 and opposed the elimination of the wool and mohair program because we believed it would do damage to an industry that we did not believe was ready to be eliminated because of unfair foreign competition. We lost. I lost. The gentleman from New York and the gentleman from California won that amendment. We predicted the demise of the wool and mohair industry. And, guess what? Here in 2001, we have 25,000 less wool producers in the United States. They are gone.”