THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603040043
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines
Farm bill: By a vote of 270-155, the House passed a bill (HR 2854) to extend federal farm laws until 2002 at a cost of about $46 billion in direct agricultural payments.
The bill converts programs for wheat, corn, rice, cotton and certain other crops from subsidies to a free market basis, while continuing heavy government involvement in sugar, peanut and dairy farming.
Farmers losing subsidies will receive, in their place, a fixed payment that declines to zero after seven years. The bill also funds nutrition and land conservation programs, extends international food aid, reauthorizes food stamps and continues programs to help certain agribusiness firms increase their overseas sales.
Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said the bill will ``move U.S. agriculture from an economy heavily influenced by the federal government to one in which our government role is substantially reduced and the primary influence is the marketplace.''
Kika de la Garza, D-Texas, said: ``Farmers in every region of this country have very grave concerns about the agriculture provisions. . . . They represent a sudden and dramatic abandonment by the government of its role in sharing the farmer's risk.''
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Bateman Yes Pickett Yes
Scott Yes Sisisky Yes
Clayton No Jones Yes
Sugar: Voting 217-208, the House rejected an amendment to phase out the federal sugar program over five years.
The program provides beet and cane growers with price supports and protection against imports. Both the House and Senate now have voted to continue it as part of the new seven-year farm bill (HR 2854, above).
Sponsor Dan Miller, R-Fla., said: ``the consumer is paying $1.4 billion a year more for sugar in this country because of this program. . . . I campaigned to reduce the size and scope of the federal government. . . This is a big-government program, and it no longer needs to exist.''
David Bonior, D-Mich., said the program is required by law ``to operate at no cost to the government, and sugar producers have already paid $137 million in special marketing assessments to help reduce the federal deficit. This (program) is self-sufficient, contributes to deficit reduction, provides economic security to our sugar farmers.''
A yes vote was to phase out the sugar program.
Bateman No Pickett No
Scott No Sisisky Didn't vote
Clayton No Jones Yes
Peanuts: The House rejected, 212-209, an amendment to HR 2854 (above) to phase out the Depression-era peanut program over the next seven years.
In addition to providing price supports, the program regulates production so that owners of government licenses, or ``quotas,'' are virtually the only growers who sell to the U.S. market.
Critics say the monopoly results in higher consumer prices, while defenders say that abolishing it would put thousands of small farmers out of business and devastate their communities.
Charles Bass, R-N.H., said the government ``has mandated a sharecropping system that insulates the quota owners from any market fluctuations. This is not what the 104th Congress is all about. This is. . . an amendment that everybody should support if they believe in anything anywhere close to the free-market system.''
Pete Peterson, D-Fla., said that small farmers ``are suffering because of. get) quality peanuts. If we pass this, we will see Chinese and Argentine peanuts, which are not going to be nearly the quality. . . ''
A yes vote was to phase out the peanut program.
Bateman No Pickett No
Scott No Sisisky No
Clayton No Jones No
Everglades: The House voted, 299-124, to include $210 million in HR 2854 (above) for restoring the dying Everglades National Park in South Florida.
This would primarily fund the purchase of adjacent land for storing and filtering cleaner water to help the sprawling wetlands recover from the ravages of nearby farming.
Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., said the funding would help to ``save the Everglades, provide water supply for south Florida and, establish a precedent of using federal lands in an intelligent way to take care of the environmentally needy areas.''
David Obey, D-Wis., said: ``I do not see why we ought to have a special arrangement under which the Everglades, as precious as they are, will wind up receiving favorable treatment over any other natural resource in any other part of the country, because they happen to wind up getting in this bill as an entitlement.''
A yes vote was to approve $210 million for Everglades restoration.
Bateman No Pickett No
Scott Yes Sisisky Yes
Clayton Yes Jones No Senate
School vouchers: Voting 54-44, the Senate failed to achieve the two-thirds majority required to end debate on the FY '96 District of Columbia appropriations bill (HR 2546).
Mainly at issue was a GOP plan to use up to $5 million to send some District of Columbia students to private or church-run schools in the metropolitan area. Parents were to receive $3,000 vouchers for transferring their children.
Dan Coats, R-Ind., said: ``Many low-income families find themselves trapped in a failed education system. We want to allow a test of making assistance available to families who do not have the financial means to make a choice as to where their children will be educated.''
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said: ``We do not want to abandon public schools by taking scarce resources out of them and putting them into private schools. This voucher proposal will fund the few at the expense of the many.''
A yes vote was to move to a final vote on the D.C. budget.
Robb No Warner Yes
Helms Yes Faircloth Yes ILLUSTRATION: [Photos, telephone numbers and addresses of senators and
representatives from Virginia and North Carolina.]
To reach any representative or senator on any issues that concern
you, call (202) 224-3121.
by CNB