this is an issue i'll continue to work hard to address outside the farm bill as well. madam chairwoman and ranking member roberts, want to thank you and the members of your staff to bring us to where we are today. as noted earlier, there's lots of farmer chair and rank members on this commit. as you can see when you're down at the end of the children, at the children's table, it will be a long time before i'll be the a ranking member or chairman but there just ahead from the senator of north dakota, just bearly, but i look forward to continue to work this through the examineses as we work this through the senate and on to the president's desk hopefully before the september 13th deadline. thank you. >> thank you very, very much. a vote did start. we'll have two votes. just in terms of process. we are going to come immediately back and move forward and get the bill done out of committee, so i'm anxious to have everyone come back as soon as possible, but we want to proceed now with senator gillibrand, and i want

to say to you your advocacy for crop insurance with specialty crops has been tremendous. it is in this bill. it is very important for our specialty crop growers. we wouldn't have the help for our small dairies if it was not for your advocacy within the dairy title, and so we very much appreciate that as well as your on going strong, strong voice for nutrition so thank you very much. >> well, thank you, madam chairwoman, for your leadership. thank you, ranking member roberts for your leadership. both of your dead kargs and extraordinary hard work has led us up to today. i do appreciate the great work you did in terms of including some of my amendments in the manager's package. i'm particularly grateful for the investment in rural broadband that will make a huge economic engine available for all of rural america, including the healthy food initiative. will make sure that less food deserts exist in our country, that kids can have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. i was very grateful for the crop insurance for fruits and

vegetables. we obviously needed to reform, that and i think the way you did that really will make a difference so farmers don't lose everything if they have a catastrophic storm, and i do appreciate the investments you've made in terms of trying to help long-term dairy reform. i think the transparency that you've added both for cold storage and for voting rights is real important and will help to reform that industry. i also think that the transition that you've provided to allow a better and a safer and a more reasonable transition between now and the implementation of the current draft of the dairy title is in the only wise but extremely helpful. so i appreciate those areas. i've been traveling all across new york state since i've been in the senate over the last three years, an i've listened intently to my farmers. i've listened intent throw all those in ag industries and those who are so committed to making sure our children get the food they need to be health, and i know that this farm bill is much more than a set of esoteric numbers. it's very much about the decisions we are making towards

economic growth, towards our agriculture industries and the moral obligation we have to our families that are at risk, so as we move forward in this debate two issues i want to highlight because i feel so strongly about them and i have significant concerns. first of all, understand this current draft families in new york will lose about $45 a month in their food stamps which means the third week of the month many families' children will go to school hungry and that's a high concern for me as a mother. now, not every state has the population that new york state has. we have 20 million people in our state. that means under this draft bill 300,000 families are going to be affected. that's 300,000 families that may be more food insecure now than they were before, and that means less food on a kitchen table for children, and so i have very grave concerns about what that

tells about us and what we're going to do forward. i want to bring three issues up about food stamps. first, it is such an extraordinary investment for every dollar that you put into the s.n.a.p. program, you get out 1.79. that's a statistic from the usda. second, there's so little fraud in food stamps. it's less than 1%, a dollar, one sent for every dollar. this is not a place where people are taking advantage. this is a place where families need these resources, and third, as a mother, our children need food to grow. it is the most simple elemental thing that a family must provide for their children. they need food to grow. they need to learn. they need food to be able to reach their god-given potential so i urge my colleagues who are looking at places where we have to tighten our belts, do not ask that of hungry children. not one place we should be tightening a belt. these are children who need the food. i've been-to-to food pantries and food banks and i've been to soup kitchens, and can i tell

you they say that the increase is with families with children. and so when we are looking at these balancing issues, we should be making the choice to increase our investment in food stamps. with every bit of belt tightening we do, and weary all very proud of the fact that this bill is doing deficit reduction, i urge you. this is the one place we should not increase our cuts. for every senator who has an amendment to increase cuts, this is the wrong priority for america. it's the wrong priority for our future. the second issue i care a lot about is what the future of dary in this country, and new york is the number three producer of dairy in the nation, but we have had historic losses over the last decade. hundreds of dairy farms are going out of business every year. over 25% in the last several years have been lost in new york state because of our policies and because of the volatility in the market. agricultural inputs like feed and fuel keep rising, but safety nets have not been preserved. and so the concern i have with this current dairy title is very simple.

right now we are asking if you want to have a safety net, you have to cap your production. now, many of us share this concern about examining production because we want to export our dairy so we don't love capping production, and so if you're going to have a safety net you have to cap your production. that's a concern number one. concern number two, if you are a small dairy, these payments are expensive, thousands of dollars a year to have the safety net, and the return under this new revised program will be less than it's been before. so milc has been inadequate, largely because mlic has largely never been indexed to inflation. it's never kept up with the cost of production, the cost of feed, the cost of fuel. and so now we're taking a new program that will reduce the amount of money that will go to small dairies, even if they agree to cap their production and buy this new insurance program, so i am very worried about more small farms going out of business. i am very worried about what happens to america if we consolidate milk production? once you consolidate an industry, the next step is

outsourcing. i don't ever want to have to buy my milk from china. i want milk produced in america, so i think from a national security perspective we should be making sure we have good wholesome food production in all parts of the country. madam chairwoman, i look forward to working with you on these issues. i know we'll continue to work through them with some other amendments and perhaps on the floor, but i did want you to know where my concerns lie. >> thank you very much, and let me make a note to members. we do need everyone to come back for a quorum so please come back. senator hoeven, last but not least. thanks for your advocacy on energy. made a big difference working with senator conrad on behalf of north dakota to get a farm level program that makes sense. we appreciate very much all of your hard work and look forward to continuing to work with you. >> thank you, madam chairman. truly appreciate your work and your willingness to work with us and also to ranking member roberts. thank you, senator, for your patience and your perseverance.

not only your knowledge of agriculture but your love for agriculture certainly showed in this process, and i -- i know everybody said it, but i do have to commend the two of you for diligently working through this process. i think senator bennett said it very well. as i've observed different aspects of what we do here, the challenge is always to find ways to bring people together. you know, you've done that. you're doing that. i think we have a product here that -- that i believe we're going to be able to move forward, and that means that you've listened to everybody, worked with everybody, and -- and you've really got the fundamentals in place here that's going to give us i think the base to get to a good farm bill, and i know everybody at the table. of course, there aren't too many right now, but when they get back is committed to getting this done because we recognize that's what serves the greater good here. i want to emphasize right up

front that the number one focus in the true farm program portion of this bill, which we know is about 18% of the total cost of the bit. you've got nutrition and then you've got the programs that truly go to farmers and ranchers in terms of food production for this country and for a lot of the world, and the number one focus in those farm programs and the commodity title has been crop insurance, and rightly so. it is the most cost-effective. it's what's enabling us to work with our farmers and ranchers and help them do what they do so well for this country. highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the history of the world which benefits every single american. good farm policy benefits every sing single american, and when we go down to the senate floor, we need to continue to remind everybody of that fact. every single american benefits from good farm policy, so we've

emphasized crop insurance which is the most effective, which our producers are telling us that's the heart of the safety net, that's what they need. that's what we need to do a good job on in order to be successful, but at the same time saving more than $23 billion. now show me somewhere else in the federal government where they are accomplishing that. they are bringing the program forward, making sure it serves our constituents, the american people, serves all of them, and at the same time is stepping up and providing real deficit reduction. and that's what we're doing. again, that's a message that we're going to have to carry forward as well, and when you look at the 18% of the farm bill that truly affects farmers and ranchers, that's where the deficit reduction is coming from. so our producers are stepping up, and they are stepping up in a big way, not just to provide this country and much of the world with food, to do it, as i say, in the most cost effective

with the highest quality food supply in the world, but they are also stepping up, and in this package, they are the ones stepping up and providing the real deficit reduction. i want to particularly thank you, and i see ranking member roberts is not here, but i will thank him in person as well. in the shallow loss provision, it is very important that we include a farm level option. that is vite a. i want to thank senator conrad and also senator baucus for their work on that option. i want to thank you and ranking member roberts for your work on that option and making sure that we have both a county level option, election that somebody can make, and a farm level election that a producer can make and that they are fair and that they both work because they both cover vital bases. but that farm level option has

to be in there. you've been willing to work with us, as has senator roberts. that's going to -- that's an absolute fundamental must in terms of providing the right kind of safety net coverage for our farmers and ranchers and doing it in truly a cost effective way. i'll mention also the livestock indem knitty program, the low-cost sugar program and as you mentioned energy, remember, it is about food, fuel and fiber. and i'm going to end on that note. our farmers and ranch remembers doing an amazing job for this country producing jobs, producing a favorable balance of trade and once again providing the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the world. i look forward to working with everybody. it's vital that the at end here we recognize that perfect is the enemy of good. we have a good product. we need to make it the best product we can, and then we need to go get it passed. >> that's a great place on which to recess. please vote, and then we will come right back.

thank you.

hello, everyone. we're going to call this back to order. i know that senator stabenow and senator roberts are joining us soon, and i'm going to give my opening statement, and i think senator bennett will as well. i guess we'll await his remarks later. well, i want to thank senator stabenow and ranking member roberts for their leadership and vision in getting us to this markup for the 2012 farm bill. this committee has faced unprecedented budget challenges throughout this process, but the way that this committee has in fact worked together is a model for other committees and a shining example of how we can work across the aisle on tough problems to get things done. now, i come from minnesota which may

number two in spring wheat corn, and number two in spring wheat, number three in hogs and soybean, and number four in corn. i'm going to be in trouble for saying we're number two in corn, and i just want to clarify the record that we are number four in corn. i spent the last year traveling across our state to talk about this farm bill and how important it is to our state. no matter where i go i'm always reminded of the important role that agriculture plays in our state's economy. you could say that agriculture is the ultimate made-in-minnesota industry, but it is also made in michigan. it's made in kansas. it's made in iowa. this is really about our country, and when you look at why a state like minnesota, unemployment rate is only at

5.8%, as much as we want it to get even better, a lot of that has to do with our rural economy that has strayed strong through the downturn and the interrelationship between that rural economy and many of our companies that are in the twin cities and throughout. the other piece of this that is so significant we've seen in some markets, like a 20% increase in agriculture exports, so it is really the way that we want to see for the rest of the country, and agriculture is leading the way. that's why there is so much at stake in the 2012 farm bill, and that's why it is so important for us to craft a strong and effective bill that gets the job done for america's farmers and a rural economy. now, it is no secret that we are operating within a tough budget climate, but that doesn't make the goal of maintaining a strong farm safety net or a safe nutritious and abundant domestic food supply any less critical. this year we have been charged with doing more with fewer mor resources. we have eliminated direct

payments and further focus farm payments on our family farmers, we have also limb natured waste and ft. lauderdale to make sure. the community understands that there has been and will be tough choices. drastic cuts that would actually hurt not only the rural economy, but our country's economy as a whole. the last thing we went to see is our country the dependent on foreign food that we have in way too many ways been dependent on foreign oil. i believe we need to build on the success of the last farm bill while we need to improve and strengthen certain provisions. the by partisan mark that we are strengthening today, improves many of the programs that farmers rely on across the country. and for many producers in

minnesota, this meanings crop insurance. the remark -- and protects the conservation programs, minnesota producers use to keep our soil healthy and our water clean, specifically i work to ensure that local communities like the red river valley region will have the tools that they need to address conservation challenges stemming from froog. the market also preserves the essential nutrition programs that many families and children rely on every day and we take steps to ensure our dairy farmers have the protection they need in our volatile environment. on monday i filed an amendment

that would bring beginning we need to reduce our dependence on oil cartels to help provide incentives for homegrown energy production. millions of dollars in economic growth. we need to be sure our energy innovators have the certainty and stability to develop the next generation of homegrown energy. finally, i believe we need to do

more to invest in the future of american agriculture, through provisions for the beginning farmers and ranchers program and by promoting new public-private research opportunities. every single american has a direct stake in the success of our farms and food business. through the food we eat, the water we drink, the fuel we put in our cars and the air we drink. while i know this bill isn't perfect and there are areas where i'm sure we're going to work together. i know with have all heard from farmers and ranchers in our state about the importance of passing a five-year farm bill that gives our -- certainty that they need to grow and prosper. i believe this is one of the reasons that we have seen so much stability in the world economy in a time of great upheaval in our community. the bill ten years ago was very similar to the bill five years ago, and while this bill

contains some significant cuts t basic model is similar to what it's been. all of that provides consistency for investment in the rural economy. this is not just about rural america, look at those export numbers, look at what it's meant for our country. look at what it means to have our strong domestic food supply. i'm looking forward to working with the chairwoman and all of our colleagues on the committee to craft a successful 2012 farm bill that strengthens this vital sector of the american economy. thank you very much.

all of the members and your staffs last week. and i would also note the presence of a quorum. i should ask, do we have any member that did not make an opening statement? i think -- it's now 2340rd to consider the stabineau-roberts bill on our desk. and without objection, the amendment is considered red and once adopted will be considered original text for the purpose of

further amendment. without objection, so ordered. i'm happy to be able to work with members on both sides of the aisle to incorporate a very significant number of your amendments into the package, this is truly a bipartisan package as members have talked about this morning. i would urge my colleagues to adopt it this morning so that we can move forward with the mark. senator roberts, did you have any comments? >> no, ma'am. i just want to thank you very much. >> thank you. thanks very much. is anyone seeking recognition? senator chambliss? >> i was not going to be for the reasons that you and i talked about. there's one other thing they did not realize because we didn't get the see the amendment until very early this morning and i didn't know until the comments were made earlier about the inclusion in the manager's amendment and the change of the definition of the -- this is a

huge change that's going to impact every single farm in america because it's going to change who does qualify and who doesn't. if not, all those in favor would say aye. those opposed nay. the aeyes have it. in the opinion of the chair tayes have it.

thank you very much, at this point we're going to proceed with the titles in the order that we leased to staff. i think a couple of days ago. and we're going through in an order originally, we had not given -- we were still working on the commodity title so we put forward an order that we're going to use now and we'll start with the miscellaneous title, title 12. title 12 of the agriculture reform food and jobs. keeping our food supplies safe.

this bill is open to amendment, is there anyone who seeks recognition? senator chambliss. >> madam chairwoman, i would ask that my number 17 be distributed, please? >> amendment number 17.

with respect to an agriculture workforce that we know to be legal, and the only guest worker is the h2a program. it's very cumbersome, it's very expensive. amend most of our farmers simply don't want to go through the hassle. well, times have changed and they have changed in a dramatic way. whether you're farming specialty crops or whether you're running an agricultural business, you need to be able to depend on a quality supply of legal workers at your farm or at your ag place of business. we have crafted over a period of time what's called the harvest act. and basically, what this does to h2a is it makes it more workable, more farmer friendly and it says that a farmer may bring in a supply of laborers

from outside the country for a period of ten months, they then have to go back for two months before they can come back into the country, they don't have to be here for ten months, most farmers under h2a bring workers in for 90 days, or 100 days, or waver their particular need is, and then the workers can go bark. they can stay in longer and today dairy folks for example have a very difficult problem using h2a, it just doesn't work for them. while this doesn't do everything dairy farmers or landscape operators want to see done, it would allow even those farms and those businesses to take advantage of this and through management of bringing -- i don't pretend to have all the answers to agricultural labor, i

think this ought to be discussed on the floor at the time the bill comes to the floor. i would intend in all probability bring this bill back up at that time. but the purpose of it madam chairwoman is just to bring to the attention of our colleagues who are not on the ag committee the real seriousness of this issue. of a lack of labor supply. we're about, i don't know, 60 days away from harvesting by day onions in the central part of georgia. that's just an example of one specialty crop farming in georgia that relies very heavily