S 298 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 23, 1996 Government, but at least there has the welfare reform bill passed by the announcing my candidacy for the U.S. been agreement on that principle. Senate with overwhelming numbers, Senate on November 17, 1975, in the There is a substantial question as to some 87 Senators voting in favor of the first election cycle where the 1974 elec- whether the balanced budget proposal measure, there was a great deal of reli- tion law was in effect. At that time the offered by the administration meets ance on the block grants. There is an spending limitation applied to what an the ‘‘fair’’ criterion, since so much of it area for compromise on providing the individual could spend, and, for a State is deferred until the years 2001 and 2002. bulk of welfare related programs the size of Pennsylvania, it was $35,000. But I think there is ample room for ne- through block grants but certain spe- I decided to run for the office of U.S. gotiation, in order to have a realistic cific programs should remain with Senate against a very distinguished agreement made in those terms. standards established by the Federal American who later became a U.S. Sen- I spoke on this matter to some ex- Government. I think the statement ator, John Heinz. After my election in tent yesterday and wish to amplify it made by the very distinguished Sen- 1980, he and I formed a very close work- today. One set of figures which bear re- ator from Maine, Margaret Chase ing partnership and very close friend- peating are the statistics on the nar- Smith, is worth repeating, when she ship. I have only the best things to say rowing of the gap between the parties distinguished between the issues of the about Senator Heinz. on major issues such as Medicare, principle of compromise as opposed to But, in the middle of that campaign, where the rate of increase is reduced in the compromise of principle. We are on January 29, 1976, the Supreme Court the conference report passed by the Re- not talking about freedom of speech or of the United States decided Buckley v. publican-controlled Congress. Note it is freedom of religion or first amendment Valeo and said a candidate can spend not a cut but rather a reduction of the issues. We are talking about dollars any amount of money. My later col- rate of increase by $270 billion, which and cents. And we are, really, very, league was in a position to do so and has since been reduced to $168 billion. very close together. did just that. That made an indelible The administration first agreed to $102 So it is my hope that the negotiators impression upon me, so much so that billion and now recommends reducing will continue, because I think agree- when the decision came down on Janu- the rate of increase by $124 billion. So ment is within reach, and when we are ary 29, I petitioned for leave to inter- there is a gap now remaining of $44 bil- talking about the central principle of a vene as amicus and filed a set of legal lion, considerably closer than what had balanced budget, that is something appeals, all of which were denied. been initially in the range of $168 bil- that we ought not give up on. We ought But it seemed to me since that time, lion. to continue to work to try to narrow as I have watched enormous expendi- Similarly, on Medicare, the original the gap, and I hope that we will con- tures in campaign financing by individ- position of the Republican-controlled tinue to do that. uals, that simply was unsound con- Congress was $133 billion, since reduced f stitutional law and certainly unsound to $85 billion with the administration public policy. There is nothing in the at $59 billion on a reduction on the rate CAMPAIGN SPENDING LIMITS Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, Janu- Constitution, in my legal judgement, of increase. So that gap is narrowing. which guarantees freedom of speech on Similarly, on the tax cut, the House ary 29, which is next Monday, will be any reasonable, realistic, logical con- figures are in the range of $350 billion the 20th anniversary of the decision of stitutional interpretation which says and were reduced to $245 billion in the Buckley v. Valeo. I had intended to you ought to be able to spend as much conference report. That has since been comment on January 29, the anniver- money that you have to win an elective reduced further to $203 billion, while sary date of that decision which estab- office. I think it is high time for the the administration proposes $130 bil- lished as a principle of constitutional Congress of the United States and the lion. law that any individual could spend as I have taken a close look at a number much of his or her money in a cam- 50 States to reexamine that in a con- of the structural points in disagree- paign as he or she chose. That issue stitutional amendment, which is cur- ment, while working with others in the was a matter of substantial consterna- rently pending. House and Senate, to try to report out tion to me when the decision was hand- Senator HOLLINGS has proposed the a bill on the Appropriations Sub- ed down and, I think, remains a major amendment for many Congresses, and I committee for Labor, Health, Human impediment on public policy in the have joined with him and sometimes I Services and Education, a subcommit- United States on the way we run our have proposed individual constitu- tee which I chair. I have had extensive election campaigns, where, realisti- tional amendments. But as we ap- negotiations with Donna Shalala, Sec- cally viewed, any seat is up for sale. proach the 20th anniversary of Buckley retary of Health and Human Services, There have been many, many exam- v. Valeo, we ought to take a very seri- Richard Riley, Secretary of Education, ples of multimillion-dollar expendi- ous look at it. And we may have a and Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor tures in this body, the U.S. Senate, the striking impetus for change in that law and find that the principal issues arise U.S. House of Representatives, and in by the Presidential campaign which is in the Departments of Education and State Government, and now we are wit- currently underway. So, in advance of Health and Human Services. nessing one for the Presidency of the the 29th, I urge my colleagues to take As I have taken a look at the various United States. a very close look at this issue which I issues, it seems to me that middle The fact of life is, if you advertise think has very serious implications for ground can be reached. If you take a enough on television, if you sell can- the electoral process in America. look at the medical savings account, didacies like you sell soap, the sky is I thank the Chair. It is now 3:40. I which is a controversial item, or the the limit. Even the White House of the yield the floor. Medicare opt-out position as to HMO’s United States of America, the Office of The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the back and forth, or the Medicare bene- the President, may be, in fact, up for Senator suggest the absence of a ficiary part B payments, or the issue of sale if someone is willing to start off quorum? balance billing by doctors, or the con- by announcing a willingness to spend Mr. SPECTER. And I do suggest the cern which has been expressed over the $25 million. If you have $400 million, absence of a quorum. that is not an enormous sum; you have regulation of doctors’ fees—all of those The PRESIDING OFFICER. The $375 million left. Somebody might be matters—if you take the congressional clerk will call the roll. position as opposed to the administra- able to get along on that. You might tion position, you find there is middle spend $50 million or even $75 million to The bill clerk proceeded to call the ground available. promote a candidacy, both to articu- roll. If you look at the Medicaid issue, in late a positive view and then, perhaps Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I ask addition to the figures narrowing, the even more effectively, to articulate a unanimous consent that the order for structural matters also are subject to negative view. the quorum call be rescinded. compromise. This is a subject I have been con- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. If you take a look at welfare, there cerned about for a long time because I THOMPSON). Without objection, it is so again, compromise is possible. Where filed for the U.S. Senate back in 1975 ordered. January 23, 1996 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S 299 STATUTORY DEBT CEILING the administration of President Bush. Commandant’s house, because they Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, it If you project this trend, as we have were staying there, but they overtook would be just 16 years since I came to done, and put them in the form of a the Capitol completely. The President the Senate floor to speak to a large geometric progression, you find that fled, the Congress fled, and the Nation new idea in our politics which seemed the costs of Medicaid would double on seemed in the most dire possible cir- to me was then taking shape and the 29th of December of this year. So cumstances: Our Capitol had been which, as I do believe, has since become those outlays began to go up rapidly. seized. Yet the service on the national a central fact of American government. Then in 1981, there was a large tax re- debt continued to be paid. I think it This was the idea on the part of those duction, and revenues ceased to grow. probably was the case it was most paid who legitimately, from their perspec- The income tax brackets were indexed overseas and in specie out of various tive, felt that the U.S. Government had so that there was not an inflationary subtreasuries. become too large, too interfering, too increase in revenues that had pre- In that degree of crisis in a newly dominant in the affairs of the State viously been the case during the 1970’s. formed nation, not fully even formed and local governments, and in general Mr. President, we passed five tax perhaps, we never defaulted. We never moving in a direction that this group cuts, and indeed the level of inflation defaulted during the Civil War. The did not desire. in 1980 was such that the Office of Man- question did not arise in the great wars They spoke to the futility of seeking agement and Budget anticipated a sur- in the 20th century. But here, in a mo- to dismantle the great edifice of Gov- plus even with the tax reductions. ment of peace, we may be about to do ernment that had been growing, not The 1982 recession brought that infla- this. The consequences would be im- truly since the New Deal, but since the tion down. The tax cut took hold. And measurable. From the very height of beginning of the century with the ad- so we were on a path simultaneously of its position in the world and in the his- ministrations of Theodore Roosevelt, increased outlays and reduced reve- tory of the world, the United States Woodrow Wilson, and thereafter, of nues, very much that which those who would become a nation in default, a na- course, President Franklin Roosevelt, advocated this particular approach had tion whose currency is in question, President Johnson, President Nixon —a anticipated. whose debt has, in effect, been repudi- growth in Government that had never What they had not anticipated was ated. been fully accepted by all parts of the that President Reagan, who very much We may not think of it this way. We may not imagine others thinking of it electorate, nor need it have been, and wanted a tax reduction, did not want this way. It could happen, Mr. Presi- now was attaining very considerable programs reduced in any large amount dent, and if we do not do something in opposition. and certainly in no very few particu- The effort to reverse this direction lars. Mr. David Stockman, President the next days, it very possibly will hap- by repealing this statute and amending Reagan’s Director of the Office of Man- pen. The unimaginable, the unthink- that and reducing this program and agement and Budget, in his memoirs, able will happen. We have reached the debt ceiling of such was not so much countervailing ‘‘The Triumph of Politics,’’ records the $4.9 trillion. Either we raise the debt as beyond the capacities of the legisla- options he would present the President. ceiling or we undermine the founda- ture. Indeed, the Government had at- There was a program, it costs this tions of American democracy and the tained to a size and complexity that much, it should be abolished, it should American economy and who knows dismantling even a small part of it was be left alone, it should be reduced a lit- tle, and the President, in the kind of what in the world at large. a huge enterprise. So the reasoning of I might recede and say, Mr. Presi- generous nature we know he has—hap- this new school was that this would dent, during the last Congress, I then pily—cut it a little, perhaps, but noth- never succeed. had the honor to be chairman of the ing large was done. Instead, debt in What would indeed succeed, it was Committee on Finance. We raised the enormous amount was incurred. argued, was to deprive the National debt ceiling twice, not out of any un- We went from a debt of about $900 Government of revenue. By systemati- concern for the deficit, but out of the billion to a debt of almost $5 trillion in cally reducing revenues through tax realistic appreciation of what we could a very short time, and debt service cuts, there would come a time when do. there was simply not the available re- began to crowd out other activities of In August 1993, we passed in this body sources to maintain the level of outlay the Federal Government. While there a deficit reduction package of $500 bil- that was then taking place. had been very little articulation of this lion. It was signed. It brought about This had many informed and sophis- theory—‘‘starve the beast’’—the prac- the largest reduction in the deficit in ticated iterations, if you like, but the tice has gone forward with extraor- history. Interest rates declined—a fis- whole idea was put in one compact dinary, almost inexorable, relentless cal dividend—or as described by Sec- phrase that appeared in the first year thoroughness. We are now in this 16th retary Rubin described, a reduction in of the administration of President or 17th year since I first spoke on the the deficit premium on interest rates. Reagan. And it was in usage in the matter, and the situation approaches We did that, and we reduced the defi- White House, as we understood. It was crisis. cit. At the same time, we had to in- ‘‘starve the beast.’’ The crisis that we come to is the crease the debt ceiling. Twice we did At that time, 1980, the debt of the working out of the theory, if you that, leaving it at $4.9 trillion. This Federal Government was about $900 bil- might, the debt having attained to its last November 9, I came to the floor lion, a sizable enough sum but in no present level, the decision is being and offered an amendment to increase way an unmanageable one. Debt had talked about of not extending the debt the debt ceiling just a very small risen during the two world wars and any further, with the consequence not amount to $4,967,000,000,000, enough to had been brought back down. Some that we would reduce the size of the get us through, as I hoped, until there debt occurred in the 1930’s, nothing American Government—a legitimate was a Budget Reconciliation Act spectacular; revenues were well within strategic objective I did not nec- agreed to. And knowing what we would the range of obligations, and the Gov- essarily share; I do not disavow it in have to have in the way of additional ernment was moving forward. every respect nor does anybody in this debt expenditure in the course of the Two things then happened. Govern- Chamber. The idea today would be not next 2 years, we could then pass a prop- ment outlays began to grow very rap- to extend the debt ceiling and let the er 2-year debt ceiling increased to per- idly as several entitlement programs U.S. Government default on its obliga- haps $5,500,000,000,000. took hold. Medicare is but the most tions for the first time in our history. That measure—offered, as I say, on important example. A good indicator, I was remarking, Mr. President, to November 9—failed by a vote of 47 to also, however, is Medicaid. Medicaid, the Democratic caucus at noon today 49, a very close margin. Two votes which is a Federal entitlement to per- that in 1814, the British invaded Wash- would have put us over into the present sons with very limited resources. Those ington, burnt the White House, burnt moment, but not to a true resolution of Medicaid costs doubled in the 8 years of this Capitol Building, the part just the a 2-year prospect. the administration of President other side of the door here, the original Mr. President, in the absence of that, Reagan, doubled again in the 4 years of building. They did not burn the Marine the debt ceiling was soon reached, and S 300 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 23, 1996 the Secretary of the Treasury was re- March 1. At that point, sir, the U.S. sponsibility that goes far beyond elec- duced to borrowing moneys in ways Government will default on its obliga- toral politics. He is required under the that were entirely lawful but not really tions—something that could not have Constitution—and I sometimes think anticipated as a more than temporary been imagined in the world 20 years this is the only thing in article II that steps to avoid a debt crisis. He had to ago. We are facing it, but we are not he is required to do. It says, ‘‘He shall deal with the fact that the Federal facing up to it. I had hoped that I take care that the laws be faithfully Government was without a budget. I might offer a measure to increase the executed.’’ say, it is no accident that this was the debt ceiling, a clean simple increase, Certainly, those laws extend to pre- 11th time since 1981 that the Federal on tomorrow, or on Thursday, but I un- serving the full faith and credit of the Government has been without a budget derstand we may not be in session. On United States. If, in some measure, and without resources. Friday, I will try to do this, but it is agreement with the Congress would Within 1 year of my having observed not clear whether it will be possible permit the debt ceiling to be extended this strategy here on the Senate floor, with the continuing resolution that and the solvency of the U.S. Govern- it was in effect. They were short-term keeps the Government open for certain ment, the value of U.S. currency, the events. They were referred to as monu- purposes and the rest of the fiscal year. worth of the American credit and faith ment closings: The Government would Then I am told we will not be back in our word, if in some measure this re- close down for a day and some national until February 26. That is 3 days before quires giving more in the way of nego- facilities would not be available but default. tiations than otherwise might be the with no real interruption of the Gov- I would hope something would con- case, I would say, sir, he has that re- ernment itself. centrate our minds. This measure sponsibility, just as the Congress has This time, we have had the longest would simply allow the Federal Gov- an equivalent responsibility. This is shut down ever. It is not perhaps no- ernment to meet its obligations while something that transcends the issue of ticed, but we almost shut down the the negotiations about the budget con- which party will have a majority in the Federal courts, the third branch of tinue between the Congress and the ad- next Congress or what kind of major- Government, indispensable to govern- ministration. There is room for agree- ity, which party will have the White ing but of itself the least dangerous ment in those negotiations. The distin- House and under what circumstances. These are temporary measures. They branch, as one of the ‘‘Federalist Pa- guished senior Senator from Penn- come and they go. This comes with reg- pers’’ referred to it. sylvania was on the floor just now ularity. What happens in November—2 It depends entirely on the Congress talking about the areas where no prin- years from that there will be another and the Executive to provide these ciple is involved. It is just a question of set of congressional elections, and 4 choices. It had none. It was at the at what rate Medicare outlays grow. point where it would not have had years another Presidential election. They are growing at say 9 percent, and There will never be a moment after a money to pay criminal and civil jurors another party says 8 percent, and an- default on the debt like the two cen- or security guards. The prospect of the other party says 7 percent. They are turies preceding. This will scar our na- Federal courts closing was upon us, only discussions of increments where if tional existence. We will be remem- and we did finally act, but only almost there is a will, there is surely a way to bered in history for this—not for what reluctantly, not as if performing a agreement. we did to the Medicare trust funds, not duty, but dealing with an irritating ne- Maybe there is no will to reach final for what we did to the Tax Code or this cessity. agreement on some issues that are entitlement or that discretionary pro- Now, here we are again. Yesterday, thought to be of principle. Very well, gram. This is what will mark our the Secretary of the Treasury told us let us have a national election. We are time—mark our time in history. in the most explicit terms that he has going to do that. The Republican Party We will not be forgiven nor would we reached the end of measures that he caucuses begin—I guess, caucuses for deserve to be if, in a feckless, short- can legally take, that he is willing to both parties will begin in Iowa and sighted, irritated, calculating, what- take, or legally can take, the two being then primaries in New Hampshire, and do-the-overnight-polls-say mode, we coterminous. He has said that he has off we go. It is an extended period. bring about an irreversible disaster to three final measures. He will suspend There are days when you can wish this the American Nation. the reinvestment of approximately $3.9 were Canada and if we had to have a That is the option before us. We do billion in Treasury securities held by national election we could do it in 2 not need to. We clearly are of the view the Exchange Stabilization Fund. That weeks’ time, and people would know that we should not. On November 9, a is the total amount of dollars in that what the issues are and vote and settle mere two votes separated the decision fund. If we were to use the German them for the parties involved, and the to extend the debt ceiling. We know mark and Japanese yen also, the dollar Parliament would resume. that. We know we have to do it. To fail would be subject to the most extraor- We have a Constitution and we will to do it, we fail in our first obligations dinary turbulence in world markets. abide by it. It provides for quadrennial as Members of the Congress. The Presi- The Secretary also said that the Fed- elections and we will have them. It is dent, too, must understand he has an eral Financing Bank will exchange $9 all very well if we do not create a cata- obligation to help see that this does billion in assets in its portfolio, pri- strophic crisis or undergo a cata- not come about. marily, I believe, from the Tennessee strophic failure in the interval. We We can do it, Mr. President. It will Valley Authority, with which the dis- have to increase the debt ceiling. Sec- require 20 minutes in either body. If it tinguished Presiding Officer is very fa- retary Rubin, an honorable man, the takes all day, we take all day. There is miliar, and several other Government able Secretary of the Treasury, has no argument against this measure. If activities, which he can do. The ex- done what he can do under law. He is there is one Member of the Senate who change of assets will permit the Treas- acting as his predecessors did in the wishes to stand up and say I think it ury to obtain $9 billion in cash. Reagan administration and in the Bush would be a good thing if the U.S. Gov- Finally, he has the ability to extend administration. But he can do no more ernment defaulted on its debt, such the 12-month debt issuance suspension than the law allows. He will do no more that every Treasury bond in every in- period. That, I have to say, is what we than the law allows. And the world vestment portfolio, every retirement are in, a debt issuance suspension pe- watches. trust becomes, suddenly, a piece of riod, from 12 months to 14 months. This I would say, if I could direct my paper not backed by the full faith and will permit the Treasury to obtain an views principally to the Congress, credit of the United States, if we want additional $6.4 billion in cash by tem- reach some agreement with the Presi- that, if we want the yen to become the porarily using interest-bearing assets dent and agree on what you can agree world reserve currency, if we want our of the civil service retirement fund. to, let the rest be decided in the Presi- inflation to double, if we want our un- And that is it. Nothing more. dential election, and let the Govern- employment to suddenly soar, or see These actions would raise $19.3 bil- ment go forward. our national growth collapse, it is all lion. They will take the U.S. Govern- I would also speak to the President within our power, and it will not sim- ment through until February 29 or in this matter. The President has a re- ply be a negative act, it will have been January 23, 1996 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S 301 an affirmative choice because we know ation. Some Members of the other side there debate on the floor of the Senate what the consequences will be. of the aisle would have you believe at that time, but there were at least I cannot think we will do this. If that Congress failed in its responsibil- five amendments relating to the farm there is any Member of the Senate who ities to act on the farm bill last year. bill that were offered, debated, and thinks we ought, he or she is welcome They would have you believe that Con- voted on by the Senate. to come to the floor. There will be gress held no hearings, had no floor de- These amendments included a very none. We know what to do, I hope in a bate, and passed no farm bill. comprehensive farm bill alternative, a bipartisan spirit as we have done in the Mr. President, not only do I come to proposal put forward by our colleagues past. This is something that the Nation the floor to urge quick resolution of on the other side of the aisle. That spe- needs, and no party would wish to the lack of a farm bill, but I think that cific alternative was rejected by the deny. I hope we do this, Mr. President. we should also set the record straight. Senate by a bipartisan vote of 68 to 31. I dare not think of the consequences if Basically it means taking the politics So, what happened to the farm bill we do not. out of this debate. It is time to leave that we passed last year? As you know, I see my friend, the distinguished the ideology to the side. It is time to it passed both Houses of Congress and member of the Finance Committee on get down to the very important prac- was sent to the President for his signa- the floor. I yield the floor. tical aspect that in the upper Midwest ture. Unfortunately, the farm bill, as f where my State of Iowa is, within 2 well as all these other good provisions months of farmers going to the field, AGRICULTURE of the Balanced Budget Act of 1995, was and right now in the Southern States vetoed by the President. That is the Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I of the United States they are probably reason why, on January 24, 1996, we are want to speak for a few minutes as a 2 weeks from that point. It is time to still discussing a 1995 farm bill. member of the Senate Agriculture put our constituents and our farmers Let us start this year with a clean Committee, not as a colleague of my above political posturing in Washing- slate by setting the record straight. colleague from New York as a member ton and enact a farm bill into law. The Republican Congress debated, of the Finance Committee, and I want Contrary to the rhetoric coming from voted on and passed a farm bill in 1995. to discuss the 1995 farm bill, which ob- our Democratic colleagues in this Now maybe we can get beyond the poli- viously is not going to be a 1995 bill. It body, in this Chamber, and also tics of this issue and do what is best for will be a 1996 farm bill if and when we through the media, particularly my our farmers. The farmers of this coun- ever get one passed. colleagues from the other side of the try deserve to know what the farm pro- It is January 23, 1996, but the farm aisle, this Congress did act on the com- gram will be this year and they need to bill that should have been in place by modity provisions of the farm bill. Last know as soon as possible. The time for early fall, 1995, is still unresolved. So year the Senate Agriculture Commit- delay is over. The farmers also need to all across the country farmers are buy- tee held at least 15 hearings, heard tes- know what both sides want in a new ing their seed, meeting with their timony from over 150 witnesses. Then farm bill. bankers, making plans to cultivate and in October the Senate debated and The farm bill passed by the Repub- grow crop, all without knowing what passed the commodity provisions of the lican majority in 1995 represents the the next farm program will be. farm bill as part of the Balanced Budg- When I say it should have been done most significant reform in farm legis- et Act. lation in the last 60 years. Under this by early fall, I want to make clear to While I am talking about the Bal- provision, farmers will no longer have my colleagues that the reason for this anced Budget Act, and farmers are ask- their planting decisions dictated by the is that when you do fall tillage, prepar- ing about the farm provisions that politicians and the bureaucrats in ing the fields for the seed of the next were in it, I also take advantage of the Washington, DC. The reality of the spring, you need to make those deci- opportunity to say to the farmers of budget crisis in Washington dictates sions at harvest time of the crop that the United States, there are probably that farmers must—and it is what grew in 1995. more important provisions in the Bal- farmers want to do—earn more of their In a very real sense of the word for anced Budget Act of 1995 than the com- income from the marketplace as op- people who are planting crops in the modity provisions that they ought to posed to the Federal Treasury. Southern States of our great country, be aware of that are going to benefit those are important agriculture re- agriculture to a greater extent than If that is the case—and that is the gions, as well, they are only 2 or 3 even the commodity provisions. environment we are in, the budget re- weeks away from planting. In my That would be, first of all, balancing alities as well as the realities of the State, it is going to be 2 months until the budget, reducing interest rates 1.5 foreign trade environment, the freeing we reach that point. to 2 percentage points a year. Multiply up of foreign trade—if this is the case, Everybody ought to understand that that times a $160 billion debt in agri- then, the farmers are going to get less it is not the day you go to the field culture and that adds up to real money support from the Federal Treasury. that you decide on certain things relat- in the pockets of farmers of America, The shackles of Government regulation ed to the 1996 crop. You need to know just from balancing the budget. and the red tape that is inherent there- that months ahead of time. One of Two other provisions very helpful to in must be removed so that U.S. farm- those factors—maybe farmers would getting young people into agriculture, ers have a fair chance to compete with rather not have this be a factor—but passing land and operations on from our foreign competitors. one of those factors is, what is the Gov- one generation to another generation The farm provisions contained in the ernment program toward agriculture? of farmers, are the capital gains tax re- Balanced Budget Act do this. They re- Probably in each of the last, except for duction and increasing the exemption, move the planting restrictions imposed 1 or 2 years out of the last 20 years, the estate tax exemption, and also hav- on the farmers. They remove the Fed- there has not been any slowness on the ing a special exemption, which was in eral Government’s authority to require part of the Congress in this regard. this bill, when small businesses and that productive farmland be removed Farmers have known well in advance farms are passed on to people within from production. In short, they send a what the Government’s position was on the family, an exemption of $1 million. very clear signal to the rest of the agriculture and their decisions could This is what it is going to take, in world that the U.S. farmer will com- wisely and timely be made in prepara- rural America, to get young people pete for every sale in every market- tion for the next year’s crop. into agriculture. place. Now here we are, January 23, 1996, But I want to repeat that even The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time and we still do not let the farmers of though there were all these other good of the Senator has expired. America know what the Government’s things for agriculture in the Balanced Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I was program is toward agriculture. Budget Act, we did have the commod- not aware of a time restriction. Could In the last few weeks, Mr. President, ity provisions of the 1995 farm bill in I ask for 5 additional minutes? there has been a lot of finger pointing that act. The Senate did debate and did The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without as to who was responsible for this situ- pass a farm bill in 1995. Not only was objection, it is so ordered.