Thad Cochran

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I move that the Senate insist on its amendments to H.R. 3603, and request a conference with the House of Representatives on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the bill, as amended, was passed.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendments be agreed to en bloc and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, we are going to continue to monitor this situation. We hope that this is helpful. As we go into conference, we will work to resolve the issue to the satisfaction of the Senate. With that, I know of no objections to the legislation. I hope that we can proceed to adopt it on a voice vote.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, let me thank Senators who have been working to resolve this issue for their efforts. A great deal of work has gone into crafting this amendment. I compliment particularly the Senator from Montana [Mr. Burns]. I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Idaho [Mr. Craig] be added as a cosponsor of the amendment.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, let me state this amendment has been reviewed. It has been cleared on this side. I commend and thank the distinguished Senator from Vermont for his cooperation.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, there is no objection. We have reviewed it, and we thank very much the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts and the Senator from Indiana and others who have worked to negotiate this agreement.

Mr. COCHRAN. I agree with my colleague from Massachusetts, and I can assure him that, while I am not able to speak for the entire conference committee, I will do my best to reach a compromise on this issue that will not place further limits on the authority on the Secretary and the FDA with regard to this important public health issue.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, we are prepared now to announce that the indications are encouraging, that a number of amendments that have been pending and are to be offered have been or are being resolved. We do have a couple of amendments that we had hoped could be worked out but we do not think can be worked out. Senators are deciding now whether to withdraw those amendments, look for another vehicle to offer the amendment on later, or offer the matters as freestanding legislation. Let me just say, most of these issues--I think maybe all of them--involve legislation and really do not deal with the funding levels in the bill. We also have one other problem that has arisen because, since this bill funds the Department of Agriculture, Senators have amendments that come under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service, legislative in nature. And the Forest Service really is not funded in this bill. The Forest Service is funded in the Interior appropriations bill. So we are trying to encourage Senators who do have amendments that cannot be accepted on this bill, to consider offering them as amendments to the Interior appropriations bill or as freestanding bills on another day. Having said that, I think it is likely we are going to proceed very soon, presenting those amendments, announcing the decision of Senators, and voting on those that require rollcall votes. Mr. LEAHY addressed the Chair.

Mr. COCHRAN. I agree that it would be appropriate for USDA to consider this application, if submitted, and I encourage the Department to give full consideration to an application for a rural telemedicine and distance learning grant from the University of North Dakota. Additionally, I expect the Department to consider only applications judged meritorious when subjected to the established review process.

Mr. COCHRAN. I share the view expressed by my colleague from Arkansas. I would just add that the committee expects the Department to consider only those applications judged meritorious when subjected to the established review process.

Mr. COCHRAN. The Senator from North Dakota is correct when they say this was one of the many issues considered by the committee this year. I agree that the data provided by the proposed center would be valuable to Northern Plains States. Unfortunately, the committee's funding allocation did not allow us to provide funding.

Mr. COCHRAN. I would be pleased to discuss this bill with the Senators from North Dakota.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, that is my understanding as well. Seasonal base plans are merely a stabilization tool, not a price enhancement mechanism, and should be administered as such.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield further, I do not predict any particular time. I am hopeful we will be able to complete action sometime this afternoon, certainly before evening.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield, my impression is that we are making progress in negotiating some proposed amendments with various Senators. There is a likelihood that we can resolve most of these issues without rollcall votes. There probably will be a vote on final passage, a rollcall vote on final passage. Senators can be assured of that. Depending upon how the negotiations go over the next several minutes, we should know soon about how many votes are likely to be required before we finally dispose of the bill. I think we have made good progress and I am encouraged we will be able to complete this bill today sometime. I hope we do not have to go into the evening tonight. I see no justification for that. We cannot control that. If some Senator wants to talk about an amendment, he or she can start talking and, unless we have 60 votes to cut off debate, we cannot stop them. But I do not see that as happening. I think things are progressing in a way that will lead us to conclude this bill sometime this afternoon.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, we are working to accommodate Senators by working on amendments that have been proposed that we hope can be resolved without rollcall votes. There are some which may require a rollcall vote if Senators insist on a vote. Senator Bumpers and I are here and available to discuss these proposals. We hope those who want to offer their amendments will come forward. We would like to complete action on this bill. I suggest this is a good time to resolve differences, if we can, and then proceed to vote on those we can't agree on and finish the bill. We are not going to stay in all afternoon sitting and waiting. For those who want to present amendments, we will offer them for you and vote on them, and then we can get to the end of the bill, if we can get the cooperation of Senators at an early time this afternoon.

Mr. COCHRAN. I will continue working with my colleague from South Dakota to find funding for projects like the proposed lamb processing facility in South Dakota.

Mr. COCHRAN. That is my understanding.

Mr. COCHRAN. That is correct.

Mr. COCHRAN. Yes, I am very supportive of precision agriculture and Senator McConnell's legislation.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the motion was agreed to.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, this is a motion that we have actually already debated. Let me point out that under the farm bill there is a prescribed mandate for $90 million of funds to be allocated for this program. So unlike previous years, this is not a discretionary program any longer. The reforms that were made sought to address the complaints that had been made about corporate welfare and all the other allegations in previous years, but those no longer lie against the program as it is operated now. Only trade associations and small businesses are entitled to funds under this program. They are allocated by the Foreign Agriculture Service. They help break down barriers to U.S. exports. They provide us access to markets that we would not have otherwise. They are good for American jobs, the American economy. They help us export more of what we produce on our farms and in our factories in foodstuffs and the like. All the testimony shows that this program is very helpful and needed, and I urge Senators to vote yea on the motion to table.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, at this point we are prepared to move to table the amendment previously offered by the distinguished Senator from Nevada, [Mr. Bryan] on the Market Access program. My understanding would be that there would be 2 minutes available equally divided for discussion of that before we actually go to a vote on the motion to table. With that understanding, I move to table the Bryan amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.