Terry Everett

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill. It is good for the American farmer, and it is good for the American people. Mr. Speaker, the U.S farm economy continues to experience one of the worst cycles of depressed prices for most of the major commodities, while the costs continue to escalate for major inputs. Our farmers and ranchers have been without a safety net to protect them during periods of low market prices. Fortunately, we are about to change that with this new farm bill. We began this process over two years ago with field hearings around the country to hear from producers about what they wanted to see in a new farm bill. I am happy to say that much of what we heard from producers is represented today in this farm bill, The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. I am confident the safety net provided to producers by this bill will insure they remain competitive and viable, even in times of depressed prices. A strong, effective farm policy is essential if our producers are to continue to provide us with the safest, most affordable, and most abundant food and fiber supply in the world. While our producers are some of the most efficient in the world, they have been forced to compete on an unlevel playing field, but I believe this bill will help to level that field. It has been a long process before arriving at this point, but I believe we have produced a bill that will benefit all farmers, ranchers, and rural communities across America. In addition to the strong safety net this bill provides for producers, it contains conservation programs that represent an eighty percent increase in spending for conservation. There are also improved trade, nutrition, credit, research, and forestry titles and a new energy title focusing on renewable energy and bio-based products. Also, the strong rural development title will help bring new businesses to rural America and strengthen our rural communities. As farmers are now in the fields planting their crops, I am pleased that they will now be able to focus on producing a crop, knowing we have taken the necessary steps to provide them with an effective safety net. I urge a yes vote on this conference report and no on the motion to recommit, so that this report can be approved quickly by both chambers and the bill signed into law, allowing the implementation process to get underway immediately.

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay special tribute to a company headquartered in my Congressional District which has answered the call to assist America's war on terrorism in an exemplary manner. The Movie Gallery, based in Dothan, Alabama, was recently asked by the Civil Air Patrol to participate in Films for Troops. This endeavor is designed to bring a piece of home to our men and women in uniform stationed on the front lines thousands of miles from our shores. When approached to help, The Movie Gallery rose to the challenge by collecting over 800 videos and DVDs of current top movies from America's major motion picture studios. These movies, in turn, will be packed and shipped to our troops in Afghanistan. I am proud to endorse the Movie Gallery's efforts to bring the sights and voices of home to our sons and daughters and mothers and fathers on the battle lines of freedom. We are one nation in this fight to preserve our liberty. The Movie Gallery deserves our gratitude for bringing all of us--near and far--a little closer together during these difficult days.

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, with the U.S. House of Representatives set to conclude its work for the First Session of the 107th Congress, I would like to add a final contribution to the Record as we close the Congressional history book on 2001. The last twelve months have been so dramatic in their significance upon this body and the nation that it is easy to overlook the many vital human elements of this institution. I choose to honor one here today. I rise to pay tribute to a player on the Congressional stage who said farewell to this House of Democracy earlier this year; Carol Elise Bennett. For two decades, Carol has been a part of the lives of those who served our nation in the House and Senate. In 1981, she began covering the Congress for the Washington-Alabama News Report, dutifully informing her statewide radio audience of the efforts of the Alabama Congressional Delegation. She was the longest- serving of all the press assigned to cover Alabama's congressmen and she always performed her work with professionalism and a particularly keen attention to accuracy. Carol had good reason to be at home around the spotlight, having received formal training in the theatre at the University of British Columbia followed by acting roles on the stage and in film. However, Carol's work and many interests never kept her from helping others. She served as a volunteer reader for recordings for the blind here in Washington for more than a decade. Since I came to Congress in 1993, 1 have personally valued my friendship with Carol, and I wish to thank her for her fairness and dedication to pursuing the truth. This institution is a better place because of the hard work of reporters like Carol. I think I can speak for all the Alabama Delegation, both past and present, in wishing Carol Bennett a happy and equally rewarding retirement.

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleagues in the House and with the residents of my home state of Alabama in paying tribute to an American who gave his life in service to freedom. Johnny Micheal Spann, a native of Winfield, Alabama and graduate of Auburn University, was the first American killed in the ongoing war against terrorism in Afghanistan. Spann, who served his country for eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps before working as an intelligence officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, gave his life on November 25 at the young age of 32, leaving behind a wife and three children. On Monday, he was laid to rest among our country's heroes in Arlington National Cemetery in a service that touched the hearts of all gathered along those hallowed hills overlooking our nation's capital. ``Mike is a hero not because of the way he died, but rather the way he lived,'' his widow noted. ``Mike was prepared to give his life in Afghanistan because he was prepared to give his life every day at home.'' I was pleased to join my colleagues in support of H. Con. Res. 281, which passed the House Tuesday, honoring Johnny Micheal Spann. I would like to extend my personal condolences to his wife, Shannon, and his family. America shares both the personal sorrow of your loss and the sense of pride for Mike's courageous and dutiful service to the nation he so loved. May God bless you all.

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, family illness necessitated my return to Alabama. Thus, I was unable to vote during rollcall No. 482 (On Agreeing to the Conference Report for the District of Columbia Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2001, HR 2944). Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, I was reviewing tornado damaged areas in my district on Tuesday and thus was unable to vote during the following rollcall votes. Had I been present, I would have voted as indicated below. Rollcall No. 449, H.R. 1259, Computer Security Enhancement Act-- ``yes,'' and rollcall No. 450, S. Con. Res. 44, resolution expressing the sense of the Congress regarding National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day--``yes.'' Additionally, due to flight delays on Wednesday, I missed the following morning rollcall votes. Had I been present, I would have voted as indicated below. Rollcall No. 451, on Approving the Journal--``yes,'' rollcall No. 452, H. Con. Res. 77, Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the efforts of people of the United States of Korean ancestry to reunite with their family members in North Korea--``yes,'' and rollcall No. 453, H.R. 2722, Clean Diamond Trade Act--``yes.''

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a dear friend and fellow Dale County, Alabama native, Congressman Jerry Solomon, who passed away last Friday. Although Jerry retired from this great institution three years ago, he never really left us. He was integral to the conservative effort to gain the House in 1995 and he served honorably as the powerful chairman of the House Rules Committee from that time until his retirement. Jerry Solomon was born in Okeechobee, Florida on August 14, 1930. As a young boy he left Florida for Dale County, Alabama to live with relatives. He settled in the small Dale County community of Echo which is only ten miles from my hometown of Midland City, Alabama. A few years later, Jerry moved to Delmar, New York to join his family. It was New York State which became his new home and where he later attended Siena College and St. Lawrence University. Jerry served his country joining the U.S. Marine Corps at the outset of the Korean War and remained on active duty until 1952. He was a Marine Corps reservist until 1959. For over 25 years, Solomon labored as a successful businessman in Glens Falls, New York where he lived with his wife, Freda. His political career began at the local level where he served as Queensbury Town Supervisor and Warren County Supervisor. He then served six years as New York State assemblyman. Jerry successfully ran as a Republican for Congress in 1978 and steadily gained in popularity in his home 22nd Congressional District of New York. In 1990, Solomon received more votes than any other New York state congressman. His was a familiar voice for House Republicans on matters regarding veterans and our national defense. And I was honored to stand shoulder to shoulder with him in support of our men and women in uniform and to protect the American flag. Jerry was a true patriot and personified what is to be an American. I am proud to have called him a colleague and personal friend.

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained today and thus was unable to vote during the following rollcall votes. Had I been present, I would have voted as indicated below. Rollcall No. 405 (H.J. Res. 70, Making further continuing appropriations for Fiscal Year 2002)--Yes; Rollcall No. 406 (On Approving the Journal)--Yes; Rollcall No. 407 (H.J. Res. 71, amending title 36, United States Code, to designate September 11 as Patriot Day)--Yes.

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Combest), the chairman of the full committee.

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this really misguided amendment. The Boehlert/Kind Amendment takes over $9 billion out of the farm program (and rural economies) in the first three years and only gradually makes available more conservation funds with heavy strings attached. This is not what farmers or rural America needs when it is currently reeling from 4 years of incredibly depressed prices. This amendment replaces the counter-cyclical components of the farm bill which is designed to avoid costly ad hoc programs, with statutory maximum payments which decline each year to $1.6 billion in the last year. If prices fall again in the future, the farm program could not respond under this amendment leaving Congress with the choice of another farm bailout. The 2 years invested in writing a farm bill that will respond to market conditions would be wrecked. This amendment cuts program benefits to real farmers. They say their cut comes from the top 10% of recipients in each region of the country, but that top 10% consists of 100% producers. In closing, this amendment pits farmer against farmer. In the most ludicrous, but very real case, a farmer with 400 acres would have their payment cut by 66%. But the producer with 399 acres would receive every bit of their payment. Remember, this is the farm bill, not the environmental bill.

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, we are now to what I call the M&M amendment, and I rise in opposition to the M&M amendment and hope my colleagues understand what this amendment will do. It may have been dressed up a little, softened a little, and added a section on giving money to the Everglades; but the intention is the same, to destroy the domestic sugar industry. I want to touch on two points that the proponents of this amendment will try to claim: first, we have all read about the candy manufacturers threatening to move to Mexico, they say because of the high price of sugar in the U.S.; that that is the reason they want to go. Let us be clear. That is not the reason they want to move to Mexico. According to USDA agriculture data, wholesale refined sugar prices are actually higher in Mexico than they are here. They have been running about 3 cents per pound higher for most of the last 2 years. The real reason they are moving is that American wages are 25 times higher, at $13.46 an hour in Chicago versus 53 cents an hour in Mexico. American energy costs are five times higher, at $11 per kilowatt in Chicago versus $2.38 in Mexico. American tax burdens are at least seven times higher. American protection for workers, the environment, water and air quality are much higher than Mexico's. Secondly, do not fall for the comparison of the U.S. price to the world market price. The so-called ``world market'' for sugar is just a dumping ground for surplus sugar from countries that subsidize sugar production and exports. The world market is distorted because of the elaborate sugar programs that exist in virtually every country that produces sugar. U.S. sugar policy has acted as a cushion against imports from the world dump market, where prices have run only about half the world average of cost of producing sugar for most of the last 2 decades. America's sugar farmers are efficient by world standards and willing to compete on a level field against world sugar farmers, but cannot compete against foreign governments. In closing, let me be up front. The real purpose of the M&M amendment is to drive sugar down further. They are already down nearly 30 percent since 1996, for the benefit of the grocery chains, candy manufacturers and food manufacturing corporations, who are behind the M&M amendment. I oppose this and ask my colleagues to oppose it.

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Cubin).

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne).

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Rehberg).

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy).

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, let me yield myself 10 seconds to comment on the GAO report. If we look at page 55 where they conclude the validity of the report, it says, ``The results are, therefore, suspect and should not be quoted authoritatively.'' Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp).

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin).

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley).

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht).

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I do not think we are going to discredit any Government employees. I yield myself 10 seconds to quote the career USDA analyst used in describing the GAO report: ``. . . naive, inconsistent, inadequate, a puzzlement, inflammatory, unprofessional, not well documented, incomplete, and unrealistic.'' Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson).

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam).

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The proponents of the M and M amendment, when they talk about sending jobs to Mexico, have the right string but they have the wrong yo-yo. It is not the sugar program that is causing the job loss to Mexico. This is what is causing those losses. American wages are 25 times higher here than they are in Mexico. American energy costs are five times higher than they are in Mexico. American tax burden is at least seven times higher. American protection for workers and the environment, water and air quality is much higher than it is in Mexico. Those are the reasons that we are losing jobs to Mexico, not the sugar program. Defeat the M and M amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for the outstanding work they have done to produce this bill that had to compete with a lot of interests. The U.S. farm economy is experiencing one of the worst cycles of depressed prices since the Great Depression, while the costs for major inputs such as fuel and fertilizer are up 25 percent over the last 4 years. This has resulted in a growing crisis in much of rural America. Without the disaster assistance funds Congress has provided to farmers over the last 4 years, thousands of U.S. farmers and ranchers would have no doubt been put out of business and seen their livelihoods disappear. Our producers are some of the most efficient in the world, but they cannot possibly be expected to compete with their counterparts in other countries when those countries subsidize their producers at levels much higher than our own and the tariffs on agricultural products in other countries are five times higher than those in the U.S. These represent only a few of the obstacles faced by the Committee on Agriculture when trying to develop farm bill legislation that would ensure America's producers are given a proper safety net to allow them to remain viable, while providing us with the safest, most affordable food and fiber supply in the entire world. The food and fiber supply constitutes a major component of our national defense, our national security, and I do not really care who says otherwise. If you cannot feed your people, then you cannot defend your people. It is that simple. This bill, H.R. 2646, the Farm Security Act of 2001, is the product of almost 2 years of work by the Committee on Agriculture which held dozens of hearings throughout the country and here in Washington with most major farm and commodity groups represented. Over 300 witnesses presented testimony before the committee. In the subcommittee I chair on specialty crops and foreign agriculture programs, we saw the necessity to reform the peanut program to ensure the survival of the peanut industry in this country and restore profitability for our peanut producers. We heard from peanut producers, shellers and manufacturers alike, and critics of the program, and they all realized it was time for a new program that moved away from the two-tiered pricing system, which would be impossible to maintain in the future. The need for change was real, with tariffs on Mexican peanuts decreasing each year until they completely disappear in 2008. Also, Argentina is seeking NAFTA-like access to our market for their peanuts. Without a change to the current program, increasing imports would continue to put pressure on domestic production to the point where the Secretary would be required to lower quotas, which would decrease the safety net for producers. We looked to make the peanut program much like other program crops, combining proven and successful components like the marketing loan and fixed-decoupled payments with the new counter-cyclical component, while also providing a quota compensation payment to quota holders. This new program will provide producers with a safety net that gives some price protection while also helping to regain our market share that has been lost to imports. It will also save the industry in this country. The bill not only contains a strong program for peanut producers, but strong and balanced programs for all producers of all commodities, in addition to an improved conservation title, which does indeed receive an 80 percent increase in funding. The bill also contains strong and improved trade, nutrition, credit, research, rural development, and forestry titles. The Committee on Agriculture had a lot of hard decisions to make among many competing interests. What we have developed is a very balanced bill which works to address the needs that are facing rural America today. Again, I say I appreciate the strong leadership that we received from our full committee chairman and from our ranking member.

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, today was one of the saddest days in the history of our beloved country. It is impossible to watch the events caused by evil unfold before our eyes without feeling great sorrow and great anger. We will never forget the sorrow we collectively feel as a nation. Mr. Speaker, we will also never forget the anger and fury we feel toward those who have hurt and killed so many innocent Americans. I pledge my fortune and honor to do everything in my power to bring justice on all those who have so injured this country and its citizens as we pass this resolution. However, today was a day of prayer and I was moved by the prayer service at the National Cathedral here in our Nation's Capital. I was very touched by the comments of our President at that service, Mr. Speaker, and now make them a part of this Record as we put on the shoulders of our President a burden no one man can possibly bear without the help of God. Mr. Speaker, the President's words today: We are here in the middle hour of our grief. So many have suffered so great a loss, and today we express our nation's sorrow. We come before God to pray for the missing and the dead, and for those who loved them. On Tuesday, our country was attacked with deliberate and massive cruelty. We have seen the images of fire and ashes and bent steel. Now come the names, the list of casualties we are only beginning. They are the names of men and women who began their day at a desk or in an airport, busy with live. They are the names of people who faced death and in their last moments called home to say, be brave and I love you. They are the names of passengers who defied their murderers and prevented the murder of others on the ground. They are the names of men and women who wore the uniform of the United States and died at their posts. They are the names of rescuers--the ones whom death found running up the stairs and into the fires to help others. We will read all these names. We will linger over them and learn their stories, and many Americans will weep. To the children and parents and spouses and families and friends of the lost, we offer the deepest sympathy of the nation. And I assure you, you are not alone. Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history, but our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others; it will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing. Our purpose as a nation is firm, yet our wounds as a people are recent and unhealed and lead us to pray. In many of our prayers this week, there's a searching and an honesty. At St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, on Tuesday, a woman said, ``I pray to God to give us a sign that he's still here.'' Others have prayed for the same, searching hospital to hospital, carrying pictures of those still missing. God's signs are not always the one we look for. We learn in tragedy that his purposes are not always our own, yet the prayers of private suffering, whether in our homes or in this great cathedral are known and heard and understood. There are prayers that help us last through the day or endure the night. There are prayers of friends and strangers that give us strength for the journey, and there are prayers that yield our will to a will greater than our own. This world He created is of moral design. Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance and love have no end, and the Lord of life holds all who die and all who mourn. It is said that adversity introduces us to ourselves. This is true of a nation as well. In this trial, we have been reminded and the world has seen that our fellow Americans are generous and kind, resourceful and brave. We see our national character in rescuers working past exhaustion, in long lines of blood donors, in thousands of citizens who have asked to work and serve in any way possible. And we have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice. Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end and at the side of his quadriplegic friend. A beloved priest died giving the last rites to a firefighter. Two office workers, finding a disabled stranger, carried her down 68 floors to safety. A group of men drove through the night from Dallas to Washington to bring skin grafts for burned victims. In these acts and many others, Americans showed a deep commitment to one another and in an abiding love for our country. Today, we feel what Franklin Roosevelt called, ``the warm courage of national unity.'' This is a unity of every faith and every background. This has joined together political parties and both houses of Congress. It is evident in services of prayer and candlelight vigils and American flags, which are displayed in pride and waved in defiance. Our unity is a kinship of grief and a steadfast resolve to prevail against our enemies. And this unity against terror is now extending across the world. America is a nation full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for, but we are not spared from suffering. In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America because we are freedom's home and defender, and the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time. On this national day of prayer and remembrance, we ask almighty God to watch over our nation and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for every life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come. As we've been assured, neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth can separate us from God's love. May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country. God bless America.

Mr. EVERETT

Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, the devastation our country has suffered became profoundly personal when my staff and I learned that a former member of our delegation staff was among those who were murdered by terrorists when a hijacked plane hit the Pentagon Tuesday morning. Terry Lynch was from Youngstown, Ohio, and got his master's degree from Youngstown State University, where he met his wife, Jackie. He became an adopted Alabamian when he went to work for Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama from 1983 to 1995. During those years, Terry worked closely with many of us on military projects for all of Alabama and in particular, the Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and Maxwell-Gunter AFB, Montgomery, Alabama, both of which are in my 2nd District. Terry was a kind and knowledgeable person who was dependable and dedicated to doing his job and doing it well. He was well liked by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both the House and in the Senate. Terry worked tirelessly on behalf of his adopted state. At home in the Mount Vernon area of Fairfax County, he was known as a kind and considerate neighbor, coach for his daughters, Tiffany and Ashley's T-ball and softball teams; and all around good friend. Terry Lynch is indelibly etched in the hearts and minds of all Alabamians. Our hearts go out to Jackie, Tiffany, and Ashley during this great time of sadness for all of us.