Donald Manzullo

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, our amendment will allow the present operation of the gentleman's constituent's firm in Lithuania. That is correct.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, just a formality, I do not have a copy of that document. I can take a quick look at it, and then I make reference to it. Mr. Chairman, under my reservation of objection, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant).

Mr. MANZULLO. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. MANZULLO. I would submit that there are existing statutes on the books today that would give enough protection to the State Department, to the CIA, or any other security agency, for making open documents that are already classified.

Mr. MANZULLO. Well, sure.

Mr. MANZULLO. That is correct.

Mr. MANZULLO. Who would determine the language of the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) that says with the intent to impede or delay? I mean, that is a subjective process.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Green).

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman would further yield, that is the whole point. We have got something just as ridiculous and we are suing the Canadians because of theirs.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, we have filed an amendment to this bill for the purpose of trying to infuse the free trade system into this incredible archaic system of dairy marketing orders. The Manzullo-Dooley amendment has as its goal that when we leave the House of Representatives and the bill passes the Senate and is signed by the President that the USTR, the United States Trade Representative, would have the ability to review the language and pass upon whether or not it complies with our ability to compete internationally and meet the requirements of Nunn subsidies and the relief thereof in the WTO. This is important. It is extremely important for the following reasons. We cannot have it both ways. Either we support free trade for our farmers or we do not. Every agricultural interest group has come to my office saying that they want to thank me for my votes on free trade. And it is extremely important in the new rounds that are coming up in Seattle that when we are there as a representative of Congress, which I will be, along with several other Members from this body and the other body, that we are going to be pressing the issue of making sure that overseas subsidies and Nunn tariff barriers are taken away so that our farmers can be on a more even playing field and, thus, be more able to export our agricultural commodities. Illinois exports about 47 percent of its agricultural commodities. The entire farming industry nationwide is in trouble; and one of the ways to bring it out of this incredible recession, if not depression, is to bust open the foreign markets to make it easier for us to sell the fruit of the labor of the American farmer overseas. It is amazing. The American Farm Bureau Federation says technical trade barriers hold up $5 billion worth of U.S. commodity sales to 63 countries. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that free farm trade would mean about 25 to 30 percent higher commodity prices for U.S. farmers and ranchers, and some speculate it could go as high as 50 percent. Yet I see where the American Farm Bureau is part of a coalition opposing the Manzullo-Dooley amendment which would ensure free trade for our farmers. That is what this amendment is about. It is very simple. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 15 seconds. Mr. Chairman, it is interesting here that we are talking about the U.S. Department of Agriculture having authority over trade and their wanting to keep that, but the ones making the argument are the same ones that are saying the U.S. Department of Agriculture should not have the ability to pass 1-a modified and let the farmers choose for themselves. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan).

Mr. MANZULLO. But that is exactly why we are here. I believe that the current policy is wrong. I believe the current policy is not good policy. And it was not my bill. It was not the bill of the Committee on Agriculture. It was a creation of a lot of the people that are pushing this stuff right now.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, the United States filed a complaint and a panel was installed on the Canadian dairy system, and we won that round. It is being appealed by Canada right now.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind).

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

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. As my colleagues know, it is really interesting, the statement was just made by the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh) that nothing is to stop the people in the Midwest from exporting. Well, it is interesting because, if the dairy farmers try to export their product to the northeast dairy compact, they have to pay a special tax on it. I cannot think of anything that is more trade distorting than that. And let me finish, and, if I have time, I will be glad to yield on that, but that is what this is about. This is about regionalism in this country. It is also about fairness. It is also about the ability of this body to come together and to come up with a fair solution, and we had something several years ago when nobody could determine in this body how to close down the military bases, so the Military Base Commission was established in order to do the right thing for America. The Members of Congress said let us appoint somebody, an independent panel, to do an evaluation as to determine exactly what is the best thing to do, and that is exactly how that commission works. Well, Mr. Chairman, in the Freedom to Farm Act that took place in this body several years ago, this body voted to allow the U.S. Department of Agriculture to come up with a solution to the socialism that has been going on in this country since 1937, and they did. They came up with a final rule, and the very people who embodied the U.S. Department of Agriculture now say: ``Whoa, we don't like the solution that we gave you the authority to come up with; so now therefore we're going to come back into this body again and impose regional socialism on this country.'' Mr. Chairman, that is outrageous. It is outrageous for farmers from one part of this country to send their products to another part of this country and end up paying the equivalent of a tariff or a duty. It is outrageous when farmers in this country, based upon their geographic location to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, that determines the price they get for their milk. That is pure insanity. That does not make sense, Mr. Chairman. There is not anything, anything in the laws of this country, that give any justification to having that type of a system. Mr. Chairman, our amendment simply tries to make this unfair system a little bit more fairer under the circumstances.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I represent five of the eight top dairy counties in the State of Illinois; and they are losing 10 to 15 percent of the dairy farmers each year. If we are to sit around and wait for all these reforms to take place that the gentleman from California (Mr. Pombo) talks about over a period of time, there will not be any dairy farmers left in northern Illinois. Mr. Chairman, the difference really is between milk and something like peaches, for example. The price that the dairy farmer gets is based upon how far his production is from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The price that the peach grower gets is not based upon where his farm is in relation to somewhere in the State of Georgia. What we are asking for here under the Boehner amendment is the last opportunity for the American dairy farmer to participate in the free market system. The Boehner amendment would allow that and, hopefully, will stop the elimination of all the dairy farmers in the district that I proudly represent.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dooley), the cosponsor of this amendment.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to my colleague, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Crane), the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means. (Mr. CRANE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, If the gentleman will continue to yield, what we can explain is the fact that we have regional socialism that is destroying the American dairy industry, and that is exactly what this amendment is about.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm).

Mr. MANZULLO. It would be 1-A modified that would go into effect on October.