Ken Salazar

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I understand there are three bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I now ask for a second reading en bloc and object to my own request en bloc.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge the work of the Snowsports Outreach Society, SOS Outreach, based in Vail, CO, which is dedicated to providing outdoor recreation and confidence-building opportunities to underprivileged youth. The snow sports industry is an essential part of Colorado's lifestyle, economy, and image. Colorado's mountainous terrain and world-class resorts have set the standard for the ultimate experience in sliding on snow. As a skier, I understand the importance of this outdoor activity--in all its forms-- for its health benefits as well as the recreation economy of Colorado and the country's ski resorts. SOS Outreach complements the benefits of snow sports by providing dynamic programs to 2,500 youth in need nationwide. During the current season, 2,000 Colorado participants will be enrolled in a 7-year curriculum. I am proud to recognize the work that they do to grow the sport and promote positive self-esteem in their participants. Now celebrating its 14th anniversary, SOS Outreach was founded in Vail, CO, in 1993. SOS Outreach is a grassroots, 501(c)(3) organization. Through the work of its founder and executive director, Arn Menconi, and former director of snowboarding for Vail Resorts, Ray Sforzo, a charity was developed that appealed to the mountain resort's desire to build the community by serving underprivileged youth. SOS Outreach first introduced youth to the benefits of outdoor recreation during the 1995/1996 season when they taught 40 youth snowboarding. They were provided with one day of free lessons, equipment, and lift tickets. Since their first season, SOS Outreach has partnered with mountain resorts, youth agencies, foundations, corporations, and individual donors to expand its nationally recognized curriculum and serve over 7,500 youth. SOS Outreach is further leveraging their partnerships to expand their programs and include skiing. Over 7,000 program days will be provided at 29 resorts across the country, 13 in the State of Colorado. SOS Outreach provides participants with a high-quality, resilience- based program that positively impacts a participant's self-esteem and ability to participate positively within their communities; supports underserved youth through adult mentorship; and encourages personal character education through SOS Outreach's five core values: courage, discipline, integrity, wisdom, and compassion. SOS Outreach would not be successful without the substantial support of the following individuals and organizations. I would like to recognize and thank each of them for sustaining such a program in Colorado: Bill Jensen and Kara Heide of Vail Resorts; Ken Gart and everyone at Specialty Sports Venture; Chris Ryman of Booth Creek Ski Holdings; Colorado Mountain Resorts for their donation of lift tickets, lessons, and rental equipment; Harry Frampton and Ceil Folz of the Vail Valley Foundation; Robert Veitch of the Harold W. Shaw and Mary Louise Shaw Foundation; Linda Childers of the Daniels Fund; William Hybl of the El Pomar Foundation; Bill Cotton of Optic Nerve Sunglasses; Robert Marcovitch of K2 Inc.; Mike West of 686; Wendy and Mike Carey of Seirus; Chaos Hats; Ride Snowboards; Salomon Sports; Sutherland Foundation; Bob Hernreich; Kay and Craig Tuber; to the staff of SOS Outreach: Arn and Anne Menconi, Michelle Hartel, Jon Garrou, Seth Ehrlich, Jody Link, Thersa Bisio; and the hundreds of adults that give of themselves to be positive mentors to these young people. Mr. President, I wish to recognize SOS Outreach for its work and extend my wishes for its continued success.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SALAZAR. Madam President, what is the pending business?

Mr. SALAZAR. I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Madam President, I come to the floor to plead with my colleagues that we move forward to address the issues of agriculture and rural communities and food security for our country in moving forward with consideration and passage of the 2007 farm bill. In this Chamber, there needs to be more champions of rural America and agriculture. Those farmers and ranchers around our Nation who today are the ones working to provide food for the tables of all of America, those farmers and ranchers, when you meet them--because when you shake their hand in communities in my State, places such as Lamar or Craig or down in Dove Creek, in my home area of the San Luis Valley, Manassa, it is a rough hand. It is a rough hand that is weathered through the difficult times of having had to eke out a living from the soil and what oftentimes is a very difficult time. Rural America, in my opinion, is part of the forgotten America. Rural America has been forgotten by Washington, DC for far too long. Rural America has been forgotten by this President and this administration for far too long. Now we have an opportunity with legislation crafted in the spirit of bipartisanship, through the leadership of Senators Harkin and Chambliss and a number of other members of the Agriculture Committee and the Finance Committee, under the leadership of Senators Baucus and Grassley, to make sure that rural America is not forgotten. We have an opportunity to open a new chapter of opportunity for rural America. We can do this with the 2007 farm bill. Rural America is in trouble. When you look at this map of the United States, when you look at both the red and yellow zones, they are all part of what we consider to be rural America. There are about 1,700 counties in what is characterized as rural America in this great land of ours, the United States. More than half of those counties have been declining in population. Across the heartland of the United States, you see great swathes of red where we see towns and communities that are withering on the vine. This 2007 farm bill will help revitalize rural America in a way that has not happened before. When we look at the towns and counties across each one of the 50 States, I am sure any one of us could find many places such as this storefront in Brush, CO where half of the main street in many of the towns has essentially been closed down. This is the main street of Brush. There is a for sale sign on this building. When you go to the towns in my native valley, in Conejos County, Costilla County, I can tell you that in the town of Antonito, CO, at one point in time, 15 years ago, there were four or five gas stations on the main street. Today there is one gas station. I remember a few years ago there were multiple grocery stores. Today there is one small grocery store. I haven't done the count when I have gone through the main street of Antonito, as I often do back in the San Luis Valley, but I would guess that 60 to 70 percent of the entire main street of the town has been boarded up and is either not being used or is for sale. The town of Antonito, like the town of Brush, like so many towns and communities across rural America, is calling out for Congress to do something to help revitalize rural America. We, in the 2007 farm bill that has been crafted in the best spirit of bipartisanship, are attempting to do so. It will be a shame for Washington, DC and for this Chamber to allow the politics of obstructionism we see going on here to essentially kill the promise of rural America represented in the 2007 farm bill. Over the last several days and over the last month, we have seen many efforts to try to move forward to a conclusion. Yet we haven't been able to move forward because there is a filibuster in place. I have heard the majority leader come to the floor and say: Let's move forward and consider the farm bill. We will make an agreement where we will allow 10 Republican amendments and 5 Democratic amendments and 2 other amendments, a total of 17 amendments. What has happened when he has propounded that unanimous consent request? It has been objected to. He has said, as Senator Harkin has suggested, let's take 10 amendments on either side or 12 amendments on either side. Let's come up with an agreement that puts us on the pathway of making the farm bill even better through the amendment process but getting the farm bill passed. Yet what is happening in our inability to move forward? There are objections on the other side because there is a paradigm that has become evident in this place. And that is to try to slow walk any kind of progress we might be able to make on this legislation, on AMT, on the Energy bill, or anything else. We hopefully will find the courage in this Chamber to make sure that the public purposes for which we were elected will ultimately triumph over the politics of division which we see taking place. Doing nothing is not an option. Obstructionism essentially is leading to that result of doing nothing. The farmers and ranchers of America don't see this as a Democratic and Republican issue. They want results. They want us to work together to try to get results and to pass this 2007 farm bill. I urge my colleagues to redouble their efforts to try to find agreement so we can move forward, so we can have a farm bill that is good for America. As we talk about the farm bill, it is also important, as my good friend from North Dakota, Senator Conrad, has said, to understand that this is much more than just about conservation and energy and rural development, the things I care so much about. It is also about another thing all of us care a lot about, and that is the nutrition of those who are most vulnerable in society. That is why in this farm bill about 67 percent of all the money that goes into this farm bill actually goes into nutrition programs for America. Yes, newspapers across the country that sometimes are critical of the commodity parts of the farm bill are wrong, because they don't focus on the other parts of the legislation. They don't talk about what we do for nutrition in this farm bill. They don't talk about what we are trying to do with the fresh fruits and vegetables program included in this bill at a level which has never been done before. For my small State of Colorado, what it basically means is there is going to be $45 million available to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to those young kids in our schools so they can grow up healthy and learn in the schools they currently attend. What we are doing is, we are spreading what has been a pilot program for fresh fruits and vegetables across the entire 50 States. That is a good program. We should remind Americans that when we talk about the farm bill, we are talking about nutrition. I also want to talk a bit about one aspect of this farm bill and that is title 9, the energy part. When I look at what is happening across America today, I think that the energy opportunity for America presents one of the signature opportunities for this Nation and for this world in the 21st century. There is no doubt that we have come to realize, progressives and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, that the addiction we have to foreign oil is something that must end. It is in the fields of rural America that we will find a significant part of the answer to get rid of our dependence on foreign oil. That conclusion is one that will sustain a clean energy revolution in our country for not only years but for decades to come. We will find ways of harnessing the power of the Sun, the power of the wind, the power of biofuels, the power of geothermal capacities to get us to the point of energy independence. When I think about the fact that Brazil, a Third World country in South America, could become an energy-independent country and we here, the most powerful Nation on the globe, have not been able to do that, we have gone in reverse, we have had a failed energy policy. When we have gone from a point in time in the 1970s when Richard Nixon, then President, coined the term ``energy independence'' and President Jimmy Carter stood before the Nation and said we had to attack our energy addiction with the moral imperative of war, at that point we were importing 30 percent of the oil from foreign countries. Today, in March of this year, we imported 67 percent of our oil from foreign countries. So we need to become energy independent and, yes, this farm bill in title 9 invests significant resources in rural America that will help us become energy independent. This picture is a wind farm in Prowers County, CO. We invest significant resources in wind power in my State, not only for these larger wind farms which can produce several hundred megawatts of power but also for small farms and industrial areas where you see these small windmills that can actually produce enough electric generation to meet all the needs of a farm or a small business area or to help make sure we are providing electricity to places that are remote and far away. When we look at this 2007 farm bill, one of the marquis aspects of this bill is that it helps create a new opportunity for rural America and helps us grow our way to energy independence. On that one ground alone, we should all be willing to move forward to come up with an agreement that will allow us to move this farm bill forward. Two years ago, when I went back to Colorado, shortly after having been elected to the Senate, I asked people to try to find a place where I could go and visit an ethanol plant. There were none at that time. Today we now have four ethanol plants like the one that is located in Sterling, CO in this picture. We are just beginning to see the energy revolution that is revitalizing that whole red part of the eastern plains of the State of Colorado. This farm bill will help us move forward in that continuing positive direction. Another aspect of this bill which is so important, and we must keep reminding people, is conservation. When you think about conservation and what this farm bill does, this is the most significant investment ever made in conservation in the history of the United States under this farm bill. Through these investments we will be able to help make sure the water--which is the lifeblood of our rural communities; which is the lifeblood of the Nation; which is the lifeblood, certainly, of my State, which is the mother of rivers in the western part of the United States of America--that we are able to take advantage of using the water resources of our country in a positive and constructive way. Shown in this picture is an EQIP project which is in northern Colorado, where you can actually see an EQIP project which is conserving water in the livestock tanks that have been placed out here on this ranch. But it goes beyond water tanks and water conservation. There are also a whole host of other programs that we deal with in conservation. There is a Grassland Reserve Program. There is a Conservation Reserve Program. There is a CSP. There is a Wetlands Reserve Program. This picture is taken of a pond which has been restored in the northern part of my State which is part of the Wetlands Reserve Program that helps us make sure we have quality wetlands. I want to make this quick point about conservation. When you think about the people who care about our land and our water, farmers and ranchers know about the importance of land and water because they know that is their way of life. If they do not take care of their land and water, they know the next year's crop is not going to be there because their way of living is taken away from them. So farmers and ranchers are among the best environmentalists, among the best conservationists we know. Seventy percent of our lands across this great United States of America are owned by farmers and ranchers. So the conservation program that we have in the national farm bill, in this 2007 farm bill, is absolutely essential for us to be able to protect the lands and waters of these United States. So I hope all of the conservation organizations that are out there, knowing we are working on the farm bill today, and the millions of Americans who care about conservation make sure their Senators know we should move forward on this farm bill in order to achieve the conservation objectives of this farm bill. They should let their Senators know this gridlock, this obstructionism we see is allowing politics to triumph over the very important public purposes which we are trying to achieve in conservation. Let me finally say, there are many other aspects of this farm bill which are important, including the safety net which takes a small portion, about 13 percent or so, of the entire farm bill budget, and that is the support system to make sure we are able to keep farmers and ranchers on the land. As part of what we have done in trying to be innovative and moving forward with programs that will help rural America and will help farmers and ranchers, we, for the first time, under the leadership of Senator Baucus and Senator Grassley, have included a fund to be able to deal with the disasters that affect rural America so often. In this picture behind me, you see what has become the norm in my State over the last 6 years, where we have seen some of the record droughts in Colorado. In fact, we had the most severe drought in my State of Colorado in almost 500 years just a few years ago which devastated agriculture across the State from corner to corner. Shown in this picture is a cornfield in Washington County. Now, some people will see this cornfield, and they will say: It looks like a bunch of dead plants. A farmer looks at this cornfield, and a farmer sees a dream--a dream that will not be realized. In this picture, a farmer will look at it, and the farmer will remember the day when he went out and tilled the soil, when he fertilized the soil, when he planted the seed. The farmer will look at this picture, and he will remember the day when he saw the first green come through the soil as these corn seeds became plants. In this picture, he also will see the dream he had at that point, which was that he would be able to produce enough corn from his farm to be able to make a living, to be able to pay off the operating line at the bank, to be able to make the mortgage payment for the land. The farmer will see a lot in this picture. Yet we have not had a responsible disaster program for agriculture in Washington, DC, for the longest of times. So every time there is a disaster somewhere, we have to come multiple times to the Senate, to the Congress, to try to find disaster emergency relief, which takes a lot of time. We have been through that effort dozens of times over the last 20 years. So it is time we fund a permanent disaster fund, which is included in this legislation, thanks to the leadership of Senator Baucus and Senator Grassley and other members of the Finance Committee who have worked on this issue so hard. Let me, in conclusion, say once again, I have come to the floor to speak about the farm bill because it is something we can easily do. We have 2\1/2\ weeks before Christmas. This is legislation we have worked on for a very long time. Under the leadership of Senator Chambliss, several years ago, he held hearings on reforms to the farm bill all over this country. Under the leadership of Chairman Harkin, this year, the first hearing on the farm bill was held in my State in Brighton, CO, in Adams County, one of the largest agricultural counties in my State. The effort has yielded a farm bill which is a good farm bill which should allow us to move forward to have a final farm bill coming out of the Senate. Now we have seen, again, Senator Reid come to this floor, and he has said to the Republican leadership: We want to move forward on the farm bill. Senator Reid has said: We will take 10 Republican amendments to 5 Democratic amendments. Let's have a debate on those. Let's set up some time constraints on that debate, and let's get down to the point where we can have a final vote on this very important bill. Yet the answer is: We object--on the other side--to anything happening here on this farm bill. I am hopeful the champions of rural America, the champions of agriculture on the Republican side, come over to join us to help us move this farm bill forward. I hope the people of America put pressure on the Members of the Senate to move forward to bring us to a conclusion on this 2007 farm bill so at the end of the session we can go home for Christmas and we can say we have done something good for the food security of our Nation. We ought to remember that sign on my desk that says: ``No Farms, No Food.'' ``No Farms, No Food.'' Every American eats. This farm bill is essential to make sure we maintain the independence and the food security we have had with food in America. I am very hopeful we are able to move forward with this farm bill.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to speak for up to 5 minutes as in morning business.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to make a very simple statement; that is, about our food security in America. For all of my life--as a farmer and a rancher and attorney general--I have recognized importance of food security for America. On my desk in my Senate office here in Washington, DC, there is a sign that says: ``No Farms, No Food.'' It is important for all of us in this Chamber to recognize the importance of the food security of the United States of America by moving forward with the passage of the 2007 farm bill. As the Presiding Officer well knows, the Agriculture Committee, under the leadership of Senator Harkin and Senator Chambliss, worked very hard--worked for weeks and weeks and months and months--to come up with what is a very good farm bill. It is a very good farm bill that invests in the nutritional needs of our country. It is a very good farm bill that helps us unveil the clean energy future of America and helps us grow our way to energy independence. It is a very good farm bill that invests such as no other farm bill ever has in the conservation opportunities we need to protect our land and our water in America. It is a very good farm bill in all respects, and it is paid for. It is a farm bill that is paid for. We have been on this farm bill now in the Senate for the last several weeks, since before Thanksgiving, and have not been able to move ahead. The majority leader, Senator Reid, has propounded a proposal where we would move forward with a set of discrete amendments, giving the Republicans 10 amendments, having the Democrats have 5 amendments and 2 additional amendments would be considered. It seems to me that is a very eminently fair proposal, and I would ask my colleagues, both on the Democratic side and the Republican side, to stand behind that procedural framework so we can get onto the farm bill and get this farm bill across the finish line. It is my view the people of America deserve no less from this Senate, and I am very hopeful we will be able to come to that agreement very soon.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all time be yielded back and that the Senate now stand in recess until 2:15 p.m.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, December 4, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. in order to conduct a hearing entitled, ``The New Madrid Seismic Zone: Whose Fault Is It Anyway?''

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, December 4, 2007, at 2:30 p.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building, for the purposes of conducting a hearing. Agenda S. 1581, Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2007; S. 2307, Global Change Research Improvement Act of 2007; S. 2355, Climate Change Adaptation Act of 2007; S. 2332, Media Ownership Act of 2007; Nominations for Promotion in U.S. Coast Guard (PN 1039 and PN 1055); and Nominations for Promotion in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commission Corps (PN 1014). THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate in order to conduct a hearing entitled ``Developing a Comprehensive Response to Food Safety'' on Tuesday, December 4, 2007, at 10:30 a.m. in SD-430. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Committee on the Judiciary

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, in order to conduct a hearing entitled ``Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances: Addressing Health Care and Law Enforcement Priorities'' on Tuesday, December 4, 2007, at 10 a.m. in room SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Witness List Panel I: Joseph T. Rannazzisi, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of Diversion Control, Alexandria, VA and Tony Trenkle, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Baltimore, MD; Panel II: Laura Adams, President and CEO, Rhode Island Quality Institute, Providence, RI; Kevin Hutchinson, CEO, Sure Scripts, Alexandria, VA; David Miller, Chief Security Officer, Covisint, Detroit, MI; and Mike A. Podgurski, R.Ph., Vice President, Pharmacy Services, Rite Aid Corporation, Camp Hill, PA. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, December 4, 2007, at 9:30 a.m., in order to conduct a hearing entitled, ``Credit Card Practices: Unfair Interest Rate Increases.'' THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Madam President, I rise today to speak in favor of the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, which I intend to support tomorrow morning with my vote. First, I thank Senator Baucus and Senator Grassley for their efforts in shepherding the Peru Free Trade Agreement through the Finance Committee, where it passed with very strong bipartisan support. I congratulate them for bringing the agreement to the Senate floor today, and I thank our majority leader, Senator Reid, for giving us the opportunity to have the free-trade agreement debated on the Senate floor today. At the outset, Madam President, I put this in historical context for me. It was almost 409 years ago that my family founded the city of Santa Fe, NM. And in the four centuries since, you see a very unique and positive relationship between the United States and the nations to the south of the United States. It is a relationship which is bound together in history and in culture and in the landscape of the Western Hemisphere. It is a future which I hope we can work on together in the United States with our colleague nations to the south in order to develop an even stronger hemisphere. It was in that vein of thinking that Senator John Kennedy, at the outset of his administration, spoke fervently about the future of the Alliance For Progress with the Western Hemisphere. It is in that same vein that I was honored to be a part of a codel that was led by our own majority leader, Senator Reid, before he was sworn in to be majority leader, when he took six Senators to Bolivia and to Peru and to Ecuador, trying to make a statement to South America that they were not to be a forgotten continent. It was in that same vein that in my very first meeting with President George W. Bush, I spoke to him about the importance of not having every ounce of his foreign policy agenda consumed by what was happening in Iraq, but to make sure that he was looking at events and relationships throughout the world, and that one of those most important of relationships is the relationship we have with the nations in Latin America, with both Central and South America. It is in that vein that this legislation, the Peru Free Trade Agreement, is important for us as we move forward in trying to establish the right kind of relationships between the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. I believe in the benefits of free and fair trade. I believe that by working to lower trade barriers and to expand access to foreign markets we can strengthen the U.S. economy in a way that benefits both businesses and workers and enhances our relationship with friends and allies in important parts of the world. The Peru Free Trade Agreement is the first of four FTAs that are currently pending in Congress, three of which are with countries in South America and Central America. As such, the Peru FTA represents an important step forward in an effort to strengthen our ties, both economic and diplomatic, with our neighbors in this hemisphere. Earlier this year, as I said, I traveled with Senators Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Bob Bennett, Judd Gregg, and Kent Conrad to South America. The last stop on our trip was the nation of Peru. I came away from that visit with a strong sense of how important it is for us to bolster our economic and diplomatic ties with Peru and countries such as Peru. Doing so will be critical to our economic and our national security and to the effort to restore America's standing in the world community. The trade agreement we are discussing today is largely possible because of changes that have taken place in Peru in the last decade. Annual exports over the last 15 years have increased from $3.4 billion to $23 billion; annual per capita income for the people of Peru has doubled, from $1,500 to $3,200. That is a significant economic set of changes within Peru and within our trade relationship with the country of Peru. In the meantime, coca production, a major concern of ours with respect to Peru, has decreased dramatically, thanks in large part to the eradication, interdiction, and other efforts to develop economic opportunities for the Peruvian people. Perhaps most important, incidents of terrorism have decreased from nearly 3,000 in 1991 to less than 100 in 2006. Let me say that again. Incidents of terrorism, violent militancy in Peru, have decreased from nearly 3,000 in 1991--that wasn't so long ago--to now less than 100 in the year 2006. The United States has been a strong partner in helping to keep Peru on this promising path. As a result, along with countries such as Colombia and Brazil, Peru helps to form an oasis of favorable sentiments toward the United States in a region where our standing has taken major negative hits in recent years. When our delegation, led by Senator Reid, met with President Alan Garcia in Peru, we had an opportunity to discuss how the relationship between our two nations has developed over the course of the past several decades, beginning with the key role Peru played in World War II when it provided the United States with the military bases we so much needed from which we monitored the activities of our military and our Navy in the Pacific. At that meeting with President Garcia, we also discussed President Kennedy's Alliance for Progress, President Kennedy's initiative to strengthen ties between North and South America at the beginning of the Cold War. When President Kennedy outlined the goals of the alliance in 1961, he proposed--and I quote from his historic statement: . . . to build a hemisphere where all men can hope for a suitable standard of living and all can live out their lives in dignity and in freedom. . . . Let us once again transform the American Continent into a vast crucible of revolutionary ideas and efforts, a tribute to the power of the creative energies of free men and women, an example to all the world that liberty and progress walk hand in hand. That was President Kennedy's effort to try to shine the spotlight of a new relationship between the United States and the countries to the south in Latin America. The Alliance for Progress is not a perfect alliance, but it certainly gave a message which has been missing throughout much of the history of the United States and certainly missing the last 6 years, that the relationship between the United States and South America is important from a strategic point of view for national security because these are the countries located in this hemisphere, that border us to the south, and also because of the economic relationship between the United States and Latin America. Passing this free-trade agreement will help us build on the trade relationship that already exists between the United States and Peru and, in my view, will help us move in the right direction. I wish to speak briefly about why the Peru Free Trade Agreement is important. First, from my point of view, the Peru Free Trade Agreement is important for America's economic security. It will benefit both businesses and workers in the long run. In an increasingly global economy, America is facing growing competition on a number of different fronts. In order to preserve our standing as the world economic leader and to ensure that American businesses continue to set the standard for the world community, we must expand economic opportunities in foreign markets. If foreign countries face obstacles to trade with the United States, they will take their business elsewhere. It is worth pointing out that many Peruvian businesses already have unfettered access to the U.S. market as a result of Andean Trade Preference Agreement, which we have supported here on the floor of this Chamber. U.S. businesses, including the farmers and ranchers of my State, deserve to have that same access to the Peruvian market. Second, the Peru FTA and others like it are important for America's national security interests around the world. In a part of the world where negative feelings toward the United States have grown and grown in recent years and as we strive to restore America's standing around the world, it is vitally important to recognize those friendships we do have and to do whatever we can to strengthen those friendships. Peru is a prominent example of an ally that has stood by us year after year. It would be a mistake not to return the favor here today and tomorrow by helping Peru continue its impressive progress of the past 15 years. Additionally, a growing Peruvian economy with increased ties to the United States will help Peru continue to make progress on human rights and serve as an effective buffer against terrorist groups that have claimed more than 35,000 lives in Peru over the last 30 years. Finally, I am proud of the historic relationship between the United States and Latin America, but it is a relationship that we, candidly, must work on to strengthen into the 21st century and beyond. Of course, free-trade policies, as the Presiding Officer has pointed out often on the floor of the Senate, have consequences that we cannot overlook and that must be addressed. As the U.S. economy evolves to meet the demands of the 21st century and adjusts to handle increased competition from foreign businesses here in America, we all know there are winners and there are losers. That is why we need to ensure that the playing field is a fair playing field by doing our best to hold our trading partners to the same environmental and labor standards American businesses must meet. The bipartisan May 10 agreement of this year, which has been incorporated into the Peru FTA, is an important part of that effort. All of us-- Democrats and Republicans, businesses, workers, and the environmental community--need to work to build on that progress to ensure our trade policies can strengthen our economic security and our national security in a way that is fair and that does not hurt workers and does not hurt the environment. We also need to act as soon as possible to reauthorize and strengthen the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program so that American workers, businesses, and farmers who are adversely affected by our trade policies can receive the assistance they need as they strive to be part of the 21st century global economy. I believe we can move forward on trade in a way that addresses these legitimate concerns without preventing us from expanding opportunities for American businesses in foreign markets. I believe the Peru Free Trade Agreement does an excellent job of meeting both objectives. For all the reasons I have outlined today, I supported the free-trade agreement when it was in the Finance Committee, and I will support it on the floor of the Senate. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to speak in connection with the 2007 farm bill which was being debated on the floor of the Senate over the last several weeks prior to the time of Thanksgiving. As I rise to speak about the farm bill, I wish to say thank you to my colleague and good friend from Massachusetts, Senator Kennedy, for again bringing to the attention of the American public the importance of what is happening economically across the spectrum of America today, which is that there is a great sense of concern and instability and nervousness among the American public about what is happening in their own economic lives and whether their children will have access to higher education, whether they will be able to afford health care and health care insurance, whether gas prices are going to essentially force them to not be able to afford the essentials of life. I think within all of that, one of the things Senator Kennedy so eloquently speaks to is this covenant of America, that somehow we are all here as Americans in a common mission to try to create a better world for our children and for our grandchildren and for the rest of humanity. The one thing we cannot afford to do is to allow that covenant to be broken. We in this Chamber of the U.S. Senate, working in a bipartisan way, have an obligation to ensure that the covenant of America is something we honor, something we give dignity to in our efforts through our work. As part of that work, one of the things I think is very critical is that we not forget those parts of America which, in many ways, have been the forgotten America, and those are the communities of rural America. Those are communities like the towns and the counties where I come from and the county of Conejos County, which is one of the poorest counties in the United States of America, which, no matter how well the rest of America is doing, seems to be struggling on the vine. So it is important for us in the Senate, in the weeks and days ahead, to do everything we can to make sure we pass the farm bill because it is a farm bill that is good for America. It is a farm bill that is good for nutrition. As my good friend Kent Conrad and my good friend Senator Harkin have kept reminding the people of America, 67 percent of the bill we are working on is for nutrition. That aspect of our legislation is invented to provide assistance to those who are most in need. So I am hopeful that as we move forward this week and next week, we as the Senate will come together on a bipartisan basis to move forward with a farm bill that is so essential to the food security of the Nation. I wish to thank Chairman Harkin and Senator Chambliss for their hard work on this farm bill we have put so much time on for the last 2\1/2\ years. I also thank Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley for their work on the Finance Committee because their contribution to this farm bill has been so essential to get us to a point where we have a forward-thinking and balanced bill on the floor. I know that as I speak this afternoon, there are negotiations underway with respect to whether we can narrow the number of amendments to be considered on the floor so that we can move forward to consideration and hopefully final passage of this bill. A lot of folks in this country are looking to us in the Senate this week and next to see whether we have the courage to pass a farm bill. In my view, we must pass this farm bill. It is a bill that helps the 50 million Americans living in rural communities. It is a bill that helps kids who deserve fresh fruits and vegetables with their lunches. It is a bill that helps put healthy and safe food on the tables of the people of this country. It helps us reduce our dependence on foreign oil and build a clean energy economy for the 21st century, and in my view that clean energy economy will be the signature domestic and foreign policy issue of our future here in America. A few days ago, I was in the San Luis Valley with my family at our ranch. Our land, which we have ranched on for five generations, is just a few miles north of the New Mexico-Colorado border in a county that reflects many of the challenges that are facing rural America. Almost a quarter of the residents in my home county of Conejos--that is one in four--live below the poverty line, with a median household income of around $27,000 a year. In the neighboring county, Costilla County, household income is about half the median in the United States. It is an inescapable fact of America that rural communities across the country are struggling. Median income in rural counties nationwide is $11,000 lower than the national median. If you live in a rural community, that means you are going to be making a lot less money than if you live in a nonrural community. Jobs and population are disappearing in these counties. I wish to point out this map. It is a map of what has happened just in the last 5 years here in the United States of America. The counties that are in red on this map are counties that have lost population. These are part of the rural America we are trying to address in this bill by opening a whole new chapter of opportunity that will give the farmers and ranchers and residents of these rural counties and States and communities for the good way of life, the way the rest of America has that good way of life. All of the counties on this map that are either red or yellow are counties that are losing population and are falling behind the national average. Many of those counties are counties such as the ones in my State. There you will find schools with declining enrollments, you will find hospitals and health clinics across those counties that are closing, and you will find stores on Main Streets that are getting boarded up. Here is a picture of downtown Brush, CO. Mr. President, you know these towns and communities in Virginia the way I do in my State of Colorado. I can go across the eastern plains or the southern part of my State, and in town after town out in the rural areas of my State, these Main Streets of America are being boarded up and are for sale because of the declining economic vitality in those communities. These are places where the tractor dealerships, the hardware stores, and the feed stores are closing down. You know from all of the signs you see out there that farmers and ranchers are struggling. This has certainly been the case in Colorado. We have had a severe drought in my State now for the last 8 years, and we are now just pulling out of that drought. In 2002, we lost 30 percent of our wheat on account of the drought. The acres that were harvested had an average yield of 23 bushels per acre--not enough to cover the operating and overhead costs of producing those 23 bushels per acre. In 2004, it happened again, and we lost 600,000 acres of wheat production in my State of Colorado. In 2006, again, our wheat losses amounted to around $95 million. But it is not just wheat and corn; it is also what has happened with respect to disasters in my State. This is a picture taken in Washington County, named after George Washington, right outside of Akron, CO, where you see the results of drought which essentially have annihilated this field from any kind of yield or production on the eastern plains. Over the last few weeks, I have heard people, both in this Chamber and especially in the media, paint a rosy picture of our rural economies. They say corn and soy and wheat prices are up, and they argue, therefore, that farmers are doing well and perhaps a farm bill is not needed. They use this as a ground for attacking and blocking the bill that is before us--this bill, which is a bipartisan product. But it is no secret that the commodity prices in the business section aren't a very good indication of how farmers and ranchers are actually doing. If corn prices are up, that doesn't necessarily mean farms and ranches in Baca County or Yuma County, CO, are doing much better. I can tell you that the cattle business, for one--the cattle business, which I know well--gets a whole lot more difficult when feed prices are high. Where has Washington been while our farmers and ranchers have been fighting to stay afloat? For years, in my view, Washington has turned a blind eye to the problems in rural America, perhaps because we in rural America don't have the clout people in urban America have because of their votes. It is a neglect that is surfacing yet again among those who hold this legislation from going forward. This neglect is disheartening when you know just how much possibility and promise there is in the rural communities of America. With modest investments, rural America can be the engine of our clean energy economy, fueling an alternative energy revolution that capitalizes on the hard work, the productivity, and the entrepreneurship of our farmers and ranchers across our great land. It can continue to provide us safe and healthy food, and it can continue to protect millions of acres of land and waterways that we value. Here is a picture of one of the educational programs in my State called EQIP which is addressed in this farm bill. This picture shows the farm bill at work, helping to protect our land and our water while keeping our farmers the most productive in the world. These are some of our farmers from the Saint Vrain and Boulder Creek watersheds learning some new practices that reduce tillage and increase the yields from our farms. The field day which is shown in this picture was part of a 3-year EQIP conservation innovation grant that was done in partnership with the local conservation district, with the local farmers, seed companies, and farm equipment dealers. At the end of the day, these farmers went home with a few ways to boost their bottom line while protecting the land and water of Colorado and America. The farm bill has an enormous impact on this Nation's land and water. We think about America the beautiful, this great land. Well, non- Federal agricultural and forest lands occupy about 70 percent of the lands in the lower 48 States. So 70 percent of the lands in the 48 States is what is at the heart of this farm bill. Seven out of ten acres in the contiguous United States are affected by the farm bill. These lands provide the habitat and corridors that support healthy wildlife populations, filter groundwater supplies, regulate surface water flows, sequester carbon, and provide the open space and vistas we all love. As I learned growing up on our ranch in southern Colorado, farmers and ranchers are some of the best stewards of these resources. They want to take care of their land because they know that taking care of their land and water is essential for their livelihood. Our farmers also want to be very much a part of a clean energy future for America. This is a picture of an ethanol plant, which is new, in Sterling, CO. This ethanol plant produces about 42 million gallons of fuel a year. This is only one of three plants in our State that have come on line just in the last 2 years and partly as a result of the work that was done in this Chamber in the 2005 Energy Policy Act. It is part of the renewable energy revolution that is taking place across America. Title 9 of the farm bill addresses this renewable energy future for our country. A fourth ethanol plant just like this one has come on line in Colorado just in the last week. But it goes beyond biofuels, which is a central part of this section of the farm bill. It goes to other kinds of renewable energy. It goes to programs such as wind. Here is a wind farm in Prowers County in the eastern plains of Colorado, out in that part of the ``forgotten America.'' It is that part that is so red in my State because we know that is part of the area that was part of the great Dust Bowl, which, even at this point in time, in 2007, is a place that is so sparsely populated but has so much potential for our future. This wind farm in Prowers County is part of an effort in our State whereby, at the end of 2008, we project we will be producing over 1,000 megawatts of power from wind in Colorado. That is the equivalent of the amount of electricity produced by three coal-fired powerplants, and we have been able to do that in a period of 2 years. We planted the seeds for these kinds of projects in the 2005 Energy Policy Act and in the Energy bills we passed earlier this year, which I hope we get to refurbish and pass again in the next several days. But the farm bill is also part of that. The 2007 farm bill takes the next step by helping farmers and ranchers deploy the renewable energy technologies that have been developed in lots of places around our country, including the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, CO. With the $1.3 billion that this bill devotes to energy programs, farmers will be able to apply for grants to develop biorefineries and to improve the handling, harvest, transport, and storage of feedstocks for biofuels. The bill includes tax credits for small wind turbines and cellulosic biofuel production. And it stimulates research into the methods and technologies that will allow the most productive lands in the world to provide more and more of our energy. The farm bill, in title IX, shows us how rural America will help us grow our way to energy independence. Reducing our dependence upon foreign oil will be the central national security, environmental security, and economic security challenge for all of us in the coming decades. It is also a tremendous opportunity. The country that successfully replaces its imports of foreign oil with clean home-grown energy will reap competitive and technological advantages that will keep it out front in the world for decades to come. Mr. President, it is time to put the interests of rural America before the politics of obstructionism. I urge my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, to find a way forward in which we can narrow the number of amendments that have been filed on this legislation, so that under the leadership of Senator Harkin and Senator Chambliss we can have an opportunity to vote on a final farm bill as part of the Christmas present that we should be delivering to the American people. It is my hope that, as we move forward on the farm bill, we move forward with equal fervor in having the Energy bill concluded, which is now on its way to passage in the House of Representatives. I yield the floor.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following my remarks in morning business for about 15 minutes, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 480, H.R. 3688, the United States- Peru Trade Promotion Agreement; that the statutory time be reduced to 10 hours, equally divided as provided for under the statute; that when the Senate resumes the measure on Tuesday, December 4, there be 90 minutes remaining for debate equally divided; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the measure be set aside until 2:15 p.m. and, without further intervening action or debate, the Senate proceed to vote on passage of H.R. 3688 at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday. This unanimous consent agreement has been cleared by both sides.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaty transmitted to the Senate on December 3, 2007, by the President of the United States: Treaty with Australia Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation (Treaty Document 110-10). I further ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the first time; that it be referred with accompanying papers to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the President's message be printed in the Record.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Banking Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 238 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a Dodd- Shelby amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m., Tuesday, December 4; that on Tuesday, following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour deemed to be expired, and the time for the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day; that there then be a period of morning business for 60 minutes with the time equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, and the first half controlled by the Republicans and the final half controlled by the majority; that at the close of morning business, the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 3688 as provided under a previous order; that following the specified debate time provided on Tuesday, the Senate then stand in recess until 2:15 p.m. in order to accommodate the respective party conference meetings.