Thank you very much for the invitation to be with you this morning and allowing me an opportunity to reminisce with you as you are giving these awards to very distinguished individuals and recalling some of the early history of the National Cotton Council and it brought back good memories for me as well.
I was just thinking sitting out there with my friends from Mississippi that Mississippi cotton farmers were really the reason that I was able to take office at the point I did after my election in 1978 in the U.S. Senate there by getting ahead of some of the other newly-elected Senators and get a position on the Senate Ag Committee. I didn’t know, and nobody could tell back then, exactly what the ramifications would be, but the reality was that it enabled me to get on the Ag. Committee, but it also enabled me to get on the Appropriations Committee as early as I did ahead of a lot of my colleagues and now to be the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee is a direct result of those early decisions made by my friends in Mississippi, some of whom had helped in my election and some of whom who had helped try to elect others who were running that year.
When Senator Eastland retired in 1978, it created a big vacuum in our minds in the U.S. Senate and there were a lot of candidates, as you might imagine. But Frank Mitchner called me, I remember after my election, and others suggested we needed to try and get Senator Eastland to resign after his election, but before the swearing in of new Senators in January if the Governor would agree to appoint me, who had been elected early, then the Senate would have the opportunity to give me seniority over some of the other newly-elected Senators. Well, that’s something that might sound reasonable and easy to do, but it really wasn’t. The Governor had run for the Senate and he didn’t think much to appoint me. If Senator Eastland resigned early, matter of fact, I think he even said that one of the cotton farmers that approached him on the subject said “what if I want to be on the Senate?” and anyway, it all worked out. I was sworn in I think on December 28 in the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson, Mississippi.
For those who had become involved in that, it was an interesting experience for all of us. But I have always appreciated the fact that the cotton industry was important in our state. I knew that very well. It’s also very important in our nation. It’s been a pleasure to work with others like Charlie Stenholm who was honored here today. I couldn’t help but remember back in 1981, I think we were writing a new farm bill, and the conference between the House and Senate decided to ask Charlie on the part of the House and me on part of the Senate to go off in a room and help work out the details of the cotton title of that farm bill, and that was an awesome and scary prospect for me -- fairly new member of the Senate at the time, but we worked together and we worked together in harmony and I’ve always have had a great respect and of deep appreciation for Charlie Stenholm and the work that he’s done over the years. Not just in writing farm bills, but in being a leader in the Congress. In terms of his integrity his knowledge of the issues, his commitment to excellence and you have chosen well today in awarding him this recognition for his work over the years and I look forward to being his friend for a long time in the future.
We’ve completed some important legislation here in the Congress in the last few years and months, even. We have completed a major reorganization of the nation’s intelligence gathering committees and commissions. We’ll be working on a supplemental appropriations bill that will submitted by the President on February 7th that includes funding for continued operations in Iraq, so that we can successfully conclude the mission there. And the votes in Iraq from the last few days and the culmination yesterday of the elections of the new transitional government speak very strongly of the commitments that the people in Iraq have to support the new democratization of that country. So, we’re going to continue our efforts to help the President carry out his goals there to restore a government that is friendly to U.S. interests and can take its place among others in the region in the cause of peace and stability.
We passed an Omnibus Appropriations bill for the 2005 year -- it continued some very important ag research programs at our land grant universities. It included also, as you know, $47.5 million dollars for the Boll Weevil Eradication Program, which we continue to support very strongly and hope that it pays off as we hope it will. There are other issues important to the cotton industry that have been supported in those appropriations measures and we are looking to communicate and stay up-to-date with all of you through John Maguire and others who you have working at the National Cotton Council so we’ll be aware of the challenges that you face and can help insure that the Congress is aware of them and responds to them. Those are great staff members that you have, truly outstanding in every way.
Our Appropriations Committee is going to have its work cut out for us because we have a lot of pressure on the budget with a big deficit that’s been accumulated over the last number of years. We have a $2.3 trillion budget now that at the Federal level. The Appropriations Committee doesn’t have jurisdiction over all of that, only about a third of it. Most of the budget is not on automatic pilot, but it is spending that is required by law and not in the discretion of the Appropriations process of the Congress. But, this coming year were going to see a lot of pressure on those mandated spending programs and the writing of the budget resolutions.
In response, the President’s budget submission on February 7th will be a very important part of that process. I think we’re fortunate this year in the Senate in having Judd Gregg, Senator from New Hampshire, to chair the Senate Budget Committee. He may not know a lot about southern agriculture, but he’s a good friend. He’s willing to listen, he’s fair-minded and we hope that we are able to help to influence the content of that budget resolution so that it doesn’t contain punitive requirements for programs that support southern agriculture.
Congress will soon start work on that budget resolution, and I think we need your attention to that process and involvement in that process. We have others who are in key positions, too, in this new Senate organization. Saxby Chambliss, as you know, is chairman of the Senate Ag Committee. I was very pleased to see him be able to take that chairmanship. It will insure that agriculture is treated fairly. I’m confident that his strong leadership will continue to work in a positive and successful way to provide a safety net for America’s farmers.
The Agricultural Community has a very convincing story to tell about its importance to our nation’s economy and the American people. The budget that we have for Agriculture programs is only one-half of 1% of the entire federal budget, but it helps sustain an industry that is responsible for 15% of our nation’s gross domestic product and 25 million jobs in America.
The farm bill of 2002 has resulted in savings of nearly $17 billion below the projected cost of the commodity programs and I think the current farm bill should remain unchanged, providing that safety net without modification until it expires in 2007. We ought to carry out the terms of that farm bill. At the same time, the outlook according to the economists and those making projections, is good. That is very encouraging. Nationwide, net farm income is projected to be more than $77 billion for 2004. This is a record figure, 25% above last year’s income level, 50% above the average farm income of the last ten years. So the agricultural community is doing a great job in holding down cost, in marketing the product.
In 2004, our farm exports had reached a historic level of $62 billion. We’re also pleased with the President’s initiatives in naming people to serve in key positions that affect the future of agriculture. I think that selecting Gov. Mike Johanns of Nebraska to be the next secretary of agriculture is a good appointment. I’ve been pleased to get a chance to meet him. We of course had hearings of his nominations in the Senate Agriculture Committee and he was reported favorably to the Senate. His confirmation was without any contest dissention at all. He is a person of great ability, he’s proven to be successful in business, he was elected Governor of Nebraska and he served with distinction. He was mentioned by many as candidate for the Senate in the next election to the U.S. Senate and he was seriously considering making a race for the Senate when the President asked him to serve as Secretary of Agriculture. He has personal experience in the area of international trade. He’ll be a strong advocate for U.S. ag interests around the world.
We’re faced with some serious challenges. I was getting a chance to be brought up-to-date with John Maguire right here in the hotel this morning the status of our WTO cotton case. We hope that Brazil’s success so far can be reversed. A final decision is expected in March.
I’m pleased to work with the President and others in the Administration on behalf of the cotton industry’s interests. We must continue to educate the international community about misunderstandings that exist regarding agriculture policy and farm laws and their intended affect. More money is being paid out in our farm bill to conservation programs and beneficiaries of conservation program than for crop supports and a lot of people don’t understand that and these are permitted under the rules of international trade and GATT.
But in other areas of trade, we must work with our partners like China to insure a trading relationship that is fair to both countries. You may be interested to know that this last year under the leadership of Senator Ted Stevens began a parliamentary exchange visit with the leaders in China and I was one of those invited to go on the trip. Senator Dan Inouye and Senator Stevens led the trip. Senator Bill Frist, our Majority leader of the Senate, was part of the group, Pat Roberts of Kansas and there were others. We are going to host a meeting now from some of the Representative of the Chinese government here in Washington. Matter of fact, one of their representatives already made a preliminary trip here to verify that this is a relationship that’s going to continue. We hope to have an annual exchange of visits for the purpose of talking about trade and other issues that are important to both countries and agriculture has a lot at stake, so it will be one of the key items on the agenda for discussion. It is important that we help make sure that we detect threats from excessive imports before they occur. The President has shown his dedication to opening up new markets and agriculture trade is an important part of this effort.
Another issue is energy. We hope that we can reach an agreement this year on an energy bill. This could provide greater incentives for research and production of renewable fuel such as ethanol, biodiesel, wind and solar energy. These technologies, especially ethanol and biodiesel, have good potential for producers in the Cotton Belt.
We always know there is a threat to lower levels of payments to producers from some in the Congress. I want you to know that we are aware of the importance that such changes would have on the economies of our rural communities in the south. I think the risk caused by changing payment limits far out ways the benefits. This farm bill is working as it was designed to work and payments are going down because prices are going up and I will continue to work as hard as I can to oppose any payments in farm bill payment limits to producers.
I’m optimistic about the future of agriculture and the cotton industry in particular, future of U.S. agriculture and our U.S. economy as a whole. We have strong leadership in our country and key positions in both public and private sectors working hard and successfully to help insure the continued success and growth in our economic activities. I hope we can maintain and guarantee continued investments in research and technologies so that our interest in agriculture will continue to improve.
You have my support for your continued efforts as an organization to make Americas role in agriculture continue to grow Thank you very much for inviting me today.