Floor Statements

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:30 a.m., on Thursday, June 21; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that the majority leader be recognized; and that following the remarks of the two leaders, the time until 11 a.m. be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees; further, that at 11 a.m., the Senate resume consideration of S. 3240, the farm bill, and the votes on the remaining amendments to the bill.

There will be several rollcall votes beginning at approximately 11 a.m. tomorrow in order to complete action on the farm bill.

Mr. President, if there is no other business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we have 2 minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote on the first Akaka amendment, No. 2440.

Mr. President, if I might take a moment, I believe we want to first dispose of the Akaka amendment No. 2440. Our ranking member has indicated no opposition, so at this point I would ask that we proceed, unless there is a reason not to do so.

On behalf of Senator Akaka, I call up amendment No. 2440 and ask that we proceed with a voice vote.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we proceed with a voice vote.

Mr. President, unfortunately, I would urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment. It cuts in half funding for a program that helps food entrepreneurs--small businesses and farmers who want to create new kinds of products and to commercialize them and get them to the marketplace.

This is really what we are trying to do--to leverage more dollars in this bill to support not only the farmer on the farm but also to move into commercialization and to create new food products and jobs. In fact, we have created hundreds of jobs at wineries. We have done this all across the country--created jobs by helping small businesses and entrepreneurs to take a great idea and to move it to commercialization and add value to their product.

I would strongly urge a ``no'' vote, and I would ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, can we proceed with a voice vote on this amendment?

Mr. President, it is my understanding we are ready with the amendment of Senator Snowe. I ask she be the next amendment in order.

Mr. President, I support this amendment and yield the remainder of our time. It is my understanding we can proceed with a voice vote on this amendment.

I ask for a record rollcall.

Yes, the Senator is correct.

The Senator is correct in his understanding.

Mr. President, if I may take a moment to thank Senator Bingaman and Senator Hutchison. Both New Mexico and Texas have strong and passionate advocates. They are lucky to have them, and we are looking forward to working with them to make sure the issues they have raised are addressed.

Also, just for those following along in order, I would just indicate that Senator Collins, in light of the passage of the Snowe amendment, will not be proceeding with her amendment, just for the information of the Senate.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment.

Mr. President, let me add my strong support for the amendment. We have reformed this title on rural development. We have eliminated 16 different authorizations, tightened it up. The amendment stays within our parameters of $23 billion in deficit reduction. In effect, this benefits every small town and community across America that counts on rural development. I would strongly support this amendment.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I strongly urge a ``no'' vote. We actually rejected this amendment last fall. I ask that we do it again.

It is true that food assistance has gone up as the economy has had a rough time. As unemployment goes up, food costs go up. Unemployment is coming down, and in this bill we reflect savings. As the economy is getting better, food help goes down. It is no different than crop insurance helping the farmer in a disaster. This helps families in a disaster.

Unfortunately, this amendment would completely change the structure of food help. It would dramatically affect children and families. For example, it would affect someone's ability to get to work because the value of their car would somehow be reflected in a way that would require them to possibly give up their car when they are trying to get to work in order to be able to put food on the table for their families. It makes no sense.

This bill has commonsense reforms to make sure every dollar goes where it should. I urge a ``no'' vote.

Madam President, I believe a voice vote is OK.

Madam President, I strongly oppose this amendment. We are talking about improvements in managing errors, reducing errors in the nutrition program. The amendment of the Senator would eliminate the error-reduction bonuses that go to State governments.

We have seen a 43-percent drop in payment errors as a result of the program Senator Nelson has now strengthened with his amendment. In his amendment, he would ensure that all of the additional funds that go to States are used only to carry out improvements in SNAP, to lower the error rates. Those savings to taxpayers dwarf the costs of this incentive to States to improve their processes. It is working well.

In addition, in this bill we eliminate any lottery winners or students living at home with their parents from receiving assistance. We crack down further on trafficking in retail establishments.

I urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. President, I would urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment. The good news is, the people who were mentioned will no longer be able to get farm subsidies under this bill because of the reforms we have already put in place. We have already lowered the adjusted gross income. We have put a $50,000-per-person cap on payments, which is less than half than what farmers currently receive.

Let me say, this would cap across the board, including conservation, and conservation of land and water is critically important to us as a country.

I yield now the remainder of my time to my ranking member.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I wish to take a moment--the ranking member has yielded some time to me--to thank Senator Feinstein. This is an excellent amendment. She has done a tremendous amount of work on it. I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Mr. President, I rise to oppose this amendment. I appreciate the interest and concern of the Senator from Tennessee. Let me just say that this amendment would cut off access for farmers and small businesses that are looking to develop wind energy projects that will create jobs. I have to say, as someone coming from Michigan, when I look at one of those big wind turbines, I see 8,000 parts, and every single one of them can be made in Michigan or across the country--we would prefer Michigan. But the reality is this is about jobs.

We are in the middle of a global clean energy race with countries such as China, and this is about giving our businesses a leg up to be able to win that race. Frankly, it is about getting us off of foreign oil. This is one way to do that and to create jobs.

Since 2005, wind energy companies have contributed more than $60 billion to the economy, with over 400 facilities in 43 States. It is about jobs. It is about manufacturing.

I would urge a ``no'' vote.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, it is my understanding that we can proceed with a voice vote on this amendment.

Mr. President, I strongly commend Senator Feinstein and strongly support the amendment.

It is my understanding we do have those who have asked for a rollcall vote on this amendment.

I yield to my ranking member.

I rise to oppose this amendment. One of the important principles in this bill is that we support the great diversity of American agriculture. This particular amendment would go after a very small part of this bill--a provision to support the fastest growing part of agriculture, which is organic farming.

We have reformed this bill, as we have every other part of the bill. We continue what has been in the farm bills of the past.

I might add this amendment would also reduce funding available for conservation and risk management assistance for States that have been underserved by crop insurance.

I urge a ``no'' vote on the amendment.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I must, regretfully, oppose this amendment. I deeply care about protecting nutrition assistance programs. I hope that is not in doubt. But here is what is going on. In a handful of States, they have found a way to increase the SNAP benefits for people in their States by sending $1 checks in heating assistance to everyone who gets food assistance. Now, it is important to consider what a family's heating bill is when determining how much help they need, which is why the two programs are linked. But sending out $1 checks to everyone is not the intent of Congress. For the small number of States that are doing that, it is undermining the integrity of the program, in my judgment.

I appreciate we have turned down those amendments that would, in fact, change this structure and lower benefits. But this is about accountability and integrity within the program, and I must oppose the amendment.

I would ask the Presiding Officer if there is any time remaining in the debate?

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise to oppose the amendment that would cut funding for critical programs for small businesses in rural communities across the country. In the 1930s and 1940s we made a commitment to rural electrification and extended what was a fairly new technology to communities across the country. We had a boom in innovation and economic growth.

Our country no longer has a divide between urban ``haves'' and rural ``have-nots'' as a result of that. Today, the Internet is the new dividing line. Too many communities still don't have access to high- speed broadband Internet for businesses in these locations. It is a real competitive disadvantage for them, especially in a global economy.

I urge that we support what we have done to invest in small businesses and the ability to connect. We don't need the new urban ``haves'' and rural ``have-nots.'' This is about investing in rural communities.

Mr. President, on behalf of the ranking member and myself, I yield back the time.

It is my understanding that we may proceed with a voice vote on this amendment.

Mr. President, on behalf of the ranking member and myself, I yield back all time, and we both agree to a voice vote.

Mr. President, we yield back all time. I understand we can proceed with a voice vote.

Mr. President, I rise to oppose this amendment. The FDA loan guarantees are critical to our farmers, our rural small businesses, and community banks in small towns across the country. The loan guarantee programs help support commercial and farm credit lending when farmers and ranchers face tough times. It is also an important program to help beginning farmers and ranchers who don't have a long history of credit but who are certainly qualified to receive loans to start their operations.

We know that the average age of an American farmer is 57 years and that one-quarter of our farmers are 65 years of age or older. If agriculture in America is going to survive, we need to have young people engaged in farming. This amendment would make it much harder. So I oppose the amendment.

Mr. President, we agree to a voice vote.

I yield the remainder of the time.

Mr. President, I would urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment that would prohibit the zero cost check-off programs. These programs are funded by the private industry, not taxpayers. They are incredibly beneficial to farmers and businesses who want to help market their products. For example, the ``Got Milk'' campaign came from a check-off program used by the dairy industry. The ``Incredible Edible Egg'' is another one. No single egg farmer is going to have the resources to run a national television ad encouraging folks to eat more eggs.

Let's be clear. This is a program that commodity groups vote on and agree to. The ``Got Milk'' campaign happened because dairy farmers got together, voted, and decided they wanted to go ahead and do research and a promotion program. Let's not take the ability for the industry to come together, pool their own money, and market their product.

I would urge a ``no'' vote and ask for the yeas and nays.

I thank Senator Lieberman for his leadership on environmental issues facing his State and the Long Island Sound. Yes, that is my intent through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

I ask unanimous consent that Bennet-Crapo amendment No. 2202, which has been cleared by both sides, be in order.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the following members of Senator Bingaman's office be granted the privilege of the floor for the pendency of S. 3240, the farm bill: Bijan Peters, Eugenia Woods, James Anderson, Aurora Trujillo, Carl Slater.

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

Mr. President, as we are waiting for wrap-up this evening, I wish to take a moment to thank all our colleagues for the extraordinary effort to get to this point where we are going to be able to come together, debate a number of different issues related to the farm bill and other issues as well, and be able to come to a final vote and passage of the farm bill.

I wish to thank, first of all, Senator Reid for his extraordinary patience and talent in working with Senator Roberts and me and all the staff, all the leadership staff, who have worked with us on this.

I also wish to thank Senator Roberts for being a tremendous partner with me, and both our staffs who are doing yeoman's work.

There is a lot more work to do. We have a lot of amendments we will begin tomorrow, I believe tomorrow afternoon, and then we will work on through the week to get this done.

But this really is an example of the Senate coming together to agree to get things done--people of different backgrounds, ideas, and different regions of the country. This is an opportunity for us to show that the Senate can work together--which is what we are doing right now, on a bipartisan basis--and be able to move forward on a very important piece of legislation.

This bill is a jobs bill. This bill represents 16 million people in the country who work because of agriculture in some way. We have had a lot of jobs bills in front of us. I am not sure there has been one that has directly affected 16 million jobs like this does.

We also have an opportunity in this bill to come together and clearly state that we are serious about deficit reduction. We are the only authorizing committee that has come forward in a bipartisan way with a bill that cuts the spending within our jurisdiction--$23 billion in deficit reduction. We have gone through every part of this bill, and we have literally analyzed every page and determined that there were some programs that were duplications or not effective or didn't make any sense anymore, and we ended up with about 100 different programs and authorizations that we eliminated from those items under USDA's jurisdiction. So this really is a reform bill.

I know the Presiding Officer is a real champion of reform and of agriculture. We have worked together, certainly, on fruits and vegetables and organic farming and local food systems and a whole range of things that we have improved upon in this bill. I thank the Chair for his continued leadership on those issues.

This really is an opportunity to come together around deficit reduction, around reform, to focus on jobs and give our farmers and ranchers predictability in terms of knowing what will happen going forward as they make business decisions for themselves.

It is a huge opportunity around conservation. I think most people wouldn't realize at first blush that the farm bill is actually the largest investment we as Americans make in land and water conservation, air quality, related to working lands. Seventy percent of our lands are privately held lands in some way--farmers and others, landholders--and the conservation title affects how we work with them to be able to conserve our land and water and address the air quality issues. We have had two successes there. So this is a real opportunity to build on that certainly for many regions in the country, such as my own Great Lakes region. It is critical in working with our farmers who have a number of different environmental issues to address. On behalf of all of us, this gives us an opportunity to partner with them and deal with soil erosion and water quality issues and runoff into our lakes and streams and Great Lakes and deal with open spaces, protecting wildlife habitat and wetlands, and creating a new easement program that will address urban sprawl so that we are protecting our lands.

I am very proud of what we have done in conservation. We have taken it from 23 programs down to 13 and divided it into 4 topics--a lot of flexibility, locally led, with farmers and ranchers working with local communities. We have saved money, but at the same time we are actually strengthening conservation, which is why we have I think 643 different conservation and environmental groups

supporting what we are doing in terms of our approach on conservation. I am pleased with that.

The rural development provisions of this bill affect every community outside of our urban areas. The majority of Michigan--we see support through financing for water and sewer projects, small businesses, housing, working with local law enforcement, police and firefighters, local mayors and city council people, counties all across Michigan and the country, certainly in Oregon, where rural development funding and support for quality of life and jobs and rural communities is very much a part of the bill.

We think of the bill in terms of production agriculture. Obviously, it is critical. I don't know any business that has more risk than a farmer or rancher--nobody. So we all have a stake. We have the safest, most affordable, dependable food supply in the world. We wanted to make sure no farmer loses a farm because of a few days of bad weather. What we do in production agriculture is very important.

We also have a broad role, together with rural communities, with ranchers and farmers, to support our land and our water and our habitat and our air. We do that through conservation. We have rural development. We have an energy title that allows us to take what we do--the byproducts from agriculture, whether that be food or animal waste or biomass from forests or corn or wheat or soybean oil--whatever it is--to be able to create jobs through bio-based manufacturing, advanced biofuels, going beyond corn to other kinds of advanced cellulosic biofuels, which is very much a part of the bill, all of which creates jobs.

We are creating jobs in a multitude of ways in the bill. We are also supporting families who, because of no fault of their own in this recession, have been hit so hard and need temporary food help. That is also a very big and important part of the bill. For the people in my State who have been hit very hard in the last number of years, it is important that we be there. They have paid taxes all their lives and supported their neighbors. They have been there for other people. Now, if they need some temporary help, we need to make sure it is there for them as well. That is a very important part of the bill also.

In addition, we see a whole range of efforts around local food systems that also create jobs--farmers markets, children's schools being able to get fresh fruits and vegetables, schools being able to purchase locally, things that we can do to support families to put healthy food on the table for their children or make sure it is available in school--very important efforts going on there. We make sure that all of agriculture is included in our local food systems. That is a very important part of the bill.

This is a large effort. We do it every 5 years. It takes a tremendous amount of work. Every region of the country has a different view and different crops that they grow and different perspectives, so it is a lot of hard work to bring it all together.

This evening we have been able to come together on a path to final passage, agreeing to the list of amendments. This is a democracy. I don't agree or support all of those amendments. I know other colleagues don't as well. We will talk about them and debate, and we will vote. That is the Senate at its best. That is what we are doing here by agreeing to a process or list of amendments from every part of the country.

Members on both sides have very strongly held beliefs. We respect that. We respect their right to be able to debate those amendments, and I also thank those for the amendments that will not be brought up, which were not in the unanimous consent agreement. I think we had about 300 amendments when we started. We knew it was not possible to be able to vote on every one of those. So colleagues' willingness to work with us was important, and I am grateful to the people who worked with us on both sides of the aisle and those whom we will continue to work with.

This is another step in the process, as we have put together a bill that we reported out of committee with a strong bipartisan vote. Now we have brought it to the floor with a large majority. Ninety out of 100 colleagues came together to say: Yes, we should debate and discuss and work on this Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act.

Now, with the agreement we have, Members are saying: Yes, we should go forward and work on these amendments and have a final vote. In the democratic process, people of good will are willing to come together and have the opportunity to debate and vote. That is what it is about. I am grateful that colleagues were willing to work with us to be able to do that.

We are waiting for the final wrap-up comments. At this moment, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday, June 19, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Republican leader, the Republican leader or his designee be recognized to move to proceed to the consideration of S.J. Res. 37, a joint resolution disapproving a rule promulgated by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency relating to emission standards for certain steam generating units; that there be up to 4 hours of debate on the motion to proceed, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees; further, that 2 hours of debate equally divided occur on Tuesday, June 19, and the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, June 20, for the remaining 2 hours of debate; that at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the Senate proceed to vote on the adoption of the motion to proceed; that if the motion is successful, then the time for debate with respect to the joint resolution be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the joint resolution be read a third time and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the joint resolution; finally, all other provisions of the statute governing consideration of the joint resolution remain in effect.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, notwithstanding the adoption of S. Res.

488 and the preamble thereto, I ask unanimous consent that a Snowe amendment to the preamble that is at the desk be agreed to.

I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 470.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Res. 495, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements be printed in the Record as if read.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 19; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved

to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that the majority leader be recognized and that following leader remarks, the next 2 hours be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and Republicans controlling the final half; further, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings; and that finally, at 2:15 p.m., the Senate resume consideration of S. 3240, the farm bill.

This evening we reached agreement for consideration of amendments to the farm bill. There will be several rollcall votes beginning at 2:15 tomorrow in relation to the amendments to the farm bill. We will also begin consideration of S.J. Res. 37, a joint resolution of disapproval regarding boiler MACT.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent it adjourn under the previous order.

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

Mr. President, I want to spend a few moments talking about one of our job-creating titles in the farm bill, but first I want to thank colleagues who are continuing to work on this bill. As we continue to do the business of the Senate, they are working through the amendment process and coming together with what I am optimistic will be an agreement for us to be able to move forward so we can complete our task on the farm bill.

I thank the ranking member of the committee, Senator Roberts, for his leadership and his staff and my staff for working so hard together. There has been a lot of coffee involved for folks to be able to stay awake on some late nights right now. They are doing a great job, and we are very optimistic as we move forward in this process.

One of the reasons we need to get this done, as I have stressed many times but it bears repeating, is this is a jobs bill. As the distinguished Presiding Officer from Ohio knows--as well as myself, coming from Michigan--jobs are a big deal. Jobs are a big deal across the country, but we have been in the middle of it in terms of the recession. We are now seeing optimism because we are recommitting ourselves to making things and growing things in this country.

We make a lot of great things in Michigan, not the least of which is automobiles, but a lot of other things also. I know Ohio, as well, is a great State for making things. Both of our States are also States where we grow things, and I appreciate the leadership of the Presiding Officer who is on our Agriculture Committee and has played a very significant role in getting us to

this point. The distinguished Presiding Officer, Senator Brown, has helped with major reforms in this bill. He has put forward a bipartisan proposal that relates to moving a risk-based system to support our farmers. I appreciate very much the Senator's leadership on that as well as a number of other things.

But this is about growing things. Almost one out of four people in Michigan has a job because we grow things. We have more diversity of crops than any State, with the exception of California, and so that means every page of the farm bill matters to Michigan, which is why over the years I have paid attention to every single page of the farm bill.

Overall in our country 16 million people work because of agriculture. They may be involved in production, they may be involved in packaging, they may be involved in processing, they may make the farm equipment, or they may be involved in a variety of things, but they work because we grow things in America. Our one area of huge trade surplus, and where we have grown in the last 2 years by 270 percent, is in agriculture. We are creating jobs here and exporting, and so this is a jobs bill.

I want to talk specifically about a very important piece where we bring together making things and growing things in our economy, and that is the energy title of the farm bill. The energy title reflects the important work being done by America's farmers, ranchers, forest managers, and rural small businesses to help improve our energy security.

Since we added this title in the 2002 farm bill--I was pleased to be a strong supporter in doing that--the Rural Energy for America Program has helped put in place nearly 8,000 projects and jobs that have helped farmers lower their energy bills and actually produce electricity that goes back to the electric grid. In the last 10 years, we have seen incredible advances in advanced biofuels and biobased manufacturing, which is the ultimate way to bring together making things and growing things, both of which are supported and strengthened in this bill.

The farm bill is also an energy bill and it is a jobs bill. There are more than 3,000 companies doing innovative, biobased manufacturing, and using agricultural products instead of petroleum to manufacture finished products. Those companies have already created over 100,000 jobs and are growing every day. Many of these businesses are in rural communities, and supporting those businesses is one of the best ways we can create jobs and economic growth in small towns all across our country.

This kind of manufacturing is also a win-win for the farmers. They get new markets for their products and, in some cases, markets for their waste products.

We have also seen tremendous growth in biofuels. This farm bill shifts our focus to the next generation of advanced biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol, to continue lowering prices for families at the pump. According to a study by the University of Wisconsin and the University of Iowa, ethanol has already helped keep gas prices more than $1 lower than they otherwise would be. It is the only competition we have at the moment at the pump. As a consumer, what we need is more choice and more competition so that depending on foreign oil is not the only choice.

Many of our colleagues have different feelings about our energy policies, and the great thing about the farm bill is that it doesn't matter what we believe or where we come from, it is a winner because it creates choices. If we want to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, this bill is a winner. If we want to make America more energy independent so we are not relying so much on foreign oil, this bill is a winner. If we want farmers to pay lower energy bills so they have more money to hire workers and improve their business, this bill is a winner. And if we want Americans to pay lower prices at the gas pump, as we all do, this bill is a winner for every American.

I especially want to thank Senators Conrad, Lugar, Harkin, Ben Nelson, Bennet, Brown, Klobuchar, Thune, Casey, and Hoeven, who worked very hard at putting together the energy title and the necessary funding to continue supporting these innovative farmers and businesses all across our country. I appreciate their leadership in working with us and being able to get this done.

I want to talk about some of the specific areas we have in the energy title. There is something called the Rural Energy for America Program, also known as REAP. It is one of the most successful programs in the energy title, and one we hear about most often from farmers and ranchers across the country.

This program helps farmers with loan guarantees and grants to purchase and install renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency upgrades. Farmers have been able to put solar panels, wind turbines, as well as biomass energy and geothermal and hydroelectric and other forms of renewable energy technology on the farm. Since 2003, REAP has supported 7,997 different energy-efficient projects that have generated or saved 6.5 million megawatt hours, which is enough power to meet the annual needs of nearly 600,000 households.

As a caveat, I also want to say that when we talk about all of these alternatives, I also see this from the standpoint of making things. When we look at a big wind turbine, a lot of folks see energy use. I see 8,000 parts. We can make every one of them in Michigan and probably an awful lot of them in Ohio. So when we talk about creating energy efficiency opportunities, we are also talking about creating manufacturing jobs in the process. REAP is a big success story, which is why we continued the program and streamlined the application process for farmers and small businesses applying for small and medium-sized projects.

Each project funded by REAP can make a significant impact, as I said, on utility costs incurred by the businesses. For example, one company in Georgia created an on-farm solar system that will produce about 60,000 kilowatt hours per year to lower the company's power bills. Another Kentucky company used an energy efficiency grant to improve lighting and support a refrigeration/freezer project that would give them 63 percent energy savings--63 percent. That is a pretty big deal when we are paying the bills.

The next part I want to talk about is something called biobased markets and part of a larger biobased manufacturing effort that I am very enthused about. Biobased manufacturing is rapidly becoming a critical component of our new economy. According to USDA, there are 3,118 registered biobased companies in the United States that have so far created about 100,000 jobs, and growing. With customers demanding more choices, oil prices rising, these innovative companies are taking new approaches, turning agricultural products into manufactured products. So as we can see, all across the country there are 3,000 companies. This is a huge area that is growing, the innovation process, where we are literally taking agricultural products and replacing chemicals, replacing petroleum and plastics, and doing a variety of things that allow us to create new markets for farmers, get us off of foreign oil, and create jobs. I would argue that in the next 5 years we will see many, many, many more dots on this map as a result of the farm bill and private sector efforts that are going on across the country.

In the 2008 farm bill, we created the biobased program to develop and expand markets for these biobased products. Here are a few examples: Papermate makes a biodegradable, retractable grip pen manufactured by Sanford Newell Rubbermaid in Georgia. This pen is made from biodegradable components that include an exclusive corn-based material to produce less waste and more compost.

Purell Advanced Green Certified Instant Hand Sanitizer is a green- certified product made by a company in Ohio, containing ingredients from renewable resources. It kills more than 99.9 percent of most germs. It is a product that is biodegradable.

Greenware Cold Portion Cups made by Fabri-Kal Corporation in Michigan are made from materials such as plant-based and post-consumer recycled resins. My colleagues will note that this looks familiar because it is the same kind of cup we use in the Senate. This is something we are using and thereby supporting the biobased economy.

By including biobased manufacturing in the Biorefinery Assistance Program

within the energy title, we are expanding economic opportunities for farmers by giving them new markets for crops to grow and we are supporting cutting-edge manufacturing businesses that are making these products and creating these jobs.

We also have done other pieces that will strengthen this effort. I might mention, though we don't have a picture of it with us on a chart, one of the exciting things I am seeing in Michigan, as we bring together making things and growing things, is the extent to which our automakers are using biobased products in the making of automobiles. So for anyone who is buying a new Ford vehicle today--I sound like an advertisement--but a new Ford vehicle or a great new Chevy Volt or a number of new great American-made vehicles we have today, we are sitting on seats made from soy-based foam. We have soybean in the seats. Soy-based foam was actually started over 80 years ago with Henry Ford and has been something we have focused on, on and off, for 80 years. But now it has become a major effort. A major company in Michigan called Lear is making these seats. They are biodegradable. They are lightweight. We get better fuel economy. And as I often tell my friends, if you get hungry, you get something to munch on.

So the truth is we are seeing huge advances. One may very well have cupholders in their car that have a corn-based or wheat-based or other kind of agricultural-based product in the plastic, rather than petroleum--another way to get off of foreign oil. They are experimenting with tires, rather than using petroleum in tires. I think there is an explosion here of opportunity for innovation with our farmers and our manufacturers, with our universities, our scientists. It is very exciting, and it is part of the next generation for us of a new economy and new jobs. This farm bill strengthens that effort, working with the private sector, to help us rapidly move forward on jobs.

One of the other ways we support efforts to create and then the commercialization of products, to be able to move forward as it relates to creating, producing more products and so on, is to give consumers a way to find these products. So we have something called the USDA Certified Biobased Product label.

The mission of the BioPreferred Program is to develop and expand markets for biobased products through preferred Federal purchases of biobased products across the Federal Government and a voluntary labeling program to raise consumers' awareness and to help make sure we know that what we are buying is, in fact, a biobased product. Since the program was created in the last farm bill in 2008, there are now 64 different categories of biobased products and almost 9,000 products-- 9,000 products--approved for preferred Federal purchases. It is in everybody's best interests for us to be encouraging these new markets, encouraging innovation, and at the same time addressing other critical needs for our country, including getting off of foreign oil. In addition, another 430 products from 150 companies have been certified to carry the USDA Certified Biobased Product label. So this is important. And there are new efforts happening. The President, the Secretary of Agriculture, and I have come together to urge, in fact, that we increase the amount of biobased labeling that is going on and make sure that consumers are looking for this label.

We then have the Biorefinery Assistance Program which is a very important piece of all of this. The Biorefinery Assistance Program was originally created in the 2002 farm bill to support the development and construction of demonstration-scale biorefineries to determine the commercial viability of some of the processes that are involved in converting renewable biomass to advanced biofuels. It also guarantees loans for companies that are developing, constructing, or retrofitting commercial-scale biorefineries using these new technologies. In the last 2 years, companies participating in this effort have created nearly 300 direct jobs, and it is estimated that as this program is written into the 2012 farm bill, it will help these innovative businesses hire another 450 people as well.

We also expand eligibility for the program to include biobased manufacturing. This is a very important piece of this bill. We are now going from refineries, talking about advanced biofuels, to expanding the opportunity for tools for our biobased manufacturers within the rubric of the energy title and the focus on jobs.

We are talking about loan guarantees for companies to leverage private dollars. So for just over $400 million in loan guarantees, we have leveraged $1.5 billion in private dollars to help companies with the cost of retrofitting and building new commercial biofuels plants. When operational, these facilities are expected to produce 113 million gallons of advanced biofuels and generate almost 25 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 600,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide which, by the way, is the equivalent of taking 11,000 cars off the road. I have a little bit of a mixed feeling about that. Actually, we would much prefer to do it this way and keep great new advanced vehicles on the road.

In 2011, the USDA awarded $6.9 million in grants and $13.1 million in loan guarantees to 17 anaerobic digester projects--here we are talking about waste on the farm and turning it into energy--which will create enough energy to power 10,000 homes.

There are so many opportunities for us, whether it is animal waste, food waste. We have a facility in Michigan that will be opening in the fall that is up by Gerber Baby Food. We are the international home of Gerber Baby Food in Fremont, MI. There is a new biobased facility opening that will use all the food waste to generate energy-- electricity--for the northwestern area of Michigan. There are so many opportunities for us right now, using, again, food waste, byproducts from agriculture, and so on, where we can blend those together and create jobs and get us off of foreign oil.

The Biorefinery Assistance Program has helped build seven first-of- their-kind biorefineries to produce advanced biofuels in States from Florida to Oregon, Michigan to New Mexico. One of the companies, called INEOS New Plant Bioenergy, has just begun commissioning their plant in Indian River County, FL, which will use citrus and other municipal solid waste to produce 8 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol every year and 6 megawatts of renewable electricity. They have over 100 people working on the job, completing this first-of-a-kind plant, using 85 percent U.S.-manufactured equipment, by the way, for the facility.

There is so much. I could spend a long time going through all of the exciting efforts going on, literally from the east coast to the west coast, North and South, where creative entrepreneurs are coming forward, with support from the USDA to be able to get them through what is often called the valley of death, as they have a great idea but are trying to get it to commercialization, and efforts that are leveraging private dollars and public dollars to be able to have these companies move forward into full commercialization. Then they can create jobs, create renewable energy, get us off of foreign oil or create other kinds of products--all kinds of opportunities for us around products.

That leads me to another important piece, which is R&D, which is always a very important part of what needs to be done as we are looking at these new ideas. Entrepreneurs, companies large and small, many small businesses--in fact, most of them start as small businesses with a great idea, and they are looking for how to turn that into a great business, and hiring people, and so on. The Biomass Research and Development Initiative is an integral component to bridging the gap between technology development and commercialization. As I said, this is often called the valley of death. If you are somebody out there who is an entrepreneur with a great idea, how do you actually convince somebody to invest in it so you can move forward? Nearly $133 million in grants was provided through the research and development effort from 2003 to 2010 and they helped leverage $61 million in private investment.

One of the great success stories among many comes out of Wisconsin. We heard about this during one of our farm bill hearings when Lee Edwards, CEO of Virent Energy, came in to tell us about the great work his company is doing. They were awarded a grant as

seed money to develop their technology with the University of Wisconsin. Virent now has over 120 employees and plans to expand again after receiving a contract from Coca-Cola to develop a 100-percent plant-based bottle for its carbonated beverages. Virent's technology is feedstock-neutral and produces drop-in jet fuel and renewable chemicals. Their corporate partners include Cargill, Coca-Cola, and Shell.

We also have the Biomass Crop Assistance Program, which helps farmers and ranchers who want to plant energy crops for biomass that would be converted to biofuels or bioenergy. In 2011, this program supported between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs.

Our investment in the BCAP could result in companies hiring--in this farm bill, we are told--between 2,000 and 2,600 additional new employees. We have also addressed issues around collection, harvest, storage, and transport to address problems that had occurred in the last farm bill.

This program provides financial assistance to owners and operators of agricultural and nonindustrial private forest land as well. I have not talked a lot about forest land, but certainly biomass efforts--what has been done around forest by-products--are very important as well.

Steve Flick of Show Me Energy received the first BCAP project area, covering approximately 50,000 acres in 38 counties in Missouri and Kansas. Individual farmers within the boundaries of the project area can now sign contracts with the USDA to grow dedicated energy crops. This is another provision we have in the bill. Show Me's plant in Centerview currently pelletizes crops into biomass fuel for space heat and electric power. This technology will eventually provide liquid fuels that can replace gasoline and diesel. Steve Flick also testified at our hearing in February.

I could go on and on with examples. We have a very exciting project I visited not long ago in Alpena, MI, in the northeastern part of the State, which is a plant working with a paneling company that makes decorative panels, doing beautiful paneling work with 100-percent wood paneling. They are now taking what used to be waste that they sent to a waste treatment facility and pumping it right next door to a new company that is creating cellulosic ethanol. And they are now looking for other products. One of them will be a new green biodegradable effort to de-ice runways. So there are all kinds of possibilities.

What I am excited about is that this farm bill is focused on small businesses, farmers, ranchers, working with the forestry industry. How do we grow the economy by taking the two great strengths that have created the middle class of this country--growing things and making things? That is what this title is about; that is what this bill is about.

I am anxious to get us through this process so we can complete this bill and get on to the next generation of jobs.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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

Mr. President, as we wrap up today and the week, I wish to take a few moments to give a status report as to moving forward in our negotiations on the farm bill. We have actually had some very good progress and overcome some obstacles and we are putting together something for the Senate for the beginning of the week that will allow us to move forward.

I wish to also thank the junior Senator from North Dakota whom I heard on the floor a little while ago, Mr. Hoeven, about the 250 different amendments we have. Of course, the great thing about the Senate is we can all offer amendments whether they are relevant or not, and the challenge for someone managing a bill is that anyone can offer amendments. So we have worked our way from the 250, we are working our way down from 50 to 40 and putting together an approach that will be fair and balanced and allow us to move forward and have the input of everyone on both sides of the aisle.

So I wish to thank Senator Roberts again for being truly a partner with me all the way through this process and a terrific committee. We heard from one of those members, the junior Senator from North Dakota, in laying out what a positive and important bill this is for us. I wish to thank him as our newest member of the committee for all his contributions as well.

To briefly recap as we bring the discussion to a close this week, there are 16 million people who work because of agriculture. They may be working in the fields. They may be packaging, processing, making machinery for agriculture. They could be doing a number of things, but 16 million people work because of agriculture. I am not sure we can say any other individual bill that has been brought to the floor of the Senate impacts that many people--16 million people.

As I have said so many times, I don't believe we have a middle class in this country unless we make things and grow things. I am proud of Michigan where we do that. We make things and grow things. The State of the Presiding Officer as well makes things and grows things. That is the strength of our economy.

One of the bright spots for us, even during the deepest, toughest times in the country, and certainly in Michigan, has been and continues to be agriculture, our major source of a trade surplus, having seen the trades expand 270 percent just over a short period of time, and over 8,000 jobs created for every $1 billion we do in trade exports. So there are multiple facets to this jobs bill, from production agriculture, alternative energy, biomanufacturing, whether it is support for the critical needs of families through nutrition, whether it is conservation, where we have the largest investment in land and water conservation in our country on working lands, done through the farm bill.

This is important. It covers many important subjects that touch every single person in rural America and every person across this country as consumers of the safest, most affordable food supply in the world. So we have an obligation to get this right and to take the time to do it, and that is exactly what we are doing.

I am so proud this bill came out of committee with a broad, bipartisan vote and that we had such a very strong vote to proceed to the bill and now we are moving through the process of bringing us down the path to a final conclusion.

As we do that, I wish to stress again a few points. We could talk a long time because this has many pieces to it, and I am not going to do that this evening. But I do want to say one more time, to my knowledge, this is the one piece of real deficit reduction done on a bipartisan basis--in fact, on a House-Senate basis back in the fall--that we have had before the Senate.

There is $23 billion in deficit reduction. So we all have an opportunity to vote to reduce the deficit--something we all care about--and we can do that while passing the farm bill. This repeals direct payments. Four different subsidies, in fact, are repealed. In its place, we put a risk management system.

So if there are losses, if there is a disaster from weather, such as we have seen in Michigan, if there are other disasters on price declines, world actions that create a challenge for our farmers or ranchers, we will be there to make sure nobody loses their farm because there are a few days of bad weather or any other risk that is beyond their control. However, if things are going well, we are not going to be giving a government payment.

We are going to cover farmers for what they plant and when there are losses. We are strengthening payment limits so we again are focusing precious dollars on those who need it, and we end more than 100 different programs and authorizations. As we have scoured every single page of the farm bill and the USDA responsibilities, we have found areas where there is duplication, redundancy, things that are no longer needed, and we have solidified, made things more flexible, cut duplication. In the process of that, we have actually eliminated 100 different programs and authorizations, cut $23 billion. At the same time, we have continued our commitment to families and children in this Nation who have their own personal disasters and need food assistance help.

We continue a strong commitment on conservation. We have 643 different conservation and environmental groups that have come together to support our approach, 125 different agriculture and hunger groups, and other organizations that say yes to this bill. We are anxious to get it done.

I would just say, as we conclude a very busy week--and I have to say it has been a very productive week--we began a process. We have had some votes. We have had a number of folks come together. I thank people on both sides of the aisle for their willingness to work with this as we move forward on our path to completion of this very important 5-year bill. I wish to indicate to everyone that we will look forward to having the opportunity next week to present something to the body.