Weekly Radio Report: Agriculture & Farming

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c031_037.mp3

c031_037_tr.txt

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Extent (Dublin Core)

5 Minutes, 32 Seconds

File Name (Dublin Core)

c031_037

Title (Dublin Core)

Weekly Radio Report: Agriculture & Farming

Description (Dublin Core)

Congressman Bob Dole explains on his weekly radio report from Washington, D.C., the current status of wheat legislation. Because U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman is out of the country, and Republican’s minority status in Congress, Dole does not believe any action will happen, even though Congress is having hearings. He discusses the possibility of a stopgap proposition late in the year, an extension of the then-current program for another year, or the possibility that no legislation be passed. Dole shares his opinions of what should be done, and explains that farmers need to know if there will be penalties for upcoming choices made in planting their crops, alluding to the fact wheat is planted in late autumn. He closes by sharing some things Congress is currently spending money on – they are presented as frivolous, which underlines agriculture’s importance – and encourages listeners to write to him.

Date (Dublin Core)

1963

Date Created (Dublin Core)

1963

Congress (Dublin Core)

88th (1963-1965)

Topics (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueWheat farmers

See all items with this valueAgricultural administration--United States

Policy Area (Curation)

Agriculture and Food

Creator (Dublin Core)

Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021

Record Type (Dublin Core)

radio programs

Rights (Dublin Core)

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Language (Dublin Core)

eng

Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core)

https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=84&q=

Physical Collection (Dublin Core)

Collection 031, Box 1

Institution (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Archival Collection (Dublin Core)

Dole Audio Reels Collection, 1960-1979

Full Text (Extract Text)

This is Congressman Bob Dole again with my weekly radio report from Washington, and, of course, I wish to thank this station for carrying my program with the public service broadcast.

I might say that Congress is doing practically nothing, and we've done practically nothing since January, and it now appears that we will still do nothing until about late October or November. It'll be one of the longest sessions in many years, and probably one in where the least, if possible, is accomplished. I might point out that we're still having hearings in the wheat subcommittee on the possibilities of new wheat legislation, but I think if we take a very practical look at some of the happenings and some of the factual situations, you can easily determine there's no real interest in wheat legislation by the administration now.

With Secretary [Orville] Freeman off to Russia, it's rather obvious — he'll be gone for four or five weeks — that the administration certainly has no real interest in pressing for any new wheat legislation. And I say this as a representative from a wheat state and not as a Republican member of Congress and would call attention, your attention, to a statement made just last week by Senator Clinton P. Anderson, a Democrat of New Mexico, and a former Secretary of Agriculture. Senator Anderson stated that:

“Nothing is sillier than to say that the farmer should stew in their own juice; it is not just the farmers who are affected by declining income. The communities in which they buy goods and services and the factories that build plows and combines are involved.”

This is a statement by a former Secretary of Agriculture, by a leading Democrat in the Senate, and by a member of the Senate Agricultural Committee, but it does appear that without some interest being shown by the administration that of course there'll be no legislation.

Let's face the facts: the Republican party is a minority party; it's 2-to-1 in the Senate and 3-to-2 in the House — Democratic — and by any stretch of the imagination I don't believe any Republican could state that he could pass a bill through Congress without the help of the administration or without the help at least of some of the Democrats. And despite the fact there have been differences of opinion with Secretary Freeman, he is the so-called leader of the majority party agricultural program, and, of course, with him out of the country, there is very little chance that anything will be done in wheat, or in cotton, or in dairy legislation.

So we continue to hold hearings, and, while I certainly think it probably commendable that we do this, I think too that farmers should know that there's probably little chance, if any now, with Secretary Freeman gone, that anything will be done this year. Unless, of course, there would be a last-minute stopgap proposition passed in August, September, or October. I think perhaps on the 22nd of July, we'll have hearings on the bill introduced by myself and 19 other members of Congress. There'll be hearings on the Farm Bureau proposal. There'll be hearings on a simple extension of the present program for one year, and then, of course, this week we've had hearings with Department of Agriculture officials on what will happen if no legislation is passed.

As I pointed out before, one of the most serious problems, in my opinion, is that if we do nothing else, we should have a moratorium, in other words, we should not penalize a farmer who overplants his allotment as the Secretary announced will be done. And let me say why we should not do this; certainly, I don't think the farmer who overplants should gain history, but I don't believe he should be threatened with a loss of history in the event that program is passed in the future. Because if he overplants his allotment, he, of course, gets no price support, the wheat doesn't wind up in storage somewhere in commodity stocks, and so the farmer in Western Kansas, particularly where he must plant to have something in the ground as a cover crop to keep it from blowing, I believe is entitled to know very soon from the Department that they will permit overplanting. Their present position is that overplanting will not be permitted, and if the farmer overplants, there is a possibility that at some future time he will lose history. And I don't think there's any justification for it, there is no specific justification in the law, and we are hopeful that the Department, that the attorney for the Department, will reverse his previous interpretation.

Now, I see our time is up, I want to point out that we found out just last week that we’re spending money left and right, of course, one little item we're spending $5,700 to study the diving behavior of the seal. We're spending $21,000 to probe into the mating calls of the Central American Toad, and $103,000 for films on Eskimo culture, and I think you as a taxpayer have a right, and have an obligation to write your Congressman and express your views on spending of this variety, in fact, almost on any of the spending going on at this time. Thanks again for listening and write to me, Congressman Bob Dole, Washington 25 DC.

This is Congressman Bob Dole again with my weekly radio report from Washington, and, of course, I wish to thank this station for carrying my program with the public service broadcast.

I might say that Congress is doing practically nothing, and we've done practically nothing since January, and it now appears that we will still do nothing until about late October or November. It'll be one of the longest sessions in many years, and probably one in where the least, if possible, is accomplished. I might point out that we're still having hearings in the wheat subcommittee on the possibilities of new wheat legislation, but I think if we take a very practical look at some of the happenings and some of the factual situations, you can easily determine there's no real interest in wheat legislation by the administration now.

With Secretary [Orville] Freeman off to Russia, it's rather obvious — he'll be gone for four or five weeks — that the administration certainly has no real interest in pressing for any new wheat legislation. And I say this as a representative from a wheat state and not as a Republican member of Congress and would call attention, your attention, to a statement made just last week by Senator Clinton P. Anderson, a Democrat of New Mexico, and a former Secretary of Agriculture. Senator Anderson stated that:

“Nothing is sillier than to say that the farmer should stew in their own juice; it is not just the farmers who are affected by declining income. The communities in which they buy goods and services and the factories that build plows and combines are involved.”

This is a statement by a former Secretary of Agriculture, by a leading Democrat in the Senate, and by a member of the Senate Agricultural Committee, but it does appear that without some interest being shown by the administration that of course there'll be no legislation.

Let's face the facts: the Republican party is a minority party; it's 2-to-1 in the Senate and 3-to-2 in the House — Democratic — and by any stretch of the imagination I don't believe any Republican could state that he could pass a bill through Congress without the help of the administration or without the help at least of some of the Democrats. And despite the fact there have been differences of opinion with Secretary Freeman, he is the so-called leader of the majority party agricultural program, and, of course, with him out of the country, there is very little chance that anything will be done in wheat, or in cotton, or in dairy legislation.

So we continue to hold hearings, and, while I certainly think it probably commendable that we do this, I think too that farmers should know that there's probably little chance, if any now, with Secretary Freeman gone, that anything will be done this year. Unless, of course, there would be a last-minute stopgap proposition passed in August, September, or October. I think perhaps on the 22nd of July, we'll have hearings on the bill introduced by myself and 19 other members of Congress. There'll be hearings on the Farm Bureau proposal. There'll be hearings on a simple extension of the present program for one year, and then, of course, this week we've had hearings with Department of Agriculture officials on what will happen if no legislation is passed.

As I pointed out before, one of the most serious problems, in my opinion, is that if we do nothing else, we should have a moratorium, in other words, we should not penalize a farmer who overplants his allotment as the Secretary announced will be done. And let me say why we should not do this; certainly, I don't think the farmer who overplants should gain history, but I don't believe he should be threatened with a loss of history in the event that program is passed in the future. Because if he overplants his allotment, he, of course, gets no price support, the wheat doesn't wind up in storage somewhere in commodity stocks, and so the farmer in Western Kansas, particularly where he must plant to have something in the ground as a cover crop to keep it from blowing, I believe is entitled to know very soon from the Department that they will permit overplanting. Their present position is that overplanting will not be permitted, and if the farmer overplants, there is a possibility that at some future time he will lose history. And I don't think there's any justification for it, there is no specific justification in the law, and we are hopeful that the Department, that the attorney for the Department, will reverse his previous interpretation.

Now, I see our time is up, I want to point out that we found out just last week that we’re spending money left and right, of course, one little item we're spending $5,700 to study the diving behavior of the seal. We're spending $21,000 to probe into the mating calls of the Central American Toad, and $103,000 for films on Eskimo culture, and I think you as a taxpayer have a right, and have an obligation to write your Congressman and express your views on spending of this variety, in fact, almost on any of the spending going on at this time. Thanks again for listening and write to me, Congressman Bob Dole, Washington 25 DC.

This is Congressman Bob Dole again with my weekly radio report from Washington, and, of course, I wish to thank this station for carrying my program with the public service broadcast.

I might say that Congress is doing practically nothing, and we've done practically nothing since January, and it now appears that we will still do nothing until about late October or November. It'll be one of the longest sessions in many years, and probably one in where the least, if possible, is accomplished. I might point out that we're still having hearings in the wheat subcommittee on the possibilities of new wheat legislation, but I think if we take a very practical look at some of the happenings and some of the factual situations, you can easily determine there's no real interest in wheat legislation by the administration now.

With Secretary [Orville] Freeman off to Russia, it's rather obvious — he'll be gone for four or five weeks — that the administration certainly has no real interest in pressing for any new wheat legislation. And I say this as a representative from a wheat state and not as a Republican member of Congress and would call attention, your attention, to a statement made just last week by Senator Clinton P. Anderson, a Democrat of New Mexico, and a former Secretary of Agriculture. Senator Anderson stated that:

“Nothing is sillier than to say that the farmer should stew in their own juice; it is not just the farmers who are affected by declining income. The communities in which they buy goods and services and the factories that build plows and combines are involved.”

This is a statement by a former Secretary of Agriculture, by a leading Democrat in the Senate, and by a member of the Senate Agricultural Committee, but it does appear that without some interest being shown by the administration that of course there'll be no legislation.

Let's face the facts: the Republican party is a minority party; it's 2-to-1 in the Senate and 3-to-2 in the House — Democratic — and by any stretch of the imagination I don't believe any Republican could state that he could pass a bill through Congress without the help of the administration or without the help at least of some of the Democrats. And despite the fact there have been differences of opinion with Secretary Freeman, he is the so-called leader of the majority party agricultural program, and, of course, with him out of the country, there is very little chance that anything will be done in wheat, or in cotton, or in dairy legislation.

So we continue to hold hearings, and, while I certainly think it probably commendable that we do this, I think too that farmers should know that there's probably little chance, if any now, with Secretary Freeman gone, that anything will be done this year. Unless, of course, there would be a last-minute stopgap proposition passed in August, September, or October. I think perhaps on the 22nd of July, we'll have hearings on the bill introduced by myself and 19 other members of Congress. There'll be hearings on the Farm Bureau proposal. There'll be hearings on a simple extension of the present program for one year, and then, of course, this week we've had hearings with Department of Agriculture officials on what will happen if no legislation is passed.

As I pointed out before, one of the most serious problems, in my opinion, is that if we do nothing else, we should have a moratorium, in other words, we should not penalize a farmer who overplants his allotment as the Secretary announced will be done. And let me say why we should not do this; certainly, I don't think the farmer who overplants should gain history, but I don't believe he should be threatened with a loss of history in the event that program is passed in the future. Because if he overplants his allotment, he, of course, gets no price support, the wheat doesn't wind up in storage somewhere in commodity stocks, and so the farmer in Western Kansas, particularly where he must plant to have something in the ground as a cover crop to keep it from blowing, I believe is entitled to know very soon from the Department that they will permit overplanting. Their present position is that overplanting will not be permitted, and if the farmer overplants, there is a possibility that at some future time he will lose history. And I don't think there's any justification for it, there is no specific justification in the law, and we are hopeful that the Department, that the attorney for the Department, will reverse his previous interpretation.

Now, I see our time is up, I want to point out that we found out just last week that we’re spending money left and right, of course, one little item we're spending $5,700 to study the diving behavior of the seal. We're spending $21,000 to probe into the mating calls of the Central American Toad, and $103,000 for films on Eskimo culture, and I think you as a taxpayer have a right, and have an obligation to write your Congressman and express your views on spending of this variety, in fact, almost on any of the spending going on at this time. Thanks again for listening and write to me, Congressman Bob Dole, Washington 25 DC.