[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17] [Senate] [Pages 22123-22124] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]AGRICULTURE APPROPRIATIONS Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, at some point today following the debate with respect to the India security agreement, we will by unanimous consent have an opportunity to have the agriculture appropriations bill on the floor. My colleague Senator Conrad will offer an amendment to that bill which will amend a provision that I added to the bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee. My colleague Senator Burns and I added a farm disaster amendment. My colleague Senator Conrad has been working on an amendment that will expand that to include the 2007 disaster legislation. Because we are going to have an agriculture appropriations bill on the floor today at some point, I thought it was interesting to call attention to a story that was in today's newspaper. Our family farmers--many of whom got hurt badly with the devastating droughts and some of whom have been hurt by floods and so on--as I said yesterday are the economic all-stars of this country. They get up in the morning and do chores. They take showers afterwards--not before. They risk everything they have, hoping their crops will grow. They produce foodstuff for a hungry world. They are the economic all-stars in this country. But let me point out that in this morning's newspaper the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said they are going to eliminate ``hunger''--actually eliminate the word ``hungry.'' The U.S. Government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again, but they may experience ``very low food security.'' The U.S. Department of Agriculture has decided they are not going to use the term ``hungry'' as they define that number of people in this country who do not have enough to eat and are hungry. There is something called ``an ache in your belly.'' There are hunger pangs for people who do not have enough to eat. Apparently that is not going to be called ``hunger'' anymore. Those folks who can't find anything to eat and are suffering the pangs of hunger and the ravage to their body because of not having food are going to be called people with ``very low food security.'' If you don't have anything to eat, that is a ``very low food security,'' but it doesn't describe in English what is happening. In English, these are people who are hungry. I don't understand sometimes the bureaucracy. I was here years ago when ketchup was described as a vegetable, a part of a daily meal. Of course, that was never very right. It is not a vegetable. Now they are going to eliminate ``hunger.'' Throughout the years I have been here, I have served on the hunger committee when I was in the U.S. House, and I toured much of the world--going [[Page 22124]] to refugee camps, been around parts of this country. I have seen hunger. I have seen devastating hunger. I would desire to eliminate hunger, if we can. Our farmers are part of being able to do that at some point with the prodigious quantities of good food which they produce. We are not going to eliminate hunger by taking ``hunger'' out of the lexicon of the Department and replacing it with ``very low food security.'' I think it is not about the terminology; it is about the will. Do we have the will to decide in a country such as ours to address the issue of hunger and make sure they have enough to eat. We have programs in this country such as food stamps and the WIC Program and other programs to try to address some of these issues. Now apparently we have some folks in the bureaucracy who will address it by changing the words to ``very low food security.'' Remember that when we later today talk about family farmers and the plight many of them have. They are the ones planting the seed and growing the crops--or at least trying to do that, except during the years where there is a disaster when they have serious problems. We have a hungry world. The fact is in this world we circle the Sun. Our little planet has 6.3 billion neighbors. Half of them have never made a telephone call and live on less than $2 a day. There is plenty of hunger in this country and the world. Eliminating the word ``hunger'' from the lexicon of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is not addressing the issue of hunger. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________