Mr. Penny. I would ask first Mr. de la Garza, then Mr. Roberts, 

 and then Mr. Allard for any opening statements they might have. 

 Mr. de la Garza. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. E (KIKA) de la GARZA, A 

 REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS 



The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is indeed a very 

 timely hearing inasmuch as the President and all of our Nation is 

 interested in the events in the former Soviet Union, and especially 

 in the last few days in Russia. 



From my long association with members of the former Soviet 

 Union's ministries of agriculture and agencies in agriculture, we 

 have always seen two things: One, that their system would eventu- 

 ally fail, which it has; and, two, that it was at one time, is now, 

 and can be in the future a very valuable market for us in agri- 

 culture. I do hope that any assistance that we render at this time 

 would be in two directions: First, that we assist them in order for 

 them to be able to supply, to the extent possible, their needs in ag- 

 riculture; and, second, that we foster their friendship in such a way 

 that the market is available to us for our mutual benefit. 



I commend you and the subcommittee for delving into this issue 

 in a very timely fashion. We look for the whole committee to work 

 with you and this subcommittee so that we might, if we need legis- 

 lation, be ready to present it. It is possible we won't need legisla- 

 tion at this time. I think that much can be done under existing law, 

 possibly with some executive modification. But should there be a 

 need for legislation, we would be ready to accommodate the Presi- 

 dent and the administration. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Penny. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Roberts. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PAT ROBERTS, A REPRESENT- 

 ATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF KANSAS 



Mr. Roberts. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First, I'd like to associ- 

 ate myself with the remarks of the chairman of the full committee, 

 and just in case, Mr. Chairman, let me indicate to you that Mr. Al- 

 lard, Mr. Smith, Mr. Emerson, Mr. Barrett, Mr. Bereuter, and my- 

 self have introduced legislation. It's in the hopper. I would hope 

 that we do not need it, but at least in terms of a possible means 

 to answer some of our challenges, we have already done that in co- 

 operation with the Secretary and talking with him. He has not en- 

 dorsed the legislation per se, in that obviously there's an inter- 

 agency task force involved in this in the big picture, but we did, 

 as of yesterday, introduce the legislation. 



Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for calling this series of hear- 

 ings on the plight of Russia and what we can do to help. Of course, 

 over the long haul, Russia will move toward the real modernization 

 of their food and agricultural system, and we need to help in that 

 process. But that process is going to take several years, and Russia 

 needs food imports now to feed their population and help to sta- 

 bilize their political situation. 



We have witnessed this past weekend just how precarious the 

 democratic reforms are in Russia. President Yeltsin once again ral- 



