Lawmakers Urge Reagan to Sign Farmers Relief Bill

Farm state lawmakers, addressing about 700 farmers gathered on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial, today called on President Reagan to sign a debt-relief bill “to keep our farmers on the land.”

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) charged that Reagan’s “Second American Revolution” is a “repeal of all that Thomas Jefferson and our forefathers fought for in the real American Revolution.”

Speakers referred often to Jefferson, who supported widespread ownership of farmland by small farmers.

Harkin said “something is wrong in America” when other sectors of the economy are booming and “yet agriculture is dying.”

Harkin, pointing at the White House a quarter of a mile away across the Tidal Basin, yelled, “He can sign that bill on Wednesday and keep our farmers on the land.”

On Tuesday, the House is expected to pass a Senate-approved farm debt relief bill and ship it straight to Reagan, who has threatened to veto it.

In a chilly drizzle, farmers stood holding state and American flags, protest signs and 250 crosses, with names of failed farmers or farmers who have committed suicide.

Signs read, “Why Chrysler and Not the Farmer?” and “Wake Up, America, You Are Losing the American Farmer.”