mr. speaker , i would say to my friend , and of course , as we have had a lot of unforeseen circumstances that have occurred , as was mentioned earlier , iraq and afghanistan . 
and let us hope and pray that as permanent repeal occurs , if it occurs , in the outyears that we will not be in that war on terrorism . 
but i would say to my friend , and i appreciate the question , but he also mentioned the department of agriculture , and lest , mr. speaker , anyone wonder who those agricultural groups are that represent farm families across america , i would place into the record a letter from said groups . 
in essence , the letter reads as follows : the groups listed below support permanent estate tax repeal , ask for this body to vote for h.r. 8 , and the letter goes on to say , individuals and families own virtually all of the farms and ranches that dot america 's rural landscape . 
death taxes threaten the transfer of these operations to the next generation of food and fiber producers . 
sincerely , alabama farmers federation , american farm bureau federation , american sheep industry association , the american soybean association , farm credit council , national association of wheat growers ; to my friend from north dakota , national cattlemen 's beef association , national corn growers association , national cotton council , national grain sorghum producers , national milk producers federation , national potato council , usa rice producers federation , u.s. rice producers association , and the western peanut growers association . 
april 13 , 2005 . 
dear representative : the groups listed below support permanent estate tax repeal and ask you to vote for h.r. 8 , the death tax repeal permanency act of 2005 . 
individuals and families own virtually all of the farms and ranches that dot america 's rural landscape . 
death taxes threaten the transfer of these operations to the next generation of food and fiber producers . 
in 2001 , congress recognized the harm that death taxes cause family businesses and voted to repeal this onerous tax . 
unfortunately , repeal scheduled for 2010 is temporary and sunsets after only one year . 
congress should act now to make death tax repeal permanent . 
please show your support for permanent death tax repeal by voting for h.r. 8 when the bill reaches the house floor this week . 
sincerely , mr. speaker , to my friend from south carolina , i am not sure if any of those groups happen to represent farm families in his district , but i yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from south carolina ( mr. barrett ) xz4000160 . 
