Political Quotes

“I am assuming that his situation is very similar to the situation that I find myself in. About a year ago we brought the farm bill to the floor. I was the ranking member of the committee. We voted 73 times. We had over 300 amendments offered. The amendments came forth, and the first amendment had nothing to do with agriculture. Basically, we were able to get through it in 2\1/2\ days. Fast-forward to this year's farm bill. I think there were 10 votes. Senator Thune has been on the committee for a long time. We respect his voice, and we respect his amendments. He had about four amendments. Senator Grassley has been on the committee a lot longer. He always has amendments on the farm bill. Senator Johanns is a former Secretary of Agriculture. He is an excellent Senator for Nebraska and a real voice for Agriculture. He had several amendments. I had two or three amendments that I would have liked to have had considered. The reason I mention them is because we all agreed to hold off in committee as long as we could bring them to the floor. We wanted to expedite it because the big issue was time. They said: Well, we don't have time for a farm bill. Usually a farm bill takes 1 to 2 weeks. That is just not the case anymore. Last year we got through it in 2\1/2\ days. This year we expected to have votes, but none of us got amendments. After 10 votes, bingo, it was cut off. The majority leader controlled the effort. This is like the Rules Committee in the House.…”