Matthew Russell: “``a bad situation worse''? You want to see a bad situation? How about this: Just in the District of Columbia, $3.5…”

“``a bad situation worse''? You want to see a bad situation? How about this: Just in the District of Columbia, $3.5 billion in 2010 in direct economic costs; $179 billion of the total cost of alcohol consumption comes from a loss in workplace productivity. Mr. Chairman, I don't have anything for or against, or want to promote prohibition or anything of the like. The matter is that these crops can stand on their own. They receive $8 million a year nearly, $7.67 million from the alcohol industry in lobbying costs. They already have their promoters. These crops can stand on their own. However, of the $18 million in this Value Added fund, $8 million of that goes to the alcohol industry. So when we are talking about picking winners and losers, I think we have already seen who is being picked here, and it is the fleecing of the American people. What about those that are new farmers, family farms, even veterans that are trying to enter the farming industry but they don't want to grow hops? Maybe they want to grow something that we eat that doesn't have a detrimental $250 billion a year of an impact. So, Mr. Chairman, I would argue that I would probably have to be drunk to think that the Government should both promote and curtail something at the same time. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.”