Is there an attempt by some to kill the suborning--to kill it before it even gets off the ground?

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

it would not be acceptable for a commodity program to do that, and it should not be acceptable for this kind of commodity program.

I want to convey my thanks to the Secretary, to you, to Mr. Knight, for providing public access to the comments on the CSP proposed rule.

So is the Administration requesting a change then in their budget proposal to reflect what we did?

Well, do you see the irony that I have just--the irony that USDA is complaining about the difficulty of implementing a rule that is open to all with a cap, okay? But we took off the cap. Then the Administration turns around and requests a…

I cannot believe that a 15 percent limitation is any kind of a real onerous limit.

Well, it looks like that. I am just telling you. It is 2 years and not one farmer.

the proposed CSP rule--I am getting back to that proposed rule again--would bar the vast majority of producers from participating.

Which we said no cap.

We are now coming up on 2 years since the Farm Bill was passed--2 years--and not one farmer has been signed up in the CSP program.

Take it to the bank--as long as I am here.

I understand virtually all expressing disappointment in the proposed rule.

So the first applications would be available this fall.

I would not let this opportunity pass without thanking Chairman Bennett for his strong support of conservation programs.

I am just saying, if we think about conservation as a commodity, compared to the commodity programs, and one for which society has said it is willing to pay, then it would seem that we need some kind of equivalency.

I have never in all my 20 some years here encountered an agency denying access to public comments in this way, never.

To deny country of origin labeling to America's consumers and producers is unacceptable; for USDA to remain evasive and unresponsive in attending to this issue is inexcusable.