I appreciate, first of all, that this is the unanimous position of the Commission, as I understand.

I offered an amendment on the last farm bill to close Zelener. We passed it in the Senate.

the public has an interest in regulating that sort of 'creativity.'

I would also say it is not sufficient to assert, as many swap dealers do, that the market for credit default swaps function properly and has experienced no major problems during the current crisis.

I have always known that he is deeply committed to farm families, rural economic development, and strong Federal nutrition programs.

I am very disappointed with the amount allocated in the President's budget for conservation programs.

However, since the Farm bill was passed, credit markets have tightened significantly.

we have got to strengthen the hand of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

I fully expect our witnesses to be able to tell us, No. 1, how they utilize them from the standpoint of making the economy of this country stronger.

The derivatives markets must work properly and in the open.

the farm bill was not exactly the bill that I would have written, and I think everybody on the Senate and House Agriculture Committee's would say the same thing.

I enthusiastically welcome the President's request for $1 billion annually in new funding for Federal child nutrition programs.

I am really glad that you have put in your budget an extra billion dollars a year for child nutrition programs.

I am a little concerned, I must note for the record, about the proposed cutbacks in the WRP program and the EQIP program in the budget proposal.

I appreciate that. I support streamlining that could be done over there.

In my view, these programs are now more important than ever, especially as we work to address significant environmental concerns like climate change.

I am glad to see that you have kept the mandatory funding levels for other programs like the CRP and CSP.

I was pleased to see that the President's budget builds strongly on investments made USDA energy programs in the 2008 farm bill.