Liz Saville Roberts: “I would simply point out to the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Minge], who is a very valued member of the House Committee…”

“I would simply point out to the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Minge], who is a very valued member of the House Committee on Agriculture, that had the President not really vetoed the balanced budget, we would have a farm bill months ago. I understand that there are some concerns about structure of the farm bill. But in terms of the timeliness, and we all know it is time-sensitive, that that has been a problem. To my good friend from Texas, I understand the concern in regard to oil seeds. That is one of the few diversified crops that we have on the Great Plains. It is a burgeoning crop. It is one we want to move toward. In the Senate bill there is $132 million dedicated to that purpose, but there is a cap on that loan to prevent any further budget hemorrhaging. Perhaps when this bill goes to the Senate, we can accommodate that in some respect. Let me say again that I think everybody on the committee, if not everybody in the Congress, is supportive of the very valuable rural development programs that have been described, and the chairman, the former chairman of the committee, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. de la Garza], has been a champion in this respect, as has the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Stenholm] and the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton], who has just done an outstanding job in that regard in the past. But this is $3.5 billion, again.…”