Liz Saville Roberts: “If the Senator will yield, what we tried to do with the approach, rather than specifically mentioning some of the crops…”

“If the Senator will yield, what we tried to do with the approach, rather than specifically mentioning some of the crops that have been in controversy on the floor from time to time--and I am talking about sugar and peanuts and tobacco--we have simply provided a fund for the Secretary of $300 million for specialty crops and others not specifically mentioned elsewhere in the amendment. In talking to Secretary Glickman as of this morning and going over specified funding for these crops, which may or may not need assistance in regard to weather problems or lost income problems, he indicated he would rather have that at his discretion. After all, it is the USDA, in the end result, that would be able to determine at the end of the crop years, after harvest, specifically what the situation is. When I mention specific numbers for these particular programs, I am not going to indicate that the Secretary is endorsing this bill in total by any means, but I think his preference would be that he would have the discretion to address these as needed, as opposed to saying we are getting X number of dollars for this particular program. Then we get into a bidding war, and the Senator knows that is what has happened in the past.”