Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to seek support for an amendment to the budget resolution that would discourage aerial surveillance of farms by the Environmental Protection Agency. Last year, we learned that EPA had been conducting aerial flyovers of livestock operations in Nebraska, Iowa, and other states. Needless to say, farmers and ranchers were not excited about EPA flying over their operations and taking pictures of their farms and homes, which are often the same thing. I tried to get straight answers from EPA about what they were doing, but they were never willing to be forthcoming about this program. In an age when satellite imagery allows us to see the cars parked in our driveways, one might be tempted to ask, what's the big deal? Well, the problem is EPA's recent track record on agriculture and what they may do with this information. In spite of several high profile outreach events to farmers, I continually hear about EPA's dismissive attitude towards the people who work hard every day to put food on the plates of millions of people. Some members of this Administration and the media have mocked us farm state Senators for ``crying over spilled milk'' and fretting about ``phantom dust rules.'' But we were not using these fears to whip up farmers into an anti-EPA frenzy. Yes these rules were far-fetched, but what had farmers justifiably worried was that EPA was actually considering them.…”