The budget request you are making this year admittedly is sizeable. I appreciate you are a little bit different circumstance. But having said that, it is our job to provide oversight wherever the dollar comes from.

I have seen firsthand Darci's commitment to U.S. agriculture.

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to be here this morning to introduce a friend and a colleague through the years, Darci Vetter.

I am astonished, absolutely blown away, that she is not here today.

Almost immediately then Senator Max Baucus spoke up and embraced the idea, and so it became bipartisan from the moment I offered it.

Leadership is not about convenience and being available when it works into someone's schedule.

I offered an amendment to establish an Undersecretary for Trade in Foreign Agriculture Affairs.

Unfortunately, her absence speaks volumes about lack of transparency.

I applaud you and your team at USDA for recognizing the important role that we play in on these Committees.

I think this is the best Committee in the United States Senate.

We should not speak down to rural folk. They get this. They want to do it.

What we are trying to signal is that we believe the future for rural America, in part at least, is going to be a regional approach.

I have made rural development a priority throughout my years of public service.

It would be terribly unfortunate if 5 years from now... we looked back and saw that this regional concept resulted in the region developing a situation where 90 percent of the economic benefits... went to the biggest town in the region.

Sometimes the regulatory requirements to build that road or to do whatever are just so incredibly onerous for a small town.

The roots of successful development are there in rural communities in Nebraska and across this country.

Thriving rural areas are in the best interest of this country, especially in States like ours.

You know, you raise a valid point. It occurred to me years and years ago, as I would work with communities across the State as Governor, that resources were always tough to come by.

I think if you would work with us, USDA, the Farm Bureau, FFA (Future Farmers of America), 4-H, on and on, about a program that says, look, here are some practices we would like to talk about in terms of protecting yourself, and kind of a…

My hope is, at the end of this, we can all celebrate the fact that we hit the budget, we hit the timeline, and the building is up and going and doing the things that we want it to do.

If there is anything as this project is going along that you would like my Senate office to pay attention to, we are happy to do it.

I appreciate what they feel is a more open environment to the EPA, and I know you are working on that communication.

My hope is that there will not be any issue, that compliance will be timely, and it will be done as required by the legislation.

I met with her when I was Secretary of Agriculture.

When it comes to family farms, haven't we, as Congress with this rider language, basically told you what we believe the situation is in terms of how to define a family farm?