Calvin Dooley: “I rise to make sure all my colleagues fully understand that we are soon to be considering a rule on the agricultural…”

“I rise to make sure all my colleagues fully understand that we are soon to be considering a rule on the agricultural research bill, and I think everyone should understand exactly what is about to happen. Through the Committee on Agriculture, we were able to fashion an ag research, a crop insurance bill, as well as a food stamp reform bill that had broad bipartisan support. It was a bill that went to conference. It was signed by all the Republican and Democrat conferees. It was a bill that passed the Senate by a vote of 92-8. Last night, the Committee on Rules has reported a bill that is basically going to unravel this carefully crafted conference report. Anyone who chooses to vote for this rule has to understand what they are doing. They are taking a slap at every farmer in this country, farmers who are struggling to maintain their viability, because this rule will gut the crop insurance fix which is so vital. They will also be having a slap in the face to our universities who are performing the agricultural research, which is so important to our international competitiveness of the agriculture sector. And they are also slapping in the face all the legal immigrants who have the opportunity to get vital food stamps. Vote no on this rule.”