Political Quotes

“I also rise today because I strongly oppose this amendment. As I've listened to the debate, I think some folks are missing some fundamental principles of where our Nation's food supply comes from. I've seen many Members come to the floor to defend funding our nutrition programs--which is obviously a worthy cause--but at the same time many of those Members come down here and attempt to pull the rug out from under farmers by scrapping programs that provide an important safety net to our producers. We have to be clear: We can't have a stable food supply for recipients of nutrition programs and all Americans unless our commodity producers have some stability. Through a deliberate and balanced approach, the Ag Committee has brought reform to the AGI means test by further targeting program benefits to those individuals that depend on farming for their livelihood. By setting the income level at an appropriate level, the committee recognized the production costs and the economies of scale that are necessary to be competitive in today's agriculture. An overly restrictive AGI ceiling disregards the financial reality of commercially viable farms. Let's be clear about this: A farmer's AGI is not profit. There are still a number of expenses that must be covered. In addition to personal expenses, farmers must service the debt that, given the cost of today's machinery and land, can easily reach into the millions of dollars.…”