Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership on this and certainly want to thank the ranking member of the full committee as well and my friend, the gentleman from Minnesota, who serves as the ranking member on our subcommittee. This is a great piece of bipartisan legislation. As has been noted here, this is about 100 years since this has been signed into law, and the grain trade has thrived over that century. GSA has supported its evolution by providing a backbone of stability relied upon by exporters, shippers, farmers, and, of course, consumers. With the farm economy and so many of our constituents relying on the ability of grain and oilseeds to get to market, it is critical that we act to provide stability for the grain trade, like we are doing here today. This legislation accomplishes that goal in the following two ways. Many of the provisions in current law are set to expire on September 30 of this year. A lapse in that authorization would disrupt the current grain inspections process; therefore, Congress should not delay in passing its reauthorization. The House is getting its job done well ahead of schedule by considering this bill today, and I hope my colleagues in the Senate will act soon as well. Secondly, this legislation provides stability by ensuring we can avoid disruptions like that which took place last year in Washington State, which was alluded to earlier by the chairman.…”