Mike Levin: “We are always the No. 2 or No. 3 state in terms of apple production. Every year we vie with New York for who comes in…”

“We are always the No. 2 or No. 3 state in terms of apple production. Every year we vie with New York for who comes in second after the State of Washington. But our apple industry has suffered major devastation in southwestern Michigan. We have had the largest problem with fire blight in the history of our State. It is a true disaster. It seems to me some people just look at the whole and ignore the parts. They also have a responsibility of looking at the parts. Our part was a disaster which we addressed in the form of an amendment providing relief on June 19. Senator Collins and 12 bipartisan cosponsors joined this amendment. I thank them very much for their assistance. We cover potatoes as well as apples because there has been an honest to goodness disaster emergency amongst potato growers as well. I once again, thank the managers of this bill. I know how difficult this is. Those of us who represent States that had emergencies that were not reflected in the bill, as it came to the Senate, counted on the managers and our colleagues to do justice for our emergencies in the same way this bill, as it came to the Senate, addressed emergencies in other States. We are deeply grateful to the managers. We thank Senator Stevens and others who were able to work out this agreement so our true disaster could be taken care of.”