Political Quotes

“It is. Thank you for, again, taking the time tonight to speak on the floor of the House. This is a place where the eyes not only of the country but the world are on us right now in terms of whether or not this body is going to have the strength of will to act and deal with, again, all of the ticking clocks which you've mentioned earlier: the fiscal cliff at the end of this year; sequestration; and at the end of this month, a farm bill reauthorization. Again, for those watching tonight, I think it's important to have a little context here, which is that up until this year, every 5 years since the end of World War II, Congress has acted to enact a farm bill which is a 5-year policy bill that sets up all of the ground rules for a vast array of issues that surround producers in this country, the folks who get up every morning and milk the cows and plant the crops and harvest the crops. It deals with issues of rural development. Small-town America depends on USDA rural development funds and programs to build everything from sewers, hospitals, health clinics. Again, all of the infrastructure, which again, small towns by themselves really don't have the financial means to create. Conservation programs, forestry, food policy, nutrition policy. Again, the farm bill is a profoundly important measure that sets up both producer and production policies and agriculture but also consumer ends in terms of food safety, food security, et cetera.…”