María Elvira Salazar: “I come here at 7:30 p.m. eastern time one more time to implore my colleagues, when we get to the cloture motion tomorrow…”

“I come here at 7:30 p.m. eastern time one more time to implore my colleagues, when we get to the cloture motion tomorrow on the 2007 farm bill, that we vote yes on that cloture motion. I fear if we do not move forward with that cloture motion on the farm bill tomorrow, there is a great possibility that the farm bill is, in fact, dead. So many people have worked on this farm bill for such a long time-- Senator Harkin, who has led the effort as chairman of the committee; Senator Chambliss, who has worked on this now for 3 years; Senator Baucus, who led the efforts in the Finance Committee with Senator Grassley to provide a very robust package that is very important for the future of America. It is important that we move forward and we bring this matter to a close. The only way we are going to do that is if we get cloture tomorrow where people voted yes. When we do that, what that will then set up is a postcloture timeframe where germane amendments can then be considered to the farm bill, and we can move forward through an orderly process to bring the farm bill to a just conclusion.”