María Elvira Salazar: “on November 5, almost 10 days ago, I came to the floor to say there it was a proud day in my time as a Senator because…”

“on November 5, almost 10 days ago, I came to the floor to say there it was a proud day in my time as a Senator because we were moving forward with consideration of the 2007 farm bill. Almost 10 days have passed and we are stuck. In being stuck, we are doing a disservice to the people of America, to the people of rural America. It behooves us to move forward with the kind of process that put together the 2002 farm bill and farm bills before that, where there was a procedure set out that there was an agreed-upon set of relevant amendments that were discussed and debated on the farm bill and then a farm bill was passed. To do otherwise is, frankly, letting down the farmers and ranchers. From my point of view, that is something which we ought not to do. It is something we have a moral obligation to avoid and where both Republicans and Democrats coming together can figure out a way forward to make sure we are addressing the realities and challenges of rural America, the realities and challenges of our farmers and ranchers, and the issues related to nutrition and all of the rest of the components of this very good farm bill which has been written by the Agriculture Committee, a committee which is composed of Republicans and Democrats, of which the Presiding Officer played a significant role in putting this farm bill together. It is important we move forward.”