Political Quotes

“I rise today to offer my concerns over the action of the Senate in proceeding to the Farm Bill, notwithstanding the nice dialog between the Senator from Pennsylvania and my good friend from a fellow peanut-growing State, the Senator from Georgia, Mr. Miller. I understand the desire to make improvements in the existing farm bill. There should be improvements made. From what I can tell, the House-passed bill and the Senate-Agriculture-Committee-reported bill have several very worthy provisions. No one can argue against the need for a strong farm bill. Indeed, it is a high priority, and I certainly will not disagree with that. In my home State, the Commonwealth of Virginia, agriculture accounts for a significant part of our diverse economy. Agriculture creates approximately 388,000 jobs in Virginia, which is about 10 percent of the total jobs statewide. Virginia agriculture contributes about $19.5 billion to Virginia's gross State product, or 11.2 percent of the total GSP. Farms cover 8.8 million acres, or 34 percent of Virginia's total land area. There are 49,000 farms in Virginia. Most farms in Virginia are smaller farms, but there are 49,000 of them. Again, a strong farm bill is very important to Virginia. I do applaud the work of the committee in drafting this bill. However, I have several concerns and I cannot agree with moving forward on this bill right now. Let me elaborate on these several concerns.…”