Saxby Chambliss: “let me again thank Senator Cochran for his generous comments and for his leadership on the committee. He has been such a…”

“let me again thank Senator Cochran for his generous comments and for his leadership on the committee. He has been such a valuable member of the conference committee but, more than that, he has been a dear friend. I want to continue to acknowledge the hard work of a number of folks on the other side of the aisle. We had Senator Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee, who worked so closely with Senator Grassley and every member of the conference committee on our side of the Capitol to try to find the funding for this bill. It is completely offset as scored by CBO. In addition, he worked out a very fair and equitable tax package for agricultural issues, and I emphasize that, to be included in this farm bill. And it is that particular amount of spending that has been totally offset as scored by CBO. So Senator Baucus and Senator Grassley deserve an awful lot of credit. To my good friend, Senator Blanche Lincoln, what a real ally she has been to all of us on the committee. Senator Stabenow has been a tireless worker from a conference committee standpoint. This truly has been a bipartisan effort. But the real work hard that has been done on this bill--the policy decisions are made by the membership--was done by the staff. I say to Mark Halverson and Susan Keith, and all of the members of the minority committee, how much we appreciate them for their hard work, their commitment to agriculture.”