Saxby Chambliss: “the gentleman just got up here and said this is simply a reduction of 10 percent. You know, we reduced the support price…”

“the gentleman just got up here and said this is simply a reduction of 10 percent. You know, we reduced the support price on peanuts 10 percent in 1996. You know what happened to the price of that jar of peanut butter you just referred to? The price went up. Explain that to me. Explain that to the farmer down there who gets less than 33 cents out of that jar of peanut butter for the peanuts that go into that jar of peanut butter. This whole thing makes absolutely no sense at all. The gentleman from Texas walked in here with M&M's that contain peanuts and M&M's that do not; M&M's bought on one side of the aisle and others bought on the other side of the aisle at different prices. Let the market control that, and that is what happens. The cost of peanuts is so minimal in the manufacturing industry that it is absolutely ridiculous to be standing up here arguing about this. But the real point is, this is not a 1934 program, as my friend from Wisconsin said. The current peanut program is a 1996 program. Real reforms were made in the program in 1996. It became more market-oriented, it became a no-net-cost program. There was a 10 percent reduction in the support price in 1996. Most of all, as the gentleman said, it eliminated these quota holders that do not live in the United States. That simply is no longer an argument on this issue.”