Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senator Donnelly in introducing legislation that will prevent the EPA from distributing the personal information of farmers. This legislation comes in direct response to the EPA releasing personal information on over 80,000 farmers nationwide and over 9,000 farmers in Iowa. After the initial data release, I wrote a letter that was signed by 23 of my colleagues to the EPA asking them to explain their rationale for releasing the addresses, emails and phone numbers of so many producers. Their response was unsatisfactory to me so I am introducing this bill to stop the EPA from doing this again. The EPA's interpretation of the information which can be provided under a Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, request is simply too broad. Our Nation's farmers operate unique businesses in that their homes are often at the same location as their farming operation. When the EPA released this data, activist groups attained contact information and addresses for farm families whose way of life they oppose. This is unacceptable. I would also like to point out that this bill does not prevent the EPA from collecting the information about where farmers' operations are located. It also does not prevent EPA from disclosing information in the aggregate. The legislation simply prevents them from releasing personal information to the public.…”