Political Quotes

“I rise today to talk about the farm bill and then specifically about reforming payment limits for farm programs. As one looks back to the fall of 2011 and the failure of what was referred to as the ``supercommittee,'' we saw many committees continue on with business as usual afterwards. However, one committee's members took it upon themselves to continue efforts to tackle spending and propose meaningful cuts--the Senate Agriculture Committee. For that matter, the House Agriculture Committee worked towards that end as well. I commend Chairman Stabenow and then Ranking Member Roberts for corralling the many ideas of the members of the committee to write a bill that cut $23 billion. We were able to work in committee to get the bill done. We were able to work in a bipartisan manner to get the bill across the Senate floor. It is how legislation is supposed to be considered and debated in the Senate. One of the measures in last year's farm bill was my proposal reforming payment limitations in the farm program. Adopting reforms to payment limitations contributed to the $23 billion in savings. Beyond just being a part of saving money, these reforms help ensure farm payments go to those who they were originally intended--small and medium-size farmers. In addition, the reforms include closing off loopholes so nonfarmers can't game the system. I will come back to my proposed reforms in a minute after I say just a few words about the overall farm bill picture.…”