Tom Harkin: “These three farm groups in Iowa all support this farm bill. I listened to the debate on the floor. I listened to my…”

“These three farm groups in Iowa all support this farm bill. I listened to the debate on the floor. I listened to my colleague from Iowa earlier. This is the first opportunity I have had to respond. My colleague and I have been friends for 28 years now, I guess it is, since we both came to the House in 1974. We worked very strongly together on issues of concern to our State and Nation. We do not always agree on things, I understand that, but we do work together. I think we have a pretty big disagreement on this farm bill. I say to my colleague from Iowa--he went on about the trade portions of the bill and whether or not it is going to violate WTO. I want to set the record straight one more time. This bill will strengthen our position in the WTO negotiations. It will strengthen it. If we go down towards zero in amber box payments, that weakens our bargaining position. The closer we get to $19 billion, that strengthens our position. It strengthens it basically because of what Senator Conrad from North Dakota was talking about--how much the European Union supports its agriculture.”