Tom Harkin: “I could not agree more. I would proffer this. If all we do is pass this emergency package, either this one or the…”

“I could not agree more. I would proffer this. If all we do is pass this emergency package, either this one or the scaled-down package of the Republicans, and we do nothing else, farmers are going to see the handwriting on the wall. If we do not change that Freedom to Farm bill, they are going to see it and they will say, I'm going to be right back where I am again next year. Farmers are going to say, I'm getting out. They will be leaving in droves. It will drive farmers out. In the State of Iowa, from April of 1998 to April of 1999, land prices in Central Iowa have gone down 11 percent already. The Governor of Iowa was at a meeting I held in Iowa this weekend. He said, when the legislature left 3 months ago, when they went out of session, they estimated the growth in revenues at 1.8 percent. It is now down to 1 percent. That is going to affect our schools and everything else in the State of Iowa. So the broader impacts on Iowa's economic health are already being felt. It is already happening. I have had people tell me if all we are going to do is put the money out there, it will help them some with their debts, it will help them get through the next few months, help them get through the harvest, but if we do not change the Freedom to Farm bill, they are out, they are not going to be there next year.”