Tom Harkin: “again, I want you to know how proud I am to have stood side by side with the American Soybean Association, the National…”

“again, I want you to know how proud I am to have stood side by side with the American Soybean Association, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Association Of Wheat Growers, and the National Cotton Council. We have fought side by side to respond to the dire needs of our farmers in America. But, as this letter shows, we have a gun held to our heads. If we don't pass that House bill today, we risk losing even that amount of money. We have this confrontation. I had hoped that the President would be willing to meet with us to seek some reasonable compromise. After all, this President came to town saying he wanted to be a conciliator. He wanted to work together in a bipartisan fashion to seek compromise. We want to seek compromise. The House passed $5.5 billion. We passed $7.5 billion. We were willing to meet and discuss and work out some compromise. The White House was unwilling to meet and unwilling to compromise. I have heard time after time speeches on the other side of the Senate. I have heard from my Republican friends saying how bad it is in agriculture and how much we need this assistance. But, obviously, the President has said no. In my conversations with the head of OMB last night, I kept saying: Why? For what reason is it $5.5 billion or nothing? He said that is our number--5.5. It was almost like a mantra. He said: It is 5.5, and we are not going to budge from it.”