Tom Harkin: “The Budget Committee allotted us $73.5 billion. I also thank him for continuing to point out the dire state of…”

“The Budget Committee allotted us $73.5 billion. I also thank him for continuing to point out the dire state of agriculture today. When I first spoke, I pointed out that if you discount the added money the Congress is providing every year for agriculture, our net income right now to farmers is 54 percent of what it was in 1996. Rural America is in trouble. Thank God we have good advocates such as Senator Conrad from North Dakota who fights for rural America, who understands we do not have as many people in rural America as in the big cities in California, New York, and other States. The work people do in rural America is what keeps this country going. We cannot afford any longer to have them on that downward track that the Senator from North Dakota pointed out on his chart.”