Tom Harkin: “I know that a motion to appoint conferees has not happened yet on the reconciliation bill, but I understand that the…”

“I know that a motion to appoint conferees has not happened yet on the reconciliation bill, but I understand that the majority leader will sometime today be making that motion. It is a debatable motion, and obviously an amendable motion. I think there are maybe four or five different motions to instruct our conferees regarding the reconciliation bill. I want to take the time now to talk about it, even though I have an amendment, but it is not timely to send the amendment to the desk. But I do want to talk about what that amendment will do and why I am going to be offering it. Basically, it has to do with funding cuts for food assistance programs. It has been a challenging year for all of us, especially here in the Senate. There have been many things upon which this Chamber disagreed. We have had some spirited debates and disagreements. The budget debate and ensuing reconciliation bill has been one of the most challenging of these debates. But there are also times when agreement rather than discord characterize our proceedings. While I disagreed with the underlying reconciliation bill passed by the Senate, I was pleased and proud of one of the sources of bipartisan agreement that we had both in committee and on the floor. It was the decision by the Senate not to cut food assistance programs for working Americans, for low-income working Americans. The Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry considered such cuts.…”