Tom Harkin: “I like the way my friend from North Dakota has portrayed it because I think that is absolutely right, looking at both of…”

“I like the way my friend from North Dakota has portrayed it because I think that is absolutely right, looking at both of them. I was just thinking about that when the Senator was asking the question. When we think about the nutrition side of it, we think of the families; we think of the kids; we think of the people involved and what it does to help them in their lives. When we think of the commodity programs, we should not be thinking of a bushel of wheat or a bushel of corn or a bale of cotton or hundredweight of rice or whatever. We ought to be thinking about the families who are involved in production. What are they like? What are they doing? What are they doing for our country? How are they living? What are they doing for rural America? And what are we going to do if we lose them all? What happens when they get wiped out? I think the Senator from North Dakota has really, again, pointed out that we have to have this balance in this bill. The commodity title is one that does not go to support it. The Senator is absolutely right. It doesn't go to support a bushel of corn or a bushel of wheat. It goes to support a family farmer--their spouse, their kids, their livelihood, their communities all over rural America.”