Tom Harkin: “I take this time to express my deep gratitude to my ranking member, my good friend, the distinguished Senator from…”

“I take this time to express my deep gratitude to my ranking member, my good friend, the distinguished Senator from Indiana, to thank him for the graciousness he has given to me, first when he was chairman and I was ranking member and now when I am chairman and he is ranking member. I could not ask for a better partner on the Senate Agriculture Committee than Senator Lugar. We have worked very closely together. This legislative disagreement we had here this week again reminds me of why this is called the crucible of democracy. We grind these issues out in time and we move ahead, which is what I have always loved about the legislative process. Friends can differ. We can fight these things out and work them out, and we move ahead. I am quite taken by what the distinguished ranking member said about looking ahead on the farm bill. We have discussed this personally, in private, many times. Everything the distinguished ranking member just mentioned is something I feel strongly about and feel deeply about. I believe we are going to have many, many opportunities to work together this fall to fashion a new farm bill, as the distinguished ranking member said, that looks at the broad spectrum of agriculture beyond just production but all of the aspects of agriculture.”