Tom Harkin: “I look forward to the vote on cloture. I hope it will be an overwhelming vote. I hope we can move on this bill right…”

“I look forward to the vote on cloture. I hope it will be an overwhelming vote. I hope we can move on this bill right away, today. Time is wasting, as they say. The clock is ticking. We are here. We are in Washington. We are ready to do business. I believe we have a good bill. I believe we have a very good, well- balanced farm bill. It is a 5-year farm bill. We have reported it out of committee. We are ready to bring it to the floor and have it open for amendments that Senators might offer. It is a 5-year bill. It is a comprehensive bill. I think it provides greater improvements to the farm commodity and income protection programs. We are strong on conservation, rural economic development. Agricultural trade and research has a good provision. I will have more to say about my distinguished ranking member, Senator Lugar, and the great work he has done on agricultural research. We have nutrition assistance programs, we have a new title dealing with energy, and of course credit titles and forestry titles. It is a comprehensive farm bill. I know a lot of the press tends to focus only on commodities. Commodities, obviously, are an important part of the farm bill. However, this farm bill covers other areas across the United States which I will talk more about. I thank the ranking Republican member of our committee, Senator Lugar, former distinguished chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. I very much enjoyed working with him and his staff, developing this bill.…”