Tom Harkin: “nothing has changed. I can only assume my friends on the other side of the aisle would like to have had more money for…”

“nothing has changed. I can only assume my friends on the other side of the aisle would like to have had more money for our farmers. They would like to have had the Senate-passed bill to provide 100 percent of AMTA because this is what they asked for. That is what we put in the Senate bill. But, obviously, the President said no. The President said no; farmers had enough. I also point out what else was in our bill in terms of conservation. Our bill provided funding for a number of USDA conservation programs. The Wetlands Reserve Program, the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, and Farmland Protection Program are all in jeopardy because the House bill has zero dollars for conservation. Let me show you what it is in terms of all of the funding for these programs. Here is the Wetlands Reserve Program. Right now the total backlog is about $568 million. In our bill, we had $200 million for the Wetlands Reserve Program to cut that in half. Here are the top 10 States that need funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program. I see my friend and colleague from Arkansas, a distinguished member of our committee, here in the Chamber. Arkansas has $89 million in backlog for the Wetlands Reserve Program. These are all eligible enrollments. But we don't have the money for it. At least our bill would have cut that almost in half. Iowa, my State, $81.9 million; California, $78.9 million; Louisiana, $69 million; Mississippi, $18 million.…”