Political Quotes

“The Durbin-Coburn amendment says this: We have the Crop Insurance Program in America. Farmers buy crop insurance because they could have a drought, flood, lose their crop, or the market price could fall down to nothing, so they buy insurance to cover the loss. However, it isn't really insurance as we understand insurance. It is not like fire or auto insurance because farmers don't pay enough in premiums to cover the actual losses paid out by crop insurance. In fact, the farmer's contribution to crop insurance is only 38 percent of the actual premium cost. Who pays the rest? Hold up your hand, America. All the taxpayers in this country subsidize crop insurance--62 percent. What did it cost us last year? Over $7 billion, and then an additional $1 billion to administer the program. Here is what this amendment says: We stand behind crop insurance. We believe in crop insurance, but for that tiny 1 percent of farmers across America making over $750,000 a year, their Federal subsidy will be cut from 62 percent, on average, to 47 percent. They can afford it, and over the span of 10 years we will save over $1 billion. That is money we can better spend either to reduce our debt or on critical programs for this country. I want farmers to have crop insurance, but I want those who are doing so well in this system and getting hundreds of thousands of dollars of Federal subsidy to show a little bit of sacrifice on their part. Keep this program sound and keep it fair.…”