Political Quotes

“I feel that I have to rise in opposition to this amendment. When the gentleman says that he is going to put $3.5 billion at the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture, I think we certainly should put a lot more thought and have a lot more ideas exactly how that money is going to be spent; because the bottom line is what we take out of the farm program with an amendment such as this is money that is not going to be there for the transition payments for farmers; it is not going to be there for crop insurance, which is the bottom of the safety net, the base of the safety net for American agriculture; it is not going to be there for legitimate agricultural research, which is always needed. We cannot tell at this time what our demands are going to be. Certainly, to come along with that kind of a fund, without the controls and the oversight of this Congress, would be a very, very serious mistake, and very crippling to the ability to make this bill, the transition act, the agricultural transition act, be as important as it is to American agriculture.”