Dick Lugar: “This amendment is a radical adjustment. I am hopeful Senators will be alert to the particulars as well as to the general…”

“This amendment is a radical adjustment. I am hopeful Senators will be alert to the particulars as well as to the general philosophy of the amendment. It deals with the commodity title. As I have stated on other occasions, the other titles of the bill have had strong bipartisan support. As a matter of fact, we have improved them in the amendment process, especially a nutrition amendment that Senator Durbin addressed this morning in his amendment. My criticism of the commodity area of the farm bill is substantial. It comes down to the first point that we are debating this bill at a time in which our Nation is apparently in deficit finance, which means essentially we are spending more money as a government than we are taking in. That means each dollar of additional deficit comes from the Social Security trust fund. Most lament that; both parties, through a lockbox strategy or through pledges, want that sacrosanct and recognize the public as a whole does not like the idea of the Social Security trust fund being invaded.”