Dick Lugar: “I will not, in fact, oppose the Wellstone amendment because it appears to me to be consistent with the legislation that…”

“I will not, in fact, oppose the Wellstone amendment because it appears to me to be consistent with the legislation that is before us with some modification with regard to expansion. But I want to take this time to try to indicate the logic for my views on this in view of an amendment I will be offering tomorrow that is obviously a great deal more restrictive than the Wellstone amendment today or, in fact, payment limitation amendments that will be offered by distinguished colleagues. Essentially, tomorrow, I am going to offer an amendment that would displace the entire commodities section of the bill and substitute for that a system of payments to farmers in this country that has basic, fairly simple elements, unlike the present system in which 60 percent of farmers do not receive subsidies, which includes, in most cases, farmers who are purely in the livestock business, as well as those who are involved in vegetables and fruits and various other agricultural products that do not have row crop situations. In the current situation, 40 percent of farmers receive money, and in that group about two-thirds of the money goes to 10 percent of the farmers.”