Political Quotes

“Thank you Mr. President. Agriculture Reform Mr. President, I will be brief. I know other Members are on the floor who want to speak on other subjects. First, I want to thank the Senator from Michigan and the Senator from Kansas for an extraordinary job on a very difficult bill, a very complicated bill--and difficult because it is not just a Republican- Democratic debate or a Democratic-Republican debate, it is a regional debate that has to take place, and there is a lot of give-and-take. I have been proud to vote for every farm bill that has been before the Senate to my knowledge, but I voted ``no'' today, and I want to say why. Despite the great work of Senator Stabenow and Senator Roberts, there was a weak part of this bill, in my view, related to rice farming, and it is such a significant and important part of our farming structure in Louisiana that I cast a vote against the bill to send a signal that more work needs to be done. This bill passed the Senate with an overwhelming vote. I voted for many of the amendments that I think helped to shape it to be even better than when it came out of committee. We beat back several attacks to uproot, destroy, or significantly modify the U.S. Sugar Program, which has been very important to the State of Louisiana--one of the Nation's great sugar growers. As I have tried to explain to people who continue to attack this program, why would you want to end a program in this bill that does not cost the taxpayers a single dime?…”